There are approximately 2 billion websites on the internet today. Imagine the vastness of that number. Yet, you know that out of those only a handful stand out. Our in-house experts at the web development company in Dallas analyzed the successful websites to find out the common ground for their success.
As they say, ‘success leaves cues’. We share in this article the reason for the success of such sites. But, before that, consider the following numbers for a better perspective.
- For every single dollar spent on user experience (UX), there is a $100 return on investment.
- 94% of customers will base their user experience on how good or bad the website’s design is, and a website’s design can influence its credibility by 75%
- It takes only 50 milliseconds for a visitor to form an opinion about the website.
- Poor navigation experience on the website can cause a business to lose 62% of their customers
Why are we telling you this? It’s just to reiterate the fact that a good business website is just not a matter of luck. It is the sheer hard work of the designers, developers, content marketers, and strategists that makes it a magnet for visitors.
Vital Elements of a Successful Website
Expert developers at the web development company in Dallas understand that success of a website is based on scientific and creative principles. And, any good business website has these fundamental design principles in place.
Here, we will discuss in detail the fundamental and vital elements of every successful website that drives traffic, captivates its visitors and generates high sales conversions.
1. Excellent Visual Experience
Various studies and analyses into human eye movement and psychology have been conducted to find out how a visitor reads your website. Consider these valuable insights and you will understand the science and structure of a webpage’s visual aesthetics.
- As most of the human written language starts from left and proceeds towards right horizontally, it was found that more than 50 percent of the visitors viewed only the left side of the page.
- Since the human brain’s left side is analytical, and therefore the natural preference for a good read was found to be something linear and in list form.
- Since most web pages scroll from top to bottom vertically, listed-left side-heavy web content performs better than other forms.
- Further, eye coordination experts found that visitors normally look at the left top corner of the page upon visiting a website.
Taking a cue from this and talking from their experience, expert web designers observe that any successful website’s page design has the following essential elements.
- Neat and consistent spacing among contents viz, texts, images, graphics, and videos.
- Consistent, legible, and visually pleasing font style, size, and color for texts.
- A conducive background color that goes well with the overall branding and the website content
Visual aesthetics is a crucial factor in giving your customers a solid first impression when they visit your website. It is the determining factor that gives the visitors a reason to stay and not go to any of your competitors.
2. Responsive Design & Compatible Layout
Responsive web design philosophy focuses on the user’s behavior and environment. It strives to deliver a seamless experience based on how the visitor uses the website and on what devices.
The early web design approach had a desktop focus, which gradually moved to laptops and mobile devices. However, the recent surge of mobile users has forced the entire internet commerce to rethink its design strategy. The mobile-first design is the thing of today.
Studies reveal that mobile traffic is 50% of the entire website traffic. Therefore, search engine behemoth Google has shown its clear preference for a mobile-first web design approach. It invariably interprets the truth that companies are expecting their visitors to come from mobile devices more than ever.
A compatible layout of your web pages will ensure that the same website can open on various devices, viz., laptops, tablets, smartphones, ipads, etc. They work seamlessly in all the varying screen sizes, operating systems, and browsers, and yet give the visitors a coherent brand experience while browsing from anywhere and however they choose.
3. High-Quality Content & Credible Information
Content reigns when it comes to internet usage. People are consuming content like they breathe air. High-quality content is like a sauce for your visitors. They keep your visitors engaged and stay longer on your website.
Thus, strategic content delivery has become inevitable to keep visitors engaged. From the initial content stuffing days, website owners have transitioned well into providing the content that their customers want. However, it is also important to know what Google thinks your customers want.
Pay attention to Google’s ever-evolving search algorithm. For instance, look at its transition. From text searches, it has moved on to search with images, and voice search and is currently testing on search inside a video.
It reiterates what Google thinks customers want – a fine blend of texts, images, and videos. All blended in a perfect package of visual appeal. It only means that your web content needs to be a fine blend too.
Further, your content should speak from authority about your brand and product. And, every fact presented should have a credible source. It gives weightage to the content.
Understand that not only does your customer value authority and credibility, but Google does it too. Its content quality rater guidelines have four essential parameters – Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).
4. Intuitive & Strategic Navigation
If one follows Google’s directives, one will understand how Google, its search bots, and ultimately its search algorithms work to bring millions of search results to users every minute. It is well endowed in just three words – “one-click search”.
It means Google wants to show the most relevant results to users, where the user clicks on the search results and goes to where it wants to go. Google does not want its users to return to search for the same query again. According to them, if it so happens, they have failed in delivering the users with the most relevant search results.
Now, looking at this concept, web developers have turned toward an intuitive and strategic navigation model for a website. The expert developers at the web development company in Dallas explain this further.
Suppose, the visitor clicks on the search results and goes where it is supposed to go – your website. But, from here onwards it is your job to make it easy for the visitors to find and click each time deeper into your website until eventually, they go to the place where you want them to go. And, that is the check-out page.
In short, your web pages should be structured in such a way that it is not only easy for the Google bots to locate and mark your web pages, but also the visitors should find it easy to navigate through the website.
Strategic navigation is placing the web pages and their contents in a way that makes the customer’s buying journey easy. In fact, so easy that customers are guided with an intuitive nudge, and every click drives them closer and deeper to their goal of visiting the website – which can be to find information, place an order, subscribe, etc.
5. Call to Action
Every successful website has a purpose. Some may serve information, some may offer online merchandise, etc. Whatever the purpose of the website, it seeks to attract visitors, engage them and eventually turn them into customers.
Synchronizing your website design, content, and delivery with harmonizing navigation means with each click your visitors will come closer to what you want them to do – turn into customers. It all happens with effective Call to Action strategies.
- Users take 3 seconds or less to see a clear Call to Action button.
- Out of the 90% of visitors who reads the headline of a webpage notice the CTA button
Expert marketers are always looking for the best converters. And, they feel that strategically placing the relevant “buy now”, or “subscribe now” buttons, with pleasing designs, fonts, and styles are as important as the entire webpage.
Further, the team at the web development company in Dallas gives a valuable suggestion here. When your customers check out, ensure the entire page is secured with the latest encryption technology and safeguarded payment options available to ensure a seamless and hassle-free transaction.
Wrap Up
Online presence in today’s world is inevitable and getting a website is easy. But, to make it successful and thrive in the sea of web pages, it needs to have some strategic design thinking in place.
Experts at the web development company in Dallas can work with your team to come up with a conducive web design for your business that will deliver results for your business.