Website: Design of the Time

In a world where most of us have not 1, not 2, but 7 or more electronic devices per household to browse the internet daily, it is more important than ever to have your website digital ready.

These devices could be anything from a tablet, IPad, netbook, mobile phone, laptop etc. Invest in a quality and expert design team, it may initially seem expensive, however it is a lot more expensive to hire a novice in the long run.

Over the past few months we have come across plenty of websites that have been designed without thought or purpose. From experience we know that building a simple templated website without any SEO is lazy. These simple templates can be bought cheap and sold for thousands. Instead we focus on making the design and development work for you and your customers.

What Does Responsive Website Design Mean?

Responsive website design simply suggests that the design and the development should respond to the user’s behaviour. This can be based on anything from screen size, to platform and even orientation of a mobile device. We are so used to seeing websites on both desktop and mobile devices that not much thought goes into how the website accommodates the different sized screens.

Think about it this way, creating a new version of your website for each mobile device, of which there are many, would be at the very least impractical. If you have the technology within your website that automatically responds to a users preference, this eliminates the need for an unlimited number of designs for each different device.

Think About the User Experience (UX).

Responsive website design isn’t just about the adjustable screen sizes and automatically resizable images. It allows us to think about website design in a whole new way. Instead of thinking about the traditional desktop landscape design (1024x768mm), developers have to incorporate the portrait into their design, in case a user is browsing through a tablet or mobile. All of the possible dimensions for different sized devices and different orientations have to be considered at this juncture.

We look at how the user will experience your website on each device and ask questions such as will it be better for the user to have a hamburger menu on a tablet screen rather than the traditional navigation bar used on desktop sites? How will the user navigate your site differently on a mobile phone rather than a tablet? Your design has to be flexible, to work for the user, so we know that it will not look the same on every device. You can’t add all the elements from desktop to mobile.

Be Visual.

Try to avoid the classic mistakes that can be seen on so many websites all over the internet. They are boring, no visual appeal means no visitors. It can be hard enough getting visitors on to your site never mind getting them to stay on there. You have to think about what they see and whether you can help them find what they are looking for. Everything on your site that the user needs to know should be only 3 clicks away, any more than this and there is a chance they may become disinterested and go to another website.

It’s more than likely that you think you have only just updated your website, but have a look around. It might have only been 2 or 3 years, but check out what your competitors are doing. If they are updating you should definitely think about doing the same. If they haven’t then lead the way and update your website first. Customers will judge you on how your site looks. Like we mentioned last week it only takes less than two-tenths of a second for a customer to form an opinion about your business when visiting your website. Show yourself off and look up-to-date and modern to your customers.

This doesn’t just go for the design of your website either. Being active on social platforms can show your customers that you are there and sometimes make it easier for them to engage with you, without feeling pressure to call or email. Social is a great way to simply nudge your customers, so that when they are ready to buy, they know who you are.

This works with Enewsletters and SEO too. If they receive a quarterly Enewsletter from your company it is a simple nudge to keep them updated with all your latest news and offers. The same goes for SEO, if you are on the first page of Google for your customers search terms, then you have increased your chances of higher website traffic. Research from Magento has shown that if your website ranks on the first page of Google for the customer’s keyword search you could achieve an average a click-through-rate (CTR) of 71.3%. Plus, page two and three combined only get a CTR of 5.59%.

Don’t just think that when you design a website you can simply put some images and text together, it doesn’t work like that. There is planning and careful though that goes into everything on your website. As multi-platform is now the norm, you can’t afford not to have a responsive website. Watch out for those ‘silver surfers’ too, 19% of people in the 55+ age range are now using a smartphone, it’s not just Millennials.

Our GRO website design and development experts are here to help. The whole process is transparent, from the idea concept right through to the design and development of the site.

So, contact us today and let’s get your website off to the right start.

www.gro-marketing.co.uk

Ends.