Great website design by itself no longer works. This announcement may come as a shock from a company that has won national web design awards for the last 5 years in a row. But it is true.
But, what I am really shocked about is that so many web design companies don’t realize it. Unfortunately thousands of businesses go to them each day for help and in the end their websites will not perform as the business owner had hoped.
The Site May Look Good, But Does It Deliver On Your Business Goals?
The issue is not around having a high-end design, rich media, social media icons or even a mobile site. Many agencies that read our article will naturally jump to that conclusion. Even with these design elements, chances are the website will fall significantly short in delivering on the desired business goals of the company. And that is where I will start.
Website Design is a Piece of the Puzzle
Website design is not the end all, but instead it’s actually just one of the many components that will determine overall success. The keys to online website success need to address each of the following elements and be well executed:
- Establish a Goal – A specific, measurable goal for what you consider to be your success factor must be established. At the end of the day, what do you really want to have happen inside your company or to your business as a result of your website.
- Establish a Concise, Compelling Value Proposition – What specifically makes you different or better than your competition both online and offline. Everything else (copy, images, design elements, processes, conversion path, etc.) on your website must support that value proposition.
- Establish Call-To-Actions (CTA) – These stimulate the action you want to reach your goal. While you will want to test several different calls to action to find out which ones convert better, do not place multiple and competing CTAs in the same area on the same page. This leads to confusion and ultimately a lower conversion rate.
- Establish an Incentive – There should be something compelling to motivate your visitor to respond to your call to action. It doesn’t always have to be a discount or even be money oriented. Knowledge is valuable and can be an excellent incentive for many types of businesses.
- Use Paragraph Headers – develop easy-to-see and compelling paragraph headers that will allow your visitors to browse your page before asking them to read it word for word.
There are five more elements to discuss but I will cover that in part two of this article next Tuesday.
