WHAT MAKES A GOOD WEBSITE?
So what makes a good website!?
We want to give you a brief overview of what we think are a few of the most important elements to create a beautiful but effective website! Because we don’t just want a website to look nice we want it to support and further your business in its goals!
We like to tell our clients to imagine that their website is a physical store or studio. So do that with us for a minute. You would want to make sure your shop was pretty, clean, organized, maybe it smelled nice when they walked in, there was someone to greet them, and that it was easy to see what you offered. A website should be the online version of that experience!
In that same scenario, if a potential customer walked into your store and things were a mess, nothing was organized, they couldn’t find the products, didn’t know where to checkout, they would probably leave. In the same way, a website can help or hurt your business.
We are here to make sure you give your customers that first experience. So here is a list of what we think makes that online shopping experience so appealing and will help you convert customers to sales!
HIGH QUALITY IMAGES - Honestly, good pictures are possibly the single most impactful things! (Shoutout to you amazing photographers!) In fact, a lot of web designers won’t start a project with you unless you have professional photos! Having high quality, branded images, clearly shows your customers what you offer in a way that makes their experience better. It also shows them that you value your product and want to present it in the best light. Let’s think of your images as the equivalent of a beautiful window display that catches someone's eye and draws them into your shop! They open the door and walk in to see a gorgeous display featuring your best sellers. You’ve shown them that what you offer is valuable because of the care you took in presenting it. Having these branded images also gives your customer’s a cohesive shopping experience. People are more likely to purchase from someone who is confident in what they are selling. A website with high quality images is an easy way to show how confident you are in your products!
COPY - Copy is just another way to say the wording on your website. This is one area that a lot of business owners overlook, but we can’t emphasize enough how much of an impact good copy can make. It is a great way to bring your website to life and to fully express your brand’s personality! How you word things can convey so much of your brand’s personality - is it playful or professional? Express that through your text! Clear, on brand copy is another great way to serve your customers. When they enter your online shop, they can see what kind of store they “walked into” by reading your first few lines of text. It will help them decide if they want to come in and shop. It is also a big part of a good website strategy(which we will talk about in a little bit). Your copy should clearly explain what you do and why you do it well. Copy even gets into the details of the words you’ll have on your buttons asking a customer to “Shop now” or “Learn more”. Those small differences in wording can have big impacts on your sales! Don’t overlook your copy. Clearly articulate what you want to express in an on-brand way, and you’ll attract the right customers for you!
BRANDING - Branding is so much more than colors and a logo! When correctly done, your branding should be the visual identity of your business as well as a guide for how your business sounds and functions to appeal to your ideal audience. It is a thoughtful process of identifying who you want to reach, and then making sure everything you do and present to your audience has them in mind. Good branding should evoke emotion from your target market. Most people make purchasing decisions by how they feel. Branding also helps to build recognition. We want your customers to spot your brand and to remember you, which is why the colors and fonts do matter! Branding is such a powerful process in helping you to get into the mind of who you are selling to and the result is visual as well as strategic. Let’s go back to our physical shop example. If a potential shopper likes the candles you are selling, but they don’t enjoy coming into your store, they may go a few doors down to a store that makes them “feel” happy when they go inside. Customer experience goes a long way! You won’t appeal to everyone, but you shouldn’t. You should focus on attracting customers who like what you do and how you do it, and then give them the experience they desire.
STRATEGY- If we keep the idea of a physical store in mind, you would guide your customer through your shop by the way you set it up. You would want them to enter and see what you offer immediately! You would say hi and introduce yourself when they walked through the door, you would offer to wrap up that beautiful candle they are smelling and make sure they saw you carried it in a mini size that’s perfect for a gift! That’s the same experience we want to offer someone on your website. We want to strategically lead them through your site, and let your website do the work of selling for you. The goal is to ensure that your visitors stay on your website and look through all you have to offer. It’s estimated that most people look at a website for about 3-15 seconds before deciding if they are going to exit. That’s not a lot of time to make an impression! You don’t want to waste a second of that time for slow loading times or to allow them to be confused on where to find what they are looking for. A website should intuitively lead a customer from arriving to checkout without them realizing it. A strategic and intuitive layout makes all the difference in capturing the most sales!
So there you have it. What we think are the most impactful elements of a good website! If you are DIY-ing your website, hopefully this gives you a launching pad to learn more about each topic. If you want help to create your website, there’s an in depth look at how we will support you in creating yours! If you’d like to learn more about working together, reach out here!