Expanding Your Audience Through Web Design

Website design is more than just making your homepage look pretty. If you’re seeking to expand your demographic and introduce your service to a new audience, an intelligently designed website is a must.  There are adjustments you can make which funnel the user in a desired direction. You can encourage loyalty through a more personalized experience. Whether you’re creating a site on your own or engaging a professional, you must approach the design process with your business goals in mind.

Visual Appeal

Perhaps the most obvious place to start is with the immediate visual appeal of your website. Customers' propensity to use your service can be affected by how your page looks. Though some of this may be dictated by your company branding, it’s worth considering how your branding can be adapted to fit smart web design, rather than vice versa.

Color is an important aspect of your web presence, and worthy of significant thought. You’ll find that specific color combinations can provoke emotional responses, and even affect the assumption of how trustworthy your business is. Similarly, certain colors don’t work well together on a website, and understanding the reasons behind this can help you avoid making off-putting choices.   

Decisions on the types of imagery you use on your site should also not be entered into lightly. Humans are very visual beings, and including the right types of pictures can encourage user engagement. In short, it makes them more likely to click on the elements you want them to. Numerous studies have shown that images that include human faces can help bolster users' trust in a service or product.

Accessibility and Navigation

Attention must also be given to how easily and effectively visitors to your site are able to use it. From both a business and ethical standpoint, it’s important to ensure that people of all abilities have access to the services your site offers. When designing your website, take an empathetic approach. Take care to fully understand the potential challenges your users face in operating a computer.   

It’s worth taking the time to review the Americans with Disabilities Act compliance guidelines, and implement solutions accordingly. Simple measures can make a big difference. Posting clear descriptive text next to images means that screen reading software can convert this to audio for those with visual impairments. Multimedia content is great, but be sure to provide closed captioning on videos for the hard of hearing. If you feel you need additional training, consider taking a web accessibility class to help fill in any gaps in your knowledge.

Steps can also be taken to ensure the elderly also have equal access to your website. Multiple text size options, a zoom function, and even an avoidance of unnecessary jargon can make your site a more user-friendly place. Also consider how complex and cluttered your homepage is. Could a user find pop-ups, autoplay videos, and animated elements detrimental to their ability to navigate it?

Product Discovery and Personalization

The product you offer customers might be of incredible quality and cutting-edge design, but that means very little if they can’t find it easily. There will be customers who won’t take time to browse new options you have available. Part of designing your website to expand your audience means also taking into account how they find the services you want them to engage with.

It’s imperative to understand that different generations have quite separate approaches to online behavior. Make it easy for them to find and buy your product based on the way they interact with e-commerce, and what they value in companies. Gen-Xers often search for bargains, so include a clear link to product selections that have had savings applied. Millennials place a high priority on convenience — implement design solutions that lean into this, such as links to similar items in product descriptions.

There are great advantages to personalizing visitors’ experiences of your website. The personal touch can encourage loyalty to your brand, as well as offering aspects of convenience. This could be offering to save customer information to allow for a more streamlined checkout experience, or utilizing location tracking to offer geographically appropriate services. There are various types of data that can be collected when a customer pays a visit to your website, and this can be used to formulate a personal experience. However, remember that it is equally important to understand your responsibilities when it comes to privacy, and how personalization affects these.

Woo The Search Engines

Though your website should be designed to appeal to humans, it’s also important to make it attractive to search engines. After all, if it’s not showing up in search results, how are potential customers supposed to find you? Here are a few quick tips to improve search engine ranking and keyword search results:

●  Register with Google Search Console: Google Search Console allows you to submit your sitemap to Google for indexing, essentially telling the search engine that your site exists.

●  Increase Load Speed: For over a decade, Google has been using site speed as a ranking signal. It’s absolutely imperative that your site is loading as fast as possible, especially on mobile devices

●  Know (and Implement) Your Keywords: Take some time to do keyword research in order to identify the best keywords for your site. Then, add them to page titles, meta descriptions, heading, urls, and page content.

●  Create Quality Content: High quality, informative, and relevant content is a huge ranking factor. Make sure it’s useful to readers and update your blog regularly!

●  Build Links to Your Content: Links to your site from reputable and trustworthy sources is one of the best ways to increase your search engine ranking. Reach out to webmasters, publishers, and bloggers in order to get your content some press.

The value of good search engine optimization (SEO) cannot be overstated. Though it may take time to master, it’s invaluable when it comes to expanding your audience!

The internet is a powerful tool in the contemporary world — personally and for business. In order for your company to make the most of the digital landscape, you must pay careful attention to a design approach that maximizes engagement. Incorporating intelligent visual options, accessibility compliant measures, and a personalized experience can each contribute to an effective online strategy.