Some major points that are often overlooked by business owners is poorly designed and outdated websites. Think about it, if you were shopping or researching online you wouldn’t want to look at a boring, two column default template sites. Even worse is broken assets and links, confusing disorderly pages, and pointless widgets that do nothing for the website and reflect poorly on the company.
This New Year is yielding a new rush of innovative web tech and design. A site that stays in line with these trends is bound to peak interest and lower bounce rate. The goal is the build a thoughtfully designed and up-to-date website to keep reeling consumers in and direct them throughout the website. These four tips are things to keep in mind to stay ahead of the curve for the New Year.
1. Don’t Be Afraid to be Bold!
Take a look at Mail Chimp, Instagram, and Pinterest for example. These three sites joined by committing to bold designs and layouts. All of these websites are joined together by a commitment to bold designs and layout. Whether you incorporate an exaggerated footer, incorporate a key graphical element, or compose a strong layout, there should always be a keen level of attention to detail. Bold design elements are a great way to modernize and keep your website up-to-date and on trend in the next coming years.
2. Use HTML5 With Care
We’ve all heard about the buzz around HTML5, which offers a lot of exciting flexibility that can make a website interactive. Achievable functionality includes embedding videos, drag and drop interfaces, and dynamic message posts, all with little code work required.
Beware of browser compatibility…a common issue as with any programming. Though your high tech site might look great in the latest version of Chrome, it might look like a series of broken features and images for a less savvy user running IE7.
Unfortunately, this has been a constant issue in the internet world, however, there are precautions to take in order to ensure that every user had a great experience on your website. The key is using open-source JavaScript-based tools that feature detection for HTML5. There are many programs you can download for free on the internet, or for a small charge.
3. Get Rid of the Fat
The traditional layouts for websites often call for separate pages that encapsulate the “About,” “Contact” and other informational areas of the website. Simply consolidating pages into one, or getting rid of unnecessary information will keep visitors on your site and help then find direction to find the info that they do what to know. If you are a Real Estate Agent you want to focus on what visitors are primarily going to your website for…to see properties. Make your site more visually stimulating. If you are a financial expert, provide the information visitors would be looking for, still keeping your site visually stimulating. Let’s be honest, mortgage information isn’t exactly the most interesting topic. Therefore, it is in your best interest to consolidate information and keep it simple while directing visitors where you want them to go.
As we move forward in 2012, further exploration into one-page websites is a given. Create landing pages for visitors to get quick results about what they’re looking for. The more straight forward and direct you are with your website, the more visitors are going to enjoy your site.
4. Tie in Your Social Media Wisely
The tip also known as the “Quit it With the Widgets” tip. Announcing your social media presence on your own website is an absolute necessity, but it needs to be done with care. Automatically updating widgets that stream in social media presence seems intrusive and outdated, not to mention that they can be a hassle for a designer to install and maintain.
To put it simply, social media should absolutely be a presence on a business website, but it should not be a powerful presence. Integrating social media, whether in graphic links or a social ticker, should be done with the user’s eyes in mind. When social media is done intelligently and with consideration, your website instantly will look socially connected and organized.
220 Marketing specializes in Online Marketing and Management for industries such as Insurance Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, and Mortgage Marketing.
