In today’s day and age, an effective website is the only way to ensure success for an emerging business. It acts as a direction for your efforts, investments, and strategy to boost conversions and ultimately increase the revenue manifold.
It is apparent that new elements and innovative styles in website design tend to evolve within short spans of time. This fastidious pace has pushed competition so high that the intensity is sharp enough to behead the tortoise in the race.
Every element has its own responsibility that helps the website stand apart. From storytelling for a brand to facilitating accessibility for the impaired users, there is some functionality that is always at play. At the end of the day, the business is only concerned with developing a website that performs well for the audience without floating away with each trend that crashes the waves. The ultimate goal is to boost user-experience.
The intense competition makes it hard for the business and developers to pick the select few elements that must be prioritized. In order to help out our readers with shortlisting the essential elements of website design, we have chosen a short list of seven elements that are critical to the success of a website.
From the development of the concepts to the creation of appropriate content, each element shall be touched upon for your assistance. This article focuses on the current practices which is why it is concerned with the modern take on success in ecommerce websites and portals.
So, are you ready to jump into the ABC of successful web design for ecommerce?
Accessibility
Inclusiveness is the top priority of all modern websites. This implies that the ecommerce website must be designed in a way that accommodates the varying needs of differently-abled users. Basic features such as visual and audio aids in varying degrees can help you become the best business on the online block.
This involves sensible placement of key information in plain sight for improved accessibility. If a client is unable to find the information they are looking for, then indeed the business loses an opportunity that could have been cashed! Delinquencies in accessibility arrangements can lead to devaluation of the user-experience on your website. There is a reason major brands focus on accessibility measures on their websites!
Content
The content is often labeled as king. This means that the copy placed on the website should be curated in a tone that resonates with the target audience. It should gather consumer attention and retain it through regular engagement.
Content is an undermined marketing technique that must be utilized for its full potential to achieve business goals. The key here is to create emotive messages that reflect with the audience and generates needs in the life of the target cohort.
It aids lead generation and significantly boosts conversions. Also, the better the quality of the content, the higher your authenticity goes!
Mobile Friendliness
The average consumer today spends a lot of their waking hours perusing through their smartphone. It is a technology that has become the torch bearer of optimization for all businesses.
When a business chooses to optimize their website for mobile-friendly speeds and dimensions, they directly improve the user experience and up their chances of a better rank on search engines.
A website’s mobile-friendliness reveals that the business is focused on facilitating the user. In entails that the webpage automatically adjusts to different screen sizes and does not mess up the visual elements from the webpage. Skin Outfits, an online leather jacket store is an excellent example.
Navigation
Clear navigation on an ecommerce site adds value to the user experience. It helps search engines for indexing web pages according to user feasibility and leads to a favorable rank in the books of Google. Strategic linking to the home page and the use of site maps are common practices in this regard.
The rule of thumb is to ensure that the homepage is only two clicks/taps away from any web page on the site. Distances longer than two taps could be considered a hassle and push the consumer away from the site. Silo architecture is a brilliant tool in this regard.
Visual Aesthetics
Whether you examine the old school print marketing efforts or the bright and beautiful graphics of modern-day social media campaigns, the aesthetic appeal of the content has remained the same. Since the consumer today is seeking an experience that pleases all of their sensibilities, content that pleases their aesthetic abilities is a sure shot way of gaining brownie points?
Professional designs for logos and campaign templates are significant investments that must be respected for their returns. This is why it must be remembered that the visual content must reflect a uniform brand story that does not deviate from the copy.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is another element that is necessary for successful website design and execution of ecommerce business and ventures. It helps secure a high rank on Google and other search engines to improve the visibility of the website.
Better visibility ensures that the client directed to the page is already prepared to make a purchase. This involves the use of local, technical, on-page and off-page categories of search engine optimization practices.
Strategy
Last but not the least: strategy. Developing a well-devised strategy for website design and development is necessary to make sure that the business outranks its rivals. The creation of an efficient strategy involves the use of comprehensive research and competition analysis of the niche that the business aims to operate in.
Final Thoughts
Today we live in an era of digitization where the digital revelation has just begun. The seismic shift in consumer patterns and the reduced concentration spans for online content has created a void that will soon fill up with unusual ideas.
Hence there is no denial in the fact that a business can only reach optimal levels of sales and revenues if they choose to develop a brand that is accessible for all and friendly for more digital devices.
The consumer is looking for an experience that pleases their mind instead of seeking products to alleviate their needs. The business that learns this lesson at an initial stage is bound to succeed!