Follow these 3 web design trends
Your company's website is a valuable informational and marketing tool, so it's important to ensure that it's both current and competitive for your industry and market. If you haven't recently refreshed your website's design or content, here are three design trends for 2014 that can help make it as efficient and effective as possible:
1. More visual websites
While quality content is important for building your brand identity and value as well as for search engine optimization (SEO), today's site visitor is interested in faster and easier information acquisition. That means more visuals and fewer words. Over the past couple of years, websites have become increasingly image-based, utilizing more infographics and image rotators to convey important concepts and information. Studies have shown that site visitors judge a website in less than seven seconds. Visuals can go a long way toward creating interest quickly by communicating ideas and information more effectively than text can. For example, an image of a tractor-trailer speeding down a highway communicates the concept of “commercial transportation” faster than words can.
2. Stronger calls to action
Increasing numbers of website owners are waking up to the fact that stronger “calls to action” are needed to turn visitors into leads. One of the biggest website complaints is that site traffic doesn't turn into sales. One of the leading causes for this is the lack of a strong call to action — a next step for visitors to take that will open a dialog or create a relationship. This can be anything from downloading a free whitepaper or e-book to scheduling a no-cost consultation. A growing number of companies and organizations are realizing that their websites need to be more than just pretty pictures and words; they need to provide site visitors with a clear and compelling next step that will bring them closer to becoming a customer or client.
3. Improved mobile accessibility
Smartphones and tablets are now the devices of choice for accessing the Internet. More than 70 percent of Internet users are now regularly surfing the Web with their iPhones, iPads, and Samsung Galaxies. This year, you'll see even more companies designing or redesigning their websites for the mobile market before they consider desktop or laptop users. That will translate into some fundamental site design changes that were previously considered taboo, such as longer scrolling pages. Mobile users are used to scrolling through Facebook and Twitter and would rather thumb their way down a page than have to switch pages.
Websites, like other business tools, evolve. The trend today is toward simpler, stronger, cleaner and more visual website designs, optimized for mobile use, that help visitors obtain the information they need as quickly and intuitively as possible while reinforcing company identity and value.
Matt Ward is president and CEO of inConcert Web Solutions of Gardner. He's also a speaker on the topics of Internet and social media, and the author of Making Your Website Effective.
WBJ Web Partners
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