Web Design - The Lifeblood of Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Digital marketing is arguably the most important component of business building and is essential to the long term success of your brand. 

The core of any business’ digital marketing strategy is the company’s website. 

Your business’ website should be designed as the first stop for anyone who searches for your product or service online.

This means that if your website is poorly designed, you run the risk of alienating the majority of your site’s visitors.

However, a well designed site can set your business on the path to exponential growth.

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How Effective Web Design Helps Your Business Grow

There are four main benefits of strong web design that we will be highlighting:

• Improved SEO
• Create Trust with a Positive First Impression
• Stronger Branding
• Higher Conversion Rate

Each of these benefits can act as a source of growth for your company so let’s take a more in-depth look at how each one can help you expand your business.

Improved SEO

The first way effective web design helps your business grow is through improved SEO.

For those that are not familiar, SEO stands for search engine optimization. 

Simply put, your site’s SEO determines how likely your website is to appear in a relevant search on a search engine such as Google or Bing.

Poorly designed websites are far less likely to appear at the top of search engine results while the inverse is true for web sites that make use of strong web design strategies like those mentioned above.

The better your site’s SEO is, the easier it will be for potential customers to find. 

You cannot sell to customers that cannot find your store. 

In this case, think of your website as your store. The more well-designed your store is, the easier it is for customers to find and buy from.

Create Trust with a Positive First Impression

Once you manage to get potential customers to click on your website, you want them to stay on your website.

Making use of the core elements of strong web design will help make a positive first impression on users when they first arrive on your site.

Keep in mind this applies to both versions of your site, desktop and mobile.

Make sure your site is optimized for use on mobile browsers to ensure you make the best first impression possible on all users.

Further Reading: Mobile-Friendly Sites: Your Secret Weapon to Getting More Customers

You want users to quickly see that your site is easy to navigate while also looking professional and appealing.

Believe it or not, a clean and easy-to-use website will actually start to build trust with your users.

Think about it; if you were to come across a website for a product you are interested in buying but that website happened to be a cluttered, unprofessional mess, you are going to think twice about buying that product based solely on the bad website.

Not only that, but you would probably also tell some of your friends or family about the bad website experience, alienating other potential customers.

However, good web design will breed the opposite effect; satisfied and trusting customers will be much more likely to recommend your business to others. 

Your business’ first impression will always go a long way and in the world of digital marketing, the best way to ensure a good first impression is attractive web design.

Stronger Branding

A website is one of a business owner's best tools for building up their brand.

Your website serves as the perfect opportunity to make customer’s for familiar with your brand’s messaging and imagery.

If your site is well designed, users should come away with a lasting memory of your company’s purpose and the imagery you use to convey that purpose.

If people can easily identify your company based on imagery or purpose, they are far more likely to purchase your product or service based solely on being familiar with your brand’s imagery or purpose.

Higher Conversion Rate

Perhaps most important of all the benefits provided by strong web design is the boost you will see in conversion rate.

As we have discussed, effective web design boils down to simplicity and ease-of-use, both factors that directly correlate with conversion rate.

If a potential customer cannot figure out how to purchase a product on your website due to poor design, then obviously you will end up with a lower conversion rate.

A well-designed and easy to use website will create the opposite effect. 

Those who were on the fence about buying are more likely to convert based on how easy it is and those who were intent on buying in the first place will be more likely to return after having had a quick and easy experience. 

Further Reading: Actionable Design Tips to Boost Your Website Conversion Rates

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The Core Elements of Effective Web Design

Here is a run down of the core design elements that are at the heart of the world’s most successful business websites.

Hierarchy

In web design, hierarchy is the order of priorities for the design of your website.

This means that the top of the hierarchy is the most important thing that you want your business’ site to communicate.

Making use of a strong hierarchy means that the different elements of your web page should be sized and shaded differently. 

An example of effective hierarchy in web design would be making the title of a web page a larger size and bolder font compared to the page’s subheadings.

Beyond that, any body text should be smaller and less bold than the subheading text. 

Hierarchy is determined by a variety of factors including feature size, brightness, color, contrast, and depth.

The standard approach to hierarchy of design is based around creating a key focal point on each page.

The focal point is the feature of a web page that immediately attracts a user’s attention when they arrive on the page.

If you do not maintain a clear design hierarchy, your website stands a good chance of coming across as overwhelming, or potentially both of these things at the same time. 

The standard approach to hierarchy of design is based around creating a key focal point on each page.

The focal point is the feature of a web page that immediately attracts a user’s attention when they arrive on the page.

Content Sections

Separating your website into content sections is a fundamental skill in web design that many of the most successful websites use.

Content sections are distinct portions of a webpage that feature some type of digital content such as text, images, video, or a log-in box.

Dividing your website’s pages into different content sections will keep your site organized while adding a clearer aesthetic that holds the user's attention. 

Website Purpose

It is essentially to fully define your website’s core purpose; although you do not need to directly state this purpose on the site itself.

The reason for this is because effective web design requires you to maintain a clear vision for what people will do when they arrive on your website.

This means that every design choice you make should be, in some way, working towards accomplishing your website’s defined purpose.

Check out this short video for more info on the importance of web design for your business: 

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FAQs

Here are the answers to a couple of the most asked questions when it comes to growing your business through effective web design.

What is the Most Important Aspect of Web Design?

This comes down to maintaining a simple and clear message with your design.

When designing a website, you want to focus your efforts on making sure visitors know what the purpose of your website is.

If a user does not know what to do on a given webpage within fifteen seconds, they are highly likely to leave that webpage.

What is the Most Important Skill in Digital Marketing?

Strategic thinking is arguably the most important skill for modern digital marketing.

In this article, we have discussed multiple times that effective web design comes from a clear plan for how users will interact with the site.

Taking a strategic approach and designing your site with simplicity and easy navigation in mind will benefit your business in the long term.

This is true of just about every aspect of digital marketing, not just web design.

Thinking ahead and planning an effective strategy are essential skills for any one interested in digital marketing.

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Final Thoughts

If you are looking to buff up your digital marketing presence, you will want to make use of effective website design.

The reasons for this are many; strong web design can boost your SEO, help strengthen your branding, increase your conversion rate, and help build trust between customers and your business. 

Implementing strong web design brings a variety of benefits that can help you grow your business to the next level.

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