The user experience, or “UX’” as it’s called in the digital marketing world, is incredibly important to the success of your business. Think about it from a customer perspective (because we’ve all been there)— you’re interested in looking up a new product or service from a company you aren’t very familiar with and when you reach their website it’s difficult to navigate and find information, the visual aspect is less than appealing, and you find yourself ready to bounce off the site just as quickly as you searched for it.
That, in a nutshell, is poor UX. So, you ask, what is great UX and how can your business achieve it? It all starts with a great web design strategy. Web design ties directly into putting your best SEO foot forward. It sounds easy, and it can be—if your web design team and digital marketing team organize and strategize! In today’s digital age, the design of your website and how users interact with it, will directly affect where your site ranks in the Google search results. So, let’s get started with some web design tips that will help your site rank higher (or even #1!) on Google.
6 Web Design Tips That Will Help Your Website Rank #1 on Google
1. Start with the basics.
The basics of designing your company website should include your logo, official brand colors, fonts, any original photography/video, and consistent messaging. You want your brand to look consistent across all digital (and traditional) platforms in order to add credibility. Whether users are finding you from your website or social media channels shouldn’t matter, because they should be able to understand who you are, what you sell or services you provide, where you’re located, and the driving force behind your brand. This doesn’t mean all copy and imagery need to be identical across every platform, it just means your audience should know it’s you by your tone of voice and visual identity.
2. Make navigation easy.
The last thing a user wants is to get to your website only to have no idea where to click to find what they’re looking for. Before you randomly start creating subpages within your site, create a ,sitemap. This will be your design and development team’s guidepost for ensuring a smooth visit to and through your website. Only the most important aspects of your business should live on the main navigation (whether it be a toolbar or menu). Think, “About Us,” “Contact Us,” “Shop Products,” “Blog,” etc. Within each of those main categories is where you’d start to break down your subpages, sort of like a website family tree. The easier your site is to navigate, the more successful and satisfying users will find their visit.
3. Make sure your site speed is, well, up to speed.
If a user experiences a slow, lagging, or outdated site, they’re going to bounce right off and likely not visit it again. This is important to note because Google specifically takes into account your website’s bounce rate (the percentage of visitors who navigate quickly away from a site after viewing only one page) when ranking a website in its search results. Google shares ,a special tool for developers to ensure your website is operating smoothly and quickly. You may be thinking that this tip isn’t design-related, but we assure you it is. The number and size of photos and videos, as well as number of pages within the website, can slow it down.
4. Implement keywords, but don’t overdo it.
nIt’s time for keyword research! Before you start writing and designing copy for your website, it’s important to understand the relevant keywords for your industry—this is what your target audience is searching for. Keywords should be specific to your industry, business, and location and should be strategically-placed throughout your website. However, there is such a thing as overdoing your keyword implementation, and Google will find out if you’re trying to load up on keywords just for the sake of ranking. Your web design strategy should include working with the SEO team and creative copywriters to ensure your compelling, relevant copy will exist in appropriate places on your site to create a flow, or a story, of copy that makes sense.!
5. Make your website design responsive.
nResponsiveness is just another way of saying that your website is flexible! Your web design and development team should create your site with a flexible layout so that when your site is viewed from different devices with different screen sizes (smartphone, laptop, tablet, desktop, etc.), the website will look and navigate the same!
6. Link internally.
One sign of a well-performing website is that it links internally to pages within the overall site. This helps a user navigate more efficiently and find information they may not have otherwise come across. For example, if you’re reading a company’s blog about web design that will help your site rank higher on Google and it mentions clear navigation and other ,tips to improve your website’s health and performance, you may be directed to even more specific information on their website about that topic. See what we did there?
If you’re starting from scratch or simply need a website design overhaul, our ,website development and ,design teams can help you develop and enhance your web design strategy. ,Jennasis & Associates is your dedicated web design agency for all things creative and technical. ,Contact us today to get started so that your website can rank #1 on Google!
