Marketing strategies are always changing. This is mostly because people don’t like being advertised to, so companies have to constantly try new marketing ideas to be successful. A website is no different. Left unchanged, even the best websites from 10 years ago fail to serve their function to their full potential. In 2019, successful websites need to be clearer and faster than ever before. We have some tips to help achieve that.
Provide a Clear Focus
Everyone wants a website that can do it all. But what happens when a user is presented with a website that gives you all the information with no focus? They leave the website. This is because users want a clear path to their destination. Creating a clear hierarchy gives priority to the elements of the site that you want your viewers to see first. If you own a salon, you probably want the viewers on your website to be able to contact you or book an appointment. Of course all the other information on the website will still be accessible. But by creating a clear focus, the patrons will have a more positive experience and will be more likely to return.
Leave Out the Bells and Whistles, Unless They’re Amazing
While a website that has multiple interactive elements may look amazing, it often won’t serve its function as well as it could have. All the fancy bells and whistles online result in slower page loading speeds, and in a world where we expect instant results, that can be detrimental. Many interactive features do nothing to improve the functionality of the site, and instead are meant to attract attention. If this attention isn’t directed in the proper areas it may have a negative impact on user experience. Going back to the salon website example: an interactive photo gallery might look great front and center on the website. But many people would be distracted by that. They might actually be less likely to call or schedule an appointment online.
Integrate Social Media
It’s more important now than ever to ditch those old image galleries and replace them with a social media embed such as Instagram. Social media is one of the best ways to achieve strong brand recognition. I have personally seen brands explode with popularity overnight due to social media. Many people spend the majority of their free time scrolling through various social media platforms. Constantly seeing posts and photos from a particular business will stick with them, even if it’s just subconsciously. While integrating social media with a website may not make an immediate difference, it will make those platforms more visible.
Skip the Huge Photo Sliders
Rather than wasting valuable real estate on your website with a large photo slider, try replacing it with a more direct and concise message. Most people don’t have the attention span to sit and look at each slide in a slider. This means that people are only seeing your first slide, and they’re missing out on the rest of that content you felt was important. By creating more static content in its place, you ensure that your viewers won’t be able to skip over crucial information. It also creates a more clear way of navigating the website. A slider will often present you with several sets of information, requiring some sort of decision of where to go next. If that slider is replaced by a single block of text and a button, then the choice of where to go is already made for you.
A strong web presence is only becoming more important for businesses in 2019. With many people relying on the internet for all of their information, you’re basically invisible to them without it. Simply implementing some of the tips above could have huge results in terms of how often and how effectively viewers interact with your website.
