vendredi 14 décembre 2012

Web Design and Conversions

By Kris T. Larsson


If you are upgrading your website or starting out and creating a new site, be sure that the overall plan of your site is based on the best marketing and conversion strategies available today. Best design practices are now supported by empirical evidence. It's important to be aware of the basics. Conversion marketing is a fast moving field supported by science. In other words, hard data backs up theory. Make sure the agency you are working with gives conversion marketing its due when planning your site.

Some people get hung up on the appearance of a site to the point where beauty becomes an end in itself. It can be limiting to work with a design team that only knows design. Knowing the foundations of business are vital. Without an understanding of conversion marketing, there is the potential for a site that misses the mark. You need to ensure that your designer is not treating your website as an outlet for their creativity. Usability and business goals should drive your website design.

You site needs to be your best salesperson... in the form of sales, leads, or sign ups. Accurate or not, people will evaluate your company based on their experience with your site. It can be a scary thought, but an empowering one too. The decision to buy your product, is strongly influenced by their experience with your website.

Web Design Basics

Clean sites with good color contrast look best across all browsers, tablets and smartphones. While some designers love dark backgrounds, they can present some real challenges for the user. And it looks terrible on smartphones. There are some excellent sites that allow you to test your website in different browsers, different computer screen resolutions, on a variety of tablets and smartphones.

Don't jam everything into your site. There is a tendency for people to try to cover every possible aspect of their business on their website or on a page. People look quickly and their attention span is small. You have to keep it simple. Try to limit your goals to just one or two per page. And don't just focus on your homepage. Every page needs a purpose and every page needs a call to action.

Page speed is vital. If your site takes more than three seconds to load, you've lost your visitor. Run some diagnostics on your site to ensure your load time is acceptable. You can run these from a number of browser add ons or at specific sites that perform free testing.

Video is king. An investment in some video for your site is almost a requirement these days. It's not a luxury reserved for large companies. People expect you to have video. Viewers are more engaged with video. They stay longer at your site. And they buy more from you when you have video. And the costs of video for web are inexpensive. And the production quality does not need to be tv level. There are some guidelines you should follow and there are basic quality standards that need to be met. Above all, make sure the sound is excellent. People will tolerate average picture quality but not poor sound.

Social proof, like testimonials, are vital. Especially if you are not a well recognized brand. Video is a great medium for testimonials. It is more believable and more personal. And make sure your testimonials don't look like they were pushed or staged. Think about how you can benefit your client from within their own testimonial.




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