Sunday, October 28, 2012

5 Easy Ways to Improve The Design of Your Website

Every business wants their website to perform well and get the desired results. However, only a handful of businesses are able to achieve this.

Unfortunately, simply having a website is not enough. Making sure your website is visually appealing, easy to use, and has the right functionality, are all equally important if you want to grow your business online.

An effective website strategy is one that focuses on constant improvements and tweaks till you get the desired results. In this article, we take a look at five easy ways you can improve the design of your website and make it more beneficial to your business.

1. Use a Good Sidebar

Sidebar is not just important on blogs. They can be equally effective on regular business websites. As websites become increasingly content driven, sidebars are becoming even more relevant.

Sidebar offers an excellent opportunity to accommodate different elements of a feature rich website. Sidebar attracts a lot of attention from users which makes it ideal for showcasing important elements that can benefit from extra visitor attention.? Whether it is your email sign-up form or calls to action, placing them on your sidebar is an excellent way to provide focus boost conversions.

Improve Web design - Sidebar

2. Style Your Web Forms

Data capture forms are an essential element of any effective website whether it is registration, login, email sign-up or enquiry form . Styling your forms with CSS is a great way to improve the design and usability of your website. Well designed forms helps to grab the attention of visitors. Abive all, it can boost conversions and help to generate leads on your website.

Putting some effort into styling your forms can an prove highly beneficial for your business. Even the simplest of forms can benefit from creative input. Take a look at an example below.

Improve Web Design - CSS Forms

3. Add a JQuery Slideshow

Slideshows created with Jquery or Motools JavaScript libraries have become very popular on websites in the past few years. It is a great way to make your homepage more appealing. Slideshows not only enhance the visual appeal of your website but also offer an effective way to display important brand messages, promote special offers or highlight other relevant areas of your website.

Improve Webdesign - Slideshow

4. Re-position Key Elements

This is a simple strategy but one that is often overlooked. Businesses often put too much emphasis on planning new website features but fail to realise how simple techniques such as placement of elements can impact your website.

Have you ever wondered why users are not sharing your content, using the call back form, or signing up to your email list? If your website receives a steady stream of visitors but existing features are underutilised, simply repositioning the elements can bring about noticeable improvements in results. Try to experiment with the design or placement of key website elements and you may be surprised with the results. You can check your results on Google analytics or better still use Google website optimizer to test alternatives.

5. Use Sufficient WhiteSpace

Whitespace is an essential characteristic of a professional website and it is one of the simplest ways to improve the design of your website. For those of you who are not familiar with this concept, whitespace refers to the empty space between elements. It does not necessarily mean the colour white. Adding sufficient whitespace between elements reduces clutter and gives it more breathing space. It also makes your design more balanced and easier to look at.

Improve Web Design - Whitespace

What About You?

What methods have you used in the past to improve the design or your website. Have you used the techniques above? We would like to hear from you. Please add your response by leaving a comment below.

If you like this article, please share it!

Source: http://www.kronikmedia.co.uk/blog/improve-web-design/5417/

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