Every website has a reason for being; be it to sell products and services directly or to attract customers to your bricks-and-mortar business, it has a purpose and a goal. It is the job of the web designer on the Sunshine Coast to ensure it achieves that purpose.
The website industry has undergone huge changes; it is no longer enough to simply produce a great looking site. Web designers are subject to constant scrutiny by their clients and must produce not only results but the data to prove it.
This transformation has seen many traditional web designers leave the industry; their speciality was confined to the design side of the business only. Today’s website needs a team of designers, developers, marketers and analysts to make it happen and keep it kicking those goals.
Keep it Consistent
A web designer on the Sunshine Coast has to not only know the latest trends in design but also be across Google’s algorithm updates, changes in SEO, analytics and more. He or she must produce a site that is both effective and provides the best ROI to the client.
Whilst every website is (or, at least, should be!) different, and has different demands and goals, there are certain core principles that can be applied. The first is consistency.
It shouldn’t matter what type of device the viewer is using, and what page they’re on, everything about the website should be consistent, from the design to the content. There are several reasons for this, the first being that consistency breeds trust and familiarity. This simple rule will help build your brand recognition and your customer base.
Consistency in website design avoids confusion and, therefore, aggravation. When a website is hard to follow, in most cases, the viewer will abandon the site and go elsewhere. At the very least the viewer will be annoyed, which generally means they will leave before going through checkout.
Keep it Simple
Consistency should be the golden rule in any design project. Trying to be too clever by making every page totally different may seem like a good idea but it probably won’t work. Far better to put that creativity into improving the performance of the website.
Think of it like this; you visit the same supermarket every week and you always go to aisle 6 to buy coffee. One day you go to the same store but aisle 6 now contains dog food and you don’t know where the coffee is. You’re annoyed, right? Humans are creatures of habit and inconsistencies cause discomfort.
The other core principle your web designer on the Sunshine Coast should apply is ‘keep it simple’. That doesn’t mean boring! By all means incorporate pictures, graphics, videos, animations and more, but keep the navigation simple.
This is especially true if you are selling products online. Your buyer wants to easily find the product he wants, including information on the product, and then navigate his way to the checkout without any problems. Over-complicating this process by adding extra steps or more pop-ups or demands will probably result in the customer abandoning his shopping cart.
Keep it simple, keep it consistent and keep it real.