The colors, images and fonts you use (or don't use) and how your website is laid out can make the difference between success (exit rates, low bounce, and high conversion) and failure (low sales, high abandonment). While the Web design process has been simplified by the many themes you can easily download and use, some tweaking is still necessary to get the most out of the templates. Whether you are designing a simple portfolio website for your freelancing services or an eCommerce website, consider the following factors.
1. Include a professional, polished logo and link it to your homepage.
Your logo is a crucial element of your brand, so make sure that it's prominently displayed on your website. Ideally, use a high-resolution image in the upper left corner of all your pages. Also, use the logo to link back to your home page to make it easy for visitors to navigate through your site.
2. Use instinctive navigation.
In a horizontal menu bar, primary navigation options are normally set up along the top of the website. Below the primary navigation bar, you can provide secondary navigation on the left-hand margin on a sidebar. If you wish to draw attention of the visitors to a signup button, specific section, or feature of your website, make them prominently visible from the page load.
3. Get rid of the clutter.
To keep visitors in your website, ensure pages do not contain visual clutter or competing calls to action; for instance hordes of photographs, graphics, or animated pictures which would distract the eyes of the visitors from the main part of the page. To limit clutter on landing pages, simply minimize the options and links in the footer and header.
4. Give some breathing space.
Offer enough space between the images and paragraphs so that the visitor doesn't feel overwhelmed and is able to understand all the features that your website has to offer. Use white spaces throughout the layout to make visitors focus on the important components and control user flow. With so much visual competition taking place on the Web, less is more.
5. Use color tactically.
Make use of a neutral color palette as this can help your website project a graceful, modern, and clean appearance. Using small dashes of color for key graphics or headlines helps draw focus to your main content. When picking a theme or palette, use one that matches your logo and is in harmony with your other marketing content. Opt for fonts that are easy to read across different browsers and devices. While selecting fonts, bear in mind that individuals may be using mobile devices with smaller screens.
Always invest in good, unique imagery and visuals as website visitors can make out generic photos in a snap, and they'll be left with a generic perception of your firm. You might be creative, but you don’t have to exhaust all your creativity on one site. Leading sites such as Freelancer.com focus more on the user experience as opposed to fancy things. Finally, you have to invest in compelling content because users are hungry for information. Meet this need and you can fully realize your online objectives.
