What is so attractive about a retail store you visit to purchase some outfits for you? There is no room for doubt when the physical appearance of the store you wish to spend time shopping, is the best. Appearance and visual satisfaction is an attribute that can directly influence your buying decision.
Now, coming to a website, isn’t the appearance, neat layout, and an impressive theme that drives you to stay longer on a particular site or web page?
This is why Web design and development have grabbed the attention of businesses to concentrate more so that the promotion of goods and services becomes effortless.
For instance, Spotify, the leading provider of digital music, podcasts, and videos, has captured the spirits of millions of their niche audience with the authentic and reliable website design, which is neat, minimalistic, and extremely great for navigation.
There are several other award-winning websites like ESPN that have brought the sports content to the zenith with eye-catching and heart-throbbing website design, and a background video to keep the energy of the sports alive using various transition effects.
Web Design & Development Vs. Digital Marketing
Web Design & Development refers to an umbrella term that encompasses the processes required to create the final outlook of a website.
As the name sounds, it consists of two main stages: Web design and Web Development. The process of Web design deals with the appearance and visual appeal of a website, whereas web development can define how the website functions. determines how it functions.
Digital marketing is a broader term that deals with the promotion of goods and services of a business with the use of electronic media.
Having a website is an integral part of a business to focus on digital marketing. Since the buying decisions are directly dependent on the marketing efforts, there should be keen knowledge on how users respond to your website, once the traffic is driven to the website.
A renowned web design company or a designer expert can guide your business to make the website design more mind-blowing. Now, still, have doubts on how website design & development can be a real savior to your digital marketing efforts? Let’s deep dive into these explanations.
Core Components of Effective Web Design & Development
Just as the saying goes, the first impression is the best, a website is a point that creates the first impression in the minds of customers.
It lets you make a safe and secure step towards effective customer communication through a user-friendly and professional website design and careful website development.
A great website has core elements to be taken care of such as navigation structure, color scheme, optimization for speed, layout, search engine optimization (SEO), conversion rate optimization (CRO), content, graphics, etc.
Many businesses don’t consider the fact that the website design and development is a segment of a digital marketing plan, or that they should have the best look, purpose, and feel just like other advertising methods involved in digital marketing just like PPC (pay-per-click) advertising.
Web Design elements contributing to Digital Marketing Strategy
Here are the factors of website design that contribute to your digital marketing plan to let you achieve your business goals successfully.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is a major factor behind website design concerns. Even though people say that the design elements don’t impact the rankings of the website, Google has already said that website layout changes can affect the search engine rankings of that particular website.
Another factor is checking for content duplication. The Search engine algorithm is aligned strongly with the digital marketing plan. Make sure that the content you use for your website is unique and not duplicate content, to maintain search engine friendliness.
Duplicated content can be caught by Google and this inhibits your page from ranking in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Along with the design, it is also necessary to incorporate the back-end design with meta tags, meta description, alt tags, etc.
For instance, the best SEO-friendly website design of 2019 was grabbed by Spinx Digital, where the designers and developers have made this highly responsive website with simple, vivid backgrounds, along with excellent typography and quick loading times. Additionally, the informative content and rich graphics have also contributed to the SEO friendliness of the website.
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Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
With the best website design, you also invoke great conversion rates. If the website looks neat and feels reliable to the end-user, then it is more likely for the prospect to purchase the product or service from your website or perform a specific action. The Authority and simplicity of a website lead to the ultimate success of a website design.
Complex designs can create confusion among the consumers, hence it is better to avoid making designs complicated to achieve great functionality.
Complex designs can make the website speed too slow, which makes people lose patience and interest in staying on your website, and chances are that you end up losing valuable customers. Let your website be simple for a desirable user experience and complex to a certain extent that satisfies Conversion rates.
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User Experience (UX)
The first and foremost thing that should come to your mind while creating a website, is to have customers or end-users in mind. Ensure that your website is user-friendly, else you fail in gaining enough traffic.
Website design affects the user experience for the visitors. Make sure that the website design is easy for navigation and it is easy to click on the website links.
Moreover, ensure that the loading speed of your website is high. Consider website optimization for both computer and mobile devices to ensure that consumers get a seamless experience across these platforms. Avoid large images which can make website loading slow.
For instance, the best website design of 2019 was that of the MA True Cannabis website. The orange theme and youthful vibe of the website give a visual treat to the visitors. It also deploys a combination of 3-D visuals and floating attributes that maintain powerful user engagement and e-commerce experiences to bestow seamless functionality.
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Analytics & Reporting Tools
A website left as it is doesn’t serve you any better. The journey of a website has many steps, it needs to continuously adapt, optimize, take corrective actions, and evolve as per the changing requirements of users. Now how to find the required changes and consider them to make your site more responsive?
Analytics is a simple solution to this problem. Make sure that the website has the best setup and reliable analytics tools are used to collect the data such as user behavior, purchase patterns, bounce rate, conversion rate, and other metrics. You can use tools like Google Analytics to effectively measure and monitor these constraints.
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Branding
Website design can easily evoke vibes for the consumers. People figure out the goodness of a website with the way they appear to be at first sight. If a design gives negative feelings to the users then chances are that they avoid your website leaving your brand hopeless. As users land your website, they build a perception of your brand. Make sure that your brand conveys the correct message to your consumers. Consider logo, font, color, images, and content to keep your website interesting.
Why Web Design & Development is So Important in Digital Marketing
The website represents the products or services you offer to your customers. The more your website becomes interactive and appealing to the consumers, the more engaging your website will be.
Any campaign or promotional event leads users mostly to the website, hence it is vital to keep the website neat and with utmost navigation ease.
Let’s make it clear with an interesting concept of Hick’s law. It says that if there exist more choices for people to choose, the more time they take to come to a decision. Design experts keep this law while reducing the number of call-to-actions or cluttering with too much information.
They always consider making website design crisp and simple that involves merging similar categories into a single menu option. So, visitors find it easy to navigate.
To be precise, there are many benefits that web design & development serve to the digital marketing strategy. They are:
- The first impression for your business
- Build trust and the consistency of your brand
- Improves usability of the website for common users
- Offers ease of navigation
- Website loading speed improves
- The bounce rate is reduced to a great extent
- Conversion rates will see an upsurge
- Equip you with an edge over the competition
- Customer satisfaction and customer service are improved
- SEO strategy is enhanced
Wrap Up
In a nutshell, the great visual experiences, ease of navigation and highly engaging design can directly impact the digital marketing plan. Therefore, it is essential to be careful in web design & development to ensure you convey your brand in the right way and promote your services in the most user-friendly method.
A clean web design is a foundation for the amazing results of promotional campaigns and digital marketing activities. If you are unaware of how to make your website design favorable for your digital marketing efforts, consult a web design company that can guide you and assist you in it to reap ideal conversion rates.
About the author
Rithesh Raghavan is the Director at Acodez, a Digital Agency in India. Having a rich experience of 15+ years in Digital Marketing, Rithesh loves to write up his thoughts on the latest trends and developments in the world of IT and software development.
