The Importance of Effective Web Design for Businesses

Today’s business identity designs often include a website, but perhaps as you look at the options for how to best represent your business, you aren’t sold on the applications of a website, or think it will take too much time to maintain. Professional web design is one more tool in consumer appeal arsenal that businesses are focusing on more and more and one that you should certainly not put down without exploring why websites are important to consumers and for your business image.

Access From Anywhere

The first reason why effective web design is important for a business, whether it’s large or small, must be accessibility. Today’s world is driven by technology to a high degree. People have become used to instant access and now, more than ever, require it for convenience sake. They want the information on the go no matter what’s going on around them. Websites, even those that aren’t designed with accessibility high in mind, all offer this perk to consumers. A simple dot com allows most modern cellphones access and can be used as display case and support for the brand identity you have worked hard to build up.

Iron Paper reveals that 40% people change search query if the first is not mobile friendly. Quite naturally, an ever increasing number of businesses offer mobile access built in to the structure of websites, optimizing their size and the hierarchy of information and how it’s offered to consumers that browse from the much smaller screens of their tablets and smart phones. Any addition to a website that increases the number and frequency that a consumer can access your information improves the chances you will leave a positive impression on their mind and increases the likelihood they will buy next time they see your products on store shelves.

Brand Promise

Part of the image that you build with your brand identity is about the promise for the products you are bringing to the market. The best brands promise- and deliver – quality, quantity and convenience, all in equal measures. An effective website is used as a platform to support the vision and mission of your company through content and design details.

If you look at the web presence for any major company, you can expect to see that company’s familiar colors and their logo design, displayed prominently, usually on every page. Along with that, each page will, on a successful site, be tailored to support the image that company has designed their identity around, from silly to serious and all shades between. Websites speak to consumers and can be used to translate what is important to the company, into a language the consumer not only understands, but also enjoys.

Exposure

Another important factor in the competition for success in many markets is exposure to the right and higher numbers of consumers than your competition. A website helps with this in a number of ways, such as content that it provides and the ease of access, but there is another way in which websites can be used to raise the exposure rate of your products, services or ideas and that’s search engine optimization.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of getting exposure from free, organic search results on the internet through the use of keywords and phrases that search engines like Bing and Google use to display pages to browsers. With SEO, you can increase the exposure your company is receiving several times over what it might be getting through visual marketing or display. In fact, a blog published on Designhill reveals that you can bring your website to the top search pages through the use of keywords, articles and information on your site, paired with listing your business and site through the major search engine’s services. With SEO, you can increase the exposure your company is receiving several times over what it might be getting through visual marketing or display.

Feedback

A website can be tailored into a simple, efficient tool for you to communicate with consumers and even allow them to offer feedback to you. When a consumer purchases something in a store that is not directly owned by your company and has a problem with it or bad experience, how likely do you think it is that they’ll call your 800 number to complain? The fact of the matter is that many customers feel the telephone is antiquates and requires a time commitment they don’t want to invest, especially if they’ve been displeased with your product in some way already. The problem or displeasure might not even be the fault of your product or company, but if it carries your brand, then chances are high that you’re going to carry the blame. To mitigate the negativity that can easily be spread by word of mouth and the internet, websites can offer a convenient, much quicker way of receiving feedback from customers.

The Complete (Web) Package

Before you skip the website in favor of direct mail marketing or a toll free number, remember that it offers accessibility to your consumers, a way to connect with your brand ideals and learn more about your company and products and provide feedback as well as acting as more natural way to advertise your company to consumers who are already on the web, looking for just what you’re offering. Forgoing the opportunity to expand your presence via the web might not be a huge mistake, but the gains from capitalizing on it are sure to bring you that much closer to success.