Do you think people tend to leave your site before navigating to the fullest? How can you make them linger for a while to explore different web pages? Experts believe that a meager website design is a crucial factor that makes your visitors leave early. Extensive page loading time, hard-to-read content, and difficult navigation are some common characteristics that make users prefer switching to another website.
If you’re experiencing the same problem, then it is high time to check on the below factors. These are some indicators that your website’s design requires significant modifications. So, here are some essential components of a seamless website layout for you.
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Declutter
Clutter harms your website design and prevents a visitor from navigating it efficiently. That’s why a website requires an organized structure with a well-defined layout. A cluttered landing page looks unattractive and distracts customers from finding the information they require. A disorganized site also contributes to a higher bounce rate since people don’t stick around long enough to find what they are looking for. Clutter also frustrates readers and doesn’t let them benefit from your content. So, don’t lose your customers with a poorly designed website. Make the website structured, clutter-free, and synchronized. Keep the layout simple so that your visitors may find it easy to get the required information, product or service.
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Layout & appearance
Statistics show that it takes just 50 milliseconds for users to form an opinion regarding your brand. This opinion determines whether visitors will stay on your site to explore or leave. If your website lacks aesthetics, chances are that the users might develop a negative perception regarding your brand. That’s why you should hire experts who can create a user-friendly web design and fulfill your digital marketing requirements.
Employing the right professionals allow you to create a visually appealing website to generate quality leads. You should make sure that your webpage has a clean, simple, and accessible layout. Also, don’t just stuff your homepage with lots of text. Enhance your site’s beauty with illustrative images and short video clips.
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Navigation
A visitor expects seamless navigation once he or she lands on your website. That’s why marketers employ professional website designs to create a faultless layout for the customers. Such designs enable users to find their desired products/services when they browse the website. Complex navigation is frustrating for visitors and lessens their patience. All buttons should be easy to identify, such that users must know which web page they’re currently on. They must be able to quickly find what else this website has to offer them and how to return to the previous web page.
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Loading time
Nothing annoys an average customer more than a webpage that takes too long to appear on the screen. That’s why it’s important not to sacrifice the page loading time for some unwanted animations. For instance, using Flash significantly slows your website loading speed. Similarly, if your website’s loading time is over 5 seconds, chances are that you might lose a significant number of your target audience. Moreover, this delay can also affect your site’s overall search engine ranking. You can utilize online tools to test your site’s loading time.
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Content
Experts often exclaim that “content is king” since it drives your entire digital marketing campaign. You can add informational or promotional content in the form of blogs, audios, videos, images, and others. However, make sure to add features that can enable users to share your content on various social media platforms. Also, it is best to add pages that tell more about your brand or services, such as “About Us” and “Contact Us,” to attract more leads.
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Mobile optimization
Most of your website traffic comes from hand-held devices, and Google’s mobile-first indexing means that search engines are now rating your site based on its performance on mobile phones. It is a well-known fact that mobile browsing has become more popular than surfing the internet via desktop. So, if you fail to optimize your website for smartphones, you’re turning down a good number of visitors from your webpage. You can either do this by creating mobile version of your website, or simply by adjusting your website layout to different screen sizes automatically.
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White space
Adding some “white space” on your website keeps the design simple yet accessible. It generally includes blank areas in the margins of each page of your website, the gutters between text blocks and images, and the space present between letters and words. Whitespace increases the readability and aesthetics of your website. In contrast, adding many colors and images to your site can negatively affect your website’s aesthetics and users’ experience.
It is worth mentioning that white space can significantly enhance comprehension by increasing interaction and preventing disruptions. It also eliminates confusion, and improves the web design by separating text and images from each other. Thus, including white space has become a trend among website designers of the 21st century.
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Call-to-action
What is the ultimate function of a website? It encourages visitors to take the desired action, be it purchasing a product or subscribing to your newsletter. That’s why CTAs (calls-to-action) are an essential component of your website’s layout. It can either be in the form of an image or a single line such as ‘click here.’ Professional web designers place them strategically to capture even a random visitor’s attention and convince the user to complete a particular action.
Also, marketers implement different techniques (such as typography and color scheme) to motivate more customers to execute the desired action. The CTAs must be relevant, engaging, interesting, and explicit. Many websites use words such as “Contact US” or “Buy Now” as CTAs.
Conclusion
You might have heard that ‘never judge a book by its cover.’ However, a typical visitor judges your website exactly by the “cover” and will end up leaving your website if the layout isn’t appealing enough. Some common issues that negatively affect user experience involve slow-loading pages and poor content. You can improve your website’s design by making the content more visible, optimizing your website for smartphones, and by adding engaging CTAs. Focusing on these areas might help you to create a high-quality website.
