The way the web is always changing we often get held back with ‘the times’ and if we’re honest, most don’t like change. So when it comes to deciding on what actually makes a great business website design, everyone’s views are always going to be a different.

We often see other websites that look pretty, but it does not display a core message, or is trying to give too many messages. Finding the ‘sweet spot’ is when design will play a big part in the success of that business website.

Let’s go over some of the key design principles that we go through when designing a new business website and tie those in with some do’s and don’ts of current trends.

Key Design Principle: The Objective

Your website needs to have a clear message and objective – one central focus point on what action should be taken. For example, to show your work/product or generate leads for your business.

With business websites, 99% of the time, no matter what industry your company is in, the audience or consumer will want to find what they’re looking for, and fast! This is one of the biggest problems you’ll face; going on from that you can start to work your way down into getting them to the place they want to be.

If you can’t fulfill this for your website visitor, the likelihood is that you’re going to lose them and they may not come back.

How can you turn it into a good business website?

There’s a lot of design elements that we could talk about regarding what we believe makes a good business website design. Each project, company and client can be completely different so the outcome is going to be different, but you can use these as a general outline:

Tip #1: Imagery

Using big imagery is on trend at the moment, also with the increased broadband speeds in the past few years it’s now viable to be using bigger images and still have a reasonable load times. However, always make sure that the imagery you’re using is relevant to the content you’re creating, enforcing your key message.

Tip #2: Big Bold Typography

At isev, typography is possibly one of our favourite parts when designing business websites. This is often missed by others, as there’s so much more than just choosing a font for your website. We’re not going to bore you in telling you what our favourite typefaces are but, taking your time to have a clean, easy to read typeface to suit your industry and audience should definitely be at the top of your to-do list. This ensures your key messages are clearly seen by your visitors and key elements stand out.

Tip #3: Navigation and Usability

It’s key for a visitor to be able to navigate around your website easily, fluidly and without any roadblocks in what they’re looking for – this is what will keep your audience from ‘bouncing’ away. Have you ever been on a cluttered website, got annoyed when you couldn’t find something in the navigation and just bounced to another site? Clean, minimal, straight to the point navigation is what is on trend at the moment – not complex multi-mega menus.

When designing your business website page menu think ‘what is the easiest way for new visitors to find your key information’. Always have a contact us area top right of your website page with phone number clearly displayed. Also use words that your audience will be familiar with…avoid tech speak!

Tip #4 Call to Actions

We believe a strong call to action on your website to be one of the most important parts. Your website should have an action that you want the user to take. Whether that to be sign-up, buy something, or contact you, that should be a core focus once they reach your website.

Placement, colour and wording are the more important features of a good call to action. Using a colour that isn’t used for anything else on the page will make your call to action stand out from the rest of the content. Using wording such as “Buy Now”, “Get a Quote” and “Download Now” are a good start.

Tip #5 Content Structure

With the booming of long scrolling websites in the past year, it’s critical that you get your content structure into an order that will ‘convert’ the user. Featuring content on the homepage for example instead of just linking each feature in a separate page throughout the site will keep users interested. We like to use the AIDA technique: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action when thinking about the content structure of a website.

Of course design is only one part of a good website, there’s development and website hosting. There are a lot more points that we could go over other than the five above, but with good design, and completing the company’s objective you can be well on your way to having a successful business website.

For help or advice on creating well designed business websites contact us.