As a Newcomer to web design in Richmond Upon Thames I’ve decided to take the approach of offering not just highly professional design but traffic/search engine optimisation and visitor conversion built in to the foundations of my client sites.
Too many small businesses have paid out vast sums to designers for very nice looking and well designed sites - that don’t get any hits. And the ones that do get hits still don’t get much from those hits as these wonderful looking web sites just aren’t built to sell.
Web Design That Works
If the purpose of your web site is to generate leads and sales for your business then these next few paragraphs will explain what’s wrong with the sites that don’t do that - and what’s right with the ones that do.
Traffic
Firstly you need traffic as there’s no point of having a well designed and even well converting site if no one can see it. The traffic generation part of your web site should form an overall marketing strategy around who you want coming to your site and what they will want to see when they get there.
It’s time to step outside what you think your customers want and into what they actually do want. Finding this out is incredibly easy when you know where to go online to where they discuss the problems and benefits your business caters for.
Your traffic and SEO strategy must be clear and focused on attracting the right kind of buyer traffic who are most likely to become your leads and customers. For more on our targeted traffic generation and search engine optimisation strategies click here - or we still have a few places available for our free website marketing consultations where we will look at your current and potential traffic situation.
The Look and Feel
Here’s where your web design decisions are most critical.
- Not sure what colour scheme to go for?
- What about the structure of each page…. left navigation bar, or top navigation bar… or both?
This is where just about all poor performing sites fall over - usability.
That flash intro may look very cool, and that colour scheme might look very cutting edge……
…..but does it tell your visitor they’ve found what they’re searching for as soon as the page loads (which it does very quickly because we all hate clunky slow loading websites don’t we..)?
- Does that well researched, highly lucrative keyword phrase (that you went to the effort and expense to get to the top of Google for) appear in an enticing headline at the top of the page (the first thing a visitor will see) that screams “If you’re looking for [your keyword phrase] - you’ve found it here!”?
- Is the headline immediately followed by a compelling first paragraph that draws them into the page and through to your call to action?
- Do they have to look around and work hard to find what they’re looking for?
- Do the background colour and text make it difficult to read your copy or even worse hurt your visitor’s eyes?
- Are you doing everything you possibly can to respect your visitor’s time?
- Do you give them what they’re searching for and convince them that it is in their best interests to take the next step of requesting more information from you?
Because the back button (and millions of competitors) is just a mouse click away, you don’t want to have gone to the effort of acquiring these visitors just for them to leave your site within 3-5 seconds of getting there.
We measure our design and usability effectiveness with a scientific testing, tracking and conversion optimisation process. It eliminates any element of guesswork and enables our target market to tell us what’s working and what isn’t.
Your Focus and Call to Action
Now you’ve got a nicely designed site up with decent positions in the search engines, the right kind of buyer traffic is visiting your site, you’ve done all you can to let them know they’ve found what they’re looking for….
….what do you want them to do now?
- Buy something?
- Fill out a form for more information or sign up for a newsletter?
- Pick up the phone and give you a call?
- Turn up to your business in person to make an enquiry?
Whatever it is you want them to do - how do you communicate that to them?
Here is a design and usability blunder just about all non performing web sites make:
- Too many options for a visitor and no clear call to action -
You should have one very clear call to action and no other distracting options or links.
If you have flashing banner ads and different links all over your pages the chances of your visitors clicking on the links you want them to are slim to none.
If you want them to contact you or sign up for a free trial or do something specific that will make you money - make that the primary focus of your site with very few (preferably none) other options.
We achieve conversion rates of up to 20% (20 in every 100 visitors) using the aforementioned scientific tracking and testing combined with highly effective online copywriting techniques that focus on the call to action. Could these techniques work for your business? Get one of our website marketing consultations and find out.
A Reason To Act (Now!)
OK - so now you have a nicely designed web site, it ranks highly in the search engines for the right kind of phrases being searched on by your prospects who are near the end of their buying cycle and about to convert.
Your site is designed and written to let them know they’re in the right place and pulls them through to your clear and prominent call to action (which is the only place to go from where they are)….
….we’re almost there!
….but not quite….
Why should they act?
What is your compelling reason for your website visitor to give you their contact details or pick up a phone and call you or walk into your business?
Web users are different to offline shoppers - they don’t have the same sense of commitment as someone who’s gone out to buy a specific item and does not want to come back home empty handed.
Some of the alternatives to your web site visitor taking your desired action are:
- Decide not to take action at all for whatever reason
- Use the information you’ve given them on your site to base a purchasing decision then go and buy elsewhere.
How do you get your visitor to take action there and then and become your customer?
The answer to this is beyond the scope of this article as it goes more into the marketing side of things rather than the design. Also it’s not a 1-size-fits all situation, your visitor’s needs are as unique as your business. You’d need our customised internet marketing consultation to scratch the surface of this one.
The point is however that web site design and marketing are closely intertwined. Your design decisions should be based around your marketing data.
If the aim of your web site is to generate business then you need to incorporate market research, traffic generation, usability, copywriting, a clear call to action and a compelling reason to take action (now!). The design aspect should support all of these and not the other way round.
As mentioned earlier in the article, for a limited time you can get a comprehensive free website marketing consultation to help you determine how to get a website that brings you real results.
There is a limit to how many businesses we can do this consultation for free for as we are becoming increasingly busier the more clients we take on.
The world of small and medium business internet marketing is only starting to gather momentum. It won’t be long before your lucrative search terms will become vastly competitive to rank highly for in the search engines.
If you’re interested in getting a direct response website for your business or giving your existing site a marketing makeover then you can still get one of our free consultations by clicking here - or the big call-to-action button below:

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