In a world of Do-it-Yourself (DIY) tools and Denver web design platforms, anyone can make a website if you have the time and interest to learn how to build and design a website. There are a number of resources available on the web that comes with out-of-the-box website templates that require little to no changes to go live.
There are also a number of web developers and designers that work out of their parent’s basement and pump out template-style website for a very low cost. This is a known fact in the web design industry and something that doesn’t bother us one bit. The difference between a good website and a great website can also be the difference between a sale or a bounced website visitor. Go from good to great with your website and grow your traffic, leads, contacts, and clients with an exception website.
Overall Look & Feel
The look and feel of a website is as essential as a properly function website. The first impression of a website is generally made by looking at the aesthetics of the home page. Some specific things that amateur web designers and DIY folks tend to miss are logo placement and the structure of the main navigation.
A good website may put their logo at the very top or maybe along the left side of the website. Some companies don’t even have a logo and just put the company name at the very top. Logo placement on a great website is placed in the top left corner. This placement means the logo is the first things a visitor to your site is going to see. A clean, crisp, high resolution logo will be recognizable in other places on the web if you start creating brand awareness from the get-go.
The main navigation, in my opinion, is the second most important visual element on your website. A good web designer may put the navigation along the left or right side of the website; they may even put the navigation at the top. What we see a lot with websites that need a redesign is main navigation that is not intuitive. Business owners forget to think about the consumer when creating the home page navigation, putting long words and phrases in the navigation that barely fit and don’t represent what the different pages are about.
A great website has simple, clean navigation along the top of the website, generally below the logo. A great website designer puts things like Home, About, Services, Products, Blog, and Contact in the main navigation. This allows people to quickly find what they need without clicking more than 3 times. With a great Denver web design, site visitors can find what they are looking for in less than 90 seconds, as that is the average amount of time spent on a given website.
Functionality
I hate to point out the obvious, but, a properly functioning website can be the difference between a simple site visitor and a web conversion. Creating intuitive navigation and constantly testing links regularly to make sure they are working properly is the distinct difference between a good website design and great website design.
A good website performs simple functions like providing contact info that is readily available. A good websitemay or may not have movement on the home page with a Flash or JavaScript banner showcasing portfolio pieces or services and products. A good web design may have dropdown navigation but may include too many options, confusing site visitors.
Good websites may have a dedicated page on their website for links to partners or industry leaders. This is fairly common on older websites and is actually harmful to search engine rankings. A page chalk-full of outbound links can be seen as SPAM by Google and affect your site’s ranking.
A great website design is first developed by knowing who your buyer or ideal customer is; we call this the buyer persona. By creating buyer personas, great websites implements breadcrumb navigation to convert site visitors to potential leads. Breadcrumb navigation is exactly what it sounds like, it’s a trail of navigation points that lead to a converting page on your website, designed to capture website visitor information.
A great website generally includes engaging elements to keep site visitors entertained. This can be a live Twitter feed on your home page, a free downloadable mobile app, or even a contact form so visitors can easily get in contact with you. All of these elements are simple to implement and easy to maintain. There’s nothing worse than outdated or broken links on your website.
There are a number of Denver web design firms that do a good job when creating your website and building up your online brand. Plenty of business owners settle for a good website because they don’t know the different good and great. Something to think about is the fact that your website is only one piece of the puzzle. How you drive traffic, convert leads, and close business are pieces of the puzzle that cannot be over looked when contemplating a new or redesigned website.
Take a step back and make sure your web design is something you are proud of and happy to share with the world.
