The Importance of Web Design for Your Blog or Business

We all spend our time focusing on other things that help improve our business or blog.

And who can blame us. Time is short, and there is too much to do each day.

However, as people start to spend more and more time on the internet, the expectations of website owners increases.

Imagine:

I am waiting for a bus and I start to surf on my smartphone for a new laptop.

I find your website. You have a great selection of laptops and I decide to pop in for a look.

Where is your phone number? Where is your address?

It takes me forever to find them. I get frustrated. And head to another site.

This is only one scenario where you lose a potential customer because of your website.

Let’s take a look at some of the most important things you need to consider with web design.

Is your Web Design Stunning?

Web design and even social media are turning more towards visuals in 2014.

Don’t believe me? Check out this post from Wishpond about the new visual content trends this year.

And even if you think you have not noticed, you probably have without even realizing.

• The explosive growth of social media sites like Pinterest, Vine and Instagram
• Twitter has also added images and videos to your stream (they grab your attention)
• The increase in the number of videos and Google Hangouts taking place

The first thing your visitors notice when they see your website is how it looks. Such things as

• The color scheme
• The generous use of white space
• The tasteful choice of fonts and perfect font sizes (for readability)
• The jaw-dropping choice of images throughout the site

There are of course many more areas that need to taken into account when blowing your visitors away with your stunning website, but these are a great start.

As a side note, read these posts on sharing images on social media (or just check out my comprehensive image section):

Make sure you share infographics correctly on social media

Want to know what the right sizes are for each social media site

Brand Your Website Like Cattle!

Ouch. That hurts.

A brand that is. Yes, the original steaming hot cattle branding iron! Use it on your website too.

Make sure Your Brand shines through in everything you do – especially on your Web Design.

This can take on many forms:

• Use your Logo on your site and images
• Your chosen color scheme aligns with your brand and logo
• The look and feel are consistent with Your Image

If you need some ideas on what colors to choose for your brand identity, take a look at this post:

A Collection of 12 posts on the meaning of color 

Does Your Website Dance the Tango?

Crazy I know! No website in his right mind would ever try and learn the Tango.

It is super difficult. I tried it one night in Buenos Aires and nearly tripped over my own two feet!

But seriously, what is it your website should be doing? What is the functionality that it should fulfill?

When you are designing or revamping your website, make sure that it’s key purposes are met.

• If you have a blog, make your content easy to find and read
• Selling something? make your products sexy and easy to buy
• A locale business? make your contact details and an address/map prominent!

No two websites are the same. And everyone has different preferences. But make sure your site is doing its job.

Impress Google With Your Web Design SEO

Of course every decent structure is build upon solid foundations and a website is no exception.

If you want to get found via search engines, you need some basic on-site SEO in place to rank with the likes of Google and Bing.

A great web design will not only take the visuals into account, but will make sure that each web page and blog post has the right SEO elements.

And if you want to take it a step further, and use keywords that will get you visitors and ranking, here are a couple of posts that will help:

Try some free keyword research tips

Rank on Page One of Google

The Big Question: Does Web Design Really Matter?

This infographic shows us what people and business really think about the importance of web design.

They also give us an idea of what people are willing to pay in order to meet their web design goals and impress their customers.

Infographic courtesy of Infographicality 

Tango Photo courtesy of Un Milonguero Mejicano via photopin cc

Header Photo Alex Dram via photopin cc