Digital marketing covers a wide area of expertise, from advertising to search engine optimisation. One very crucial part of digital marketing however, is web page design, especially for businesses who have a large portion of their operations online. A well-designed web page promotes the business, boosts branding and gives visitors a good experience, all of which eventually lead to a more profitable business.
When it comes to digital marketing, a good web design is more than just an aesthetic page. It goes down to psychology and visual cues, cleverly placed buttons and subtle messages that push a visitor to take action. Good web design services make use of both aesthetic design knowledge and marketing data to produce a website that gives good user experience and higher conversion rates.
Graphic Design
First off, web design and graphic design go hand in hand. How visitors feel and what they will do the moment they land on a page will depend mainly on the page’s graphic design. These include the colours, shapes, typography and layout used in the site. As with any other form of graphic design, these elements are chosen thoughtfully to appeal to the audience’s psychology.
Depending on the type of business and their ultimate goals, there are several ways graphic design theories can be applied. Websites for industries such as healthcare, research and law would most likely use more professional fonts and structured layouts to give a sense of responsibility and trustworthiness to their customers. Retail, kids education, and entertainment industries might choose to use fancier elements to excite their target audience.
Colour psychology is a heavily studied topic and is considered in almost all forms of designing. Different colours can invoke different feelings to the viewer, and can be used to set the mood of the webpage. Unique use of colour combinations can also allow customers to link certain colours to a brand, building brand reputation.
However, the baseline for graphic design should be readability and comfort. Pretty graphics and colours will not be useful if visitors are unable to read the content or understand symbols. Poorly designed animations could also cause discomfort to the viewer, distracting them from important content.
Branding
One aspect some of us might not think of when talking about web design is inserting the brand’s “story” into the website. It could be in the form of a short introduction on the main page, or a separate “About” page on the site that introduces the business’s processes, history and visions.
This transforms the site from that of a cold, profit-making company to one that is more personal and relatable. When used together with the other elements of web design, this can be a very effective strategy to draw in the desired target audience and build a stable following.
Apart from the narrative, branding also means having a consistent theme and look that connects customers to the products and services offered. A single website should have consistent colour palettes, photography styles and fonts, even across different subpages. Even better, the same elements can be used across all content published by the business such as on social media platforms and newsletters.
Marketing Strategies
Lastly, web pages can be designed to actually impact desired marketing goals as well as work with other forms of digital marketing. For example, search engine optimisation (SEO) can be practiced throughout the site’s content to increase organic traffic. When using advertisements, landing pages should be extra captivating to increase the likelihood of visitors staying on the site.
User experience has a major influence on marketing effectiveness as well. A very wordy blog could appear too dry, while using too much media could cause a webpage to become laggy, both of which lower user experience. Visitors do not feel compelled to stay or return in the future, even though they managed to reach the site.
Another way user experience can be compromised is by having a site that is difficult to navigate. Not only does this discourage the visitor from browsing the site, it also directly decreases the chance of them completing the desired action such as purchasing a product or contacting the company.
Conversion rates can also be increased by using purposefully placed buttons, or strategies like displaying the hottest posts and products on the front page. Having pop-up subscription boxes are useful for businesses who have ongoing newsletters to update potential customers on current deals.
Digital marketers who specialise in web design do so based on data collected from successful websites. As compared to a designer with no marketing background, a digital marketer makes use of both marketing and design theories to increase a website’s profitability. While a designer might be more than enough for personal blogs or recreational content, any site that is built for a profit-making organization can gain from investing in a good web designing service that specialises in digital marketing.