There are several important factors to consider when building a website including SEO, social media, CTA’s (to name a few), but one essential component that can’t be overlooked is design elements.
A great website, one that viewers find aesthetically pleasing, should be near the top of priorities when it comes to building a site. If online users find a site to be unattractive to the eye, or boring in nature, they won’t hesitate to move on to another site.
In order to boost sales (and keep viewers engaged) these five essential design elements should be considered:
1. Don’t Include Too Many Links
If your website is littered with links, site users will be overwhelmed with the number of choices to choose from and as a result will exit the site altogether.
2. Use Whitespace
In order to keep site pages from appearing cluttered, whitespace should be used so that all the visual elements on the pages are easily readable for viewers. Whitespace can include areas between the navigation bar and content, sidebar and content, space between paragraphs etc.
3. Choose Colors Which Are In Alignment With Brand
While some may feel colors are relatively unimportant when it comes to designing websites, colors can play an instrumental role in evoking emotion among website visitors and help with Brand recognition (given colors are used consistently with marketing).
4. Use Eye-Catching Elements
Given that people have short attention spans (8 seconds on average), it’s important to include eye-catching design elements to keep site visitors engaged and prevent an increase in bounce rates. Examples of eye-catching design elements could include an oversized headline, high-quality imagery/video, animation, etc.
5. Optimize And Monitor Page Loading Speed
While not really a design element per se, it is important to not make the site too heavy when choosing features and how to implement them. According to DoubleClick’s research in 2016 (owned by Google), “sites that load in 5 seconds vs 19 seconds observed: 25% higher ad viewability and 70% longer average session and 35% lower bounce rates.” Design with optimal page loading speed and monitor regularly in order to keep healthy conversion rates.
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Whether one is building a new website from scratch or updating to a new one, including these five essential design elements will work to boost engagement and sales. Get all these prime features added into your website by connecting with our web design experts in Seattle!
Let’s talk about your project. Contact us today and we’ll get the ball rolling!