How to improve your website design.

People often think about the web design process as having a technical focus. But great website design is not about how you integrate social media buttons or visuals – nor is it simply about the copywriting. Great design is about having a website that aligns with overarching business strategy.

Questions to ask yourself when developing a new website (or redesigning an existing one) include:

  1. Why do you need a new website? What goals do you want it to achieve?
  2. Who are your website’s core users? What actions do you want users to take on your site?
  3. What is the first impression you want the home page to create?
  4. What is the overall look and feel we wish to convey?
  5. Are there any competitor websites with features you admire or particularly dislike?
  6. What is the nature and role of the task ahead? What needs to be done? Who is involved?

Often, we find clients have developed websites over time, with no governance or ownership. This can mean content and new pages have been added in a piecemeal fashion, creating a disjointed or messy site. This means they end up with a website which is hard to navigate and understand.

Good website design is about working out how to help people quickly understand who you are and what you offer. Your website should offer compelling interactions, copy and imagery. Every aspect of the site should work towards a clear goal (which aligns with your broader business goals).

At Edmonds Marketing we think carefully about how to maximise website impact as a part of integrated marketing strategy.

Recent Happy Client Testimonial

“As a new business Edmonds Marketing has led our team through an extremely valuable exercise to define our competitive positioning and key messages. The website they designed not only looks great but also sets customer benefits in clear and relevant terms. We thoroughly recommend their marketing strategy services to other business owners seeking sound marketing advice.” Rob Minson, CEO, CarbonTP

We consider the following principles important for effective website design:

  1. Organisation and structure

Good websites are well organised and follow a structure. They are not cluttered. A thoughtful organisational structure makes a website accessible and sets out the service offering.

  1. Simple navigation

Successful websites offer simple and user-friendly navigation. Visitors must find everything they need quickly and easily. If users wander around the site trying to find what they need they will get frustrated and leave.

  1. Customer focused

High quality websites focus on their audience’s needs with quality content. The aim should be to design a site that keeps customer and stakeholder needs front of mind. The content should support clear and positive engagement with users, strengthening the relationship.

  1. Visually appealing

As well as being well structured, good website design should consistently reflect the brand identity. It should leave a strong impression on the user and be visually engaging and distinctive, with high quality images.

  1. Easy to read

Most people don’t read websites, they scan them. Good structure and hierarchy help people identify important sections on the website. High quality websites use headings to break up the content in section and provide succinct, well written small blocks of texts.

In addition to being strategic marketing consultants, we are experienced in website design and digital marketing. We have a well-developed process through which we engage with project teams and stakeholders to coordinate all aspects of the website design. We partner with you to ensure your need for a new website is not lost in competing stakeholder needs or in the detail of the delivery.

Through this process, we act as the interface (with web technicians) and ensure a timely delivery. By keeping your business outcomes and messages front of mind, we make sure the final product will work hard for you and will be worth the investment.

As always, if you would like to discuss your website design or marketing strategy needs with us, contact either:

Access our other blogs on website design and related marketing strategy consultancy topics via this link.