What do you think is the most important element of a successful website? Is it the design, the content, the colours and fonts? It's all of these, of course, but most of all its knowledge; it's knowing what's happening in the world of SEO and understanding what internet users want. It's all about the UX.
Website design on the Sunshine Coast is constantly evolving so it's important to keep your eye on the ball. What worked last month may not work so well today for boosting your search engine ranking. It all depends what algorithms Google recently updated, and what's 'in' for internet users this week.
UX Design vs UI Design
You may have heard the terms UX Design or UI Design; these are actually quite different and in reality, both are needed to build a high performing website. When looking for a web developer on the Sunshine Coast it's important to find someone who is across these two concepts.
Whereas UX Design refers to User Experience Design, UI stands for User Interface Design. They pretty much sound like the same thing, right? To differentiate the two, think of UX Design as the technical side of the equation, and UI Design as graphic design.
As the biggest search engine, Google is all about User Experience. The reason they carry out 500-600 algorithm updates every year is to ensure users find exactly what they're looking for, as quickly as possible.
Website Design on the Sunshine Coast
But Google wants more; it also wants users to have the very best online experience, which means your website needs to be fast, relevant, engaging and entertaining. Therefore UX Design is all about analysis, testing, planning and development. It's about finding out what your customers want, how they want it presented, how they react to your site, what your competitors are doing and so on.
User Interface Design is all about the look and feel of your website. It's a way of visually guiding a user through your website in the hope they become a customer. It's about connecting them with your brand.
The thing is, you could have the most stunning website in the entire world but, if it doesn't give the user a positive experience, it's a waste of time. And that makes UX Design more important than UI Design. It also means that when seeking the best website design on the Sunshine Coast, you need to ask the developer pertinent questions.
Ask for Feedback
It used to be enough to simply engage the services of a website designer and create an attractive site. It was really just a billboard for your organisation. Now, however, you need more of a web solutions company that is across SEO, UX, UI, analytics and more.
Giving users a meaningful experience will help them engage with your website and therefore your brand. In short, it's the start of a beautiful relationship! Don't be afraid to ask users what they want; surveys and testing give you direct feedback which can then be utilised to improve your site.
UX Design will be one of the most important elements of good website design this year so be sure to see how yours measures up.