Improving website traffic is not just a job for digital marketing professionals, it also relies on the design of the website. A well-designed website undoubtedly increases website traffic and helps businesses make more sales.
It is no secret that generating organic website traffic relies on search engine optimization. Web design improves the website load speed and performance, which are two important factors affecting SEO.
A good web design aims to engage the customers, is readable by search engine crawlers and the end-users, and must leave a long-lasting impression on the visitors.
Here are the 10 excellent web designing tips you can implement to increase traffic:
1. Make It Responsive: Over 6.97 billion people use smartphones as of 2020. If websites are not mobile-friendly, your website will not rank on the search engine result page, which in turn will reduce the traffic. Responsive web design needs to be a priority for companies to create consistency in terms of design and display across various screen sizes. Users will have a positive experience if the website looks the same on both mobile phone screens and desktops and will view your company as trustworthy.
2. Improve Page Speed: Page speed refers to the measurement of how fast your website displays the content. Users are getting more and more impatient, and thus, the best way to attract more visitors to your website is by improving the page speed. Even seconds of delay in the page loading can make customers abandon your website and browse for similar websites. Make sure that you take the appropriate measures to enhance your page speed as this step will improve your SEO as well as conversions in the long run. Simplifying the Document Object Model, decreasing the team taken for building a page on the server, and reducing the amount of data being transferred from the server to the browser, are three ways to improve page speed.
3. Simplicity Is Key: Be as minimalistic with your website design as possible because a simple design allows you to convey information to end-users much better without any unwanted distractions. It is important to inform your users about your brand, products, or services without bombarding their screens with information and unnecessary elements such as gifs, auto-playing videos, and so on. Utilizing white space, few images, and an easy to understand menu is enough to keep your users interested.
4. Update The Content: While creating your website, the first thing you need to work on is your content. It is easier to rank on search engines if you constantly update your content and provide value to the end-users. Your website will be ignored if you add inaccurate or outdated content. Consider adding a blog page to your website, wherein you can post about new trends and present details about your products or services to potential customers. A website packed with relevant and useful content will automatically attract more visitors.
5. Add A Search Bar: When users open your website, they do not want to go through all the web pages to find what they are looking for. Providing a search bar on the top or beside the main menu can help users find their desired product, services, or content. They can simply enter their queries or specific terms and get to the right web page in no time.
6. Smooth Navigation: Website navigation should be extremely clear, direct, and smooth on any website. Users are more likely to stay and make purchases on your website if they can navigate it easily. Your website should be easy to figure out from the get-go. Users should be able to move around your website without any confusion. Focusing on navigation is not only great for improving User Experience, it also has an SEO value. Google crawlers may miss indexing your page if your navigation is complicated as they may not be able to understand the value of your website.
7. Use Text To Display Information: Many companies make the mistake of using images to display headings and parts of their content. Un-optimized images can slow down the page speed and also hide vital SEO information from search engines. Consider replacing these images with text or add alt text for all the images being used and make sure SEO keywords or phrases are always displayed as text. This step will significantly improve your ranking on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP).
8. Add Appropriate CTAs: Call to action buttons ask your users to take some action on your website, whether it is signing up for an e-newsletter, downloading an e-book, filling the contact form, or making a purchase. Your website should have personalized and appropriate CTA buttons on every page as they help in lead generation and sales. Make sure these buttons are highlighted or placed after the content. Once the viewer is done reading, you should help them take the next step through the appropriate CTA button.
9. Eradicate The Errors: No one likes to open a website that is full of errors and keeps crashing. Run site audits regularly to look for any errors on the website be it broken links or 404’s. These errors are common and occur if you shift your content without adding proper redirections. In such cases, users may see an error when they try to access your old page. In addition to these errors, make sure you do not have any broken internal links on your website. Your internal links must go to the appropriate pages and inactive pages should be removed after the site audit.
10. Feature Trust Symbols: Trust strengthens customer relationships; thus, your website must be designed in a way that nurtures this trust. Use of trust symbols such as showcasing past customer experiences, allowing users to write reviews, and social sharing buttons displaying how many followers your company has; can add to your credibility.
A good website design does not require complex animations or audio-visual elements, the website needs to be logically organized, simple, and most of all intuitive. Highlight important information and convey what value you will offer to your customers on your website as it is the first interaction most of your potential customers will have with your company. If your website is not user friendly, no matter how many SEO activities you invest it, those efforts will not be successful. By making a few web design modifications with the help of new technologies such as HTML5 and mobile support you can reach your traffic goals faster. Use the above tips to double up your organic website traffic and generate more leads for your business.
Also Read: eCommerce In 2020 And Beyond: 5 Platforms Compared