How to Implement Simple and Clean Website Design

Implementing a simple, clean website design is critically important for a modern day small business. It can be too easy to lose prospects and customers in the details, rather than bringing them smoothly along the funnel. Take a look at the article below to learn some simple tips to design the best website for your small business!

Simple Website Design Practices

Your website should be straightforward, direct, and to the point if you expect any return from it. You need to design your website with user experience in mind and make it as easy as possible for your visitors to find what they want quickly. Tell them what to do, where to go, what to click. Unless your company’s goal is to be simply an information resource, you’ll most likely want to convert a site visit to a customer. The simpler your website design is, the fewer places your visitors have to get lost or distracted. If you’re not sure where to get started simplifying your website, here are a few tips to start you off: – Limit your site navigation bar to a maximum of eight tabs – Remove any bright, blinking, or moving graphics – Limit calls to action to your important landing pages – Use a consistent, limited color scheme of no more than two or three colors – Make sure any media (photos, videos, infographics, etc.) directly relates to –  the content on that page Today’s modern customer is all about efficiency and finding what they want fast! The more you bog down your website with unnecessary text and media, the slower your web visitor’s buying process becomes.

1. Limit Your Design Color Scheme

One popular web design simplification issue I often encounter with small businesses is their use of color and design on their website and other marketing materials. In the 90s and early 2000s it was acceptable and good even to have a lot of bright colors on your website to help grab a visitor’s attention. That’s not the case anymore, and unfortunately some small businesses have yet to update their website designs to match modern demands. Color plays a bigger role than you think in your online business success. We all know that different colors are associated with different emotions. For example, red can be associated with anger and blue can be associated with sadness, but that’s not where it stops. The effects of color go much deeper than just an emotional association. What are your website design colors saying about you? Take a few minutes to review some color theory principles to gain a better understanding of how your website is designed currently. If you’re looking to revamp your website design and use some modern color scheme practices, here are a few basic questions to ask yourself to help you put a redesign plan together: – Are your branding colors consistent across your marketing materials and website? – What do your competitors’ websites look like? – How many different colors are present on your website currently? The questions above will help you determine the look for your website and marketing materials. If and when you decide to redesign your website, you need to make sure to update your other marketing materials as well. Your branding needs to be consistent across all platforms. If your brand colors are different, prospects could get confused and leave. Next, take a look around you to see what your competition is doing. Is there a standard feel or look for websites in your industry? Do you competitors have updated and engaging websites that are most likely beating yours, or are they old and cluttered? Knowing where your website stands within your industry’s standards will help you develop the best look and feel possible. Make sure to note how many colors are being used on your website currently. If it’s more than three, you’ll most likely want to consider updating your website color scheme. Fewer colors create a more simplistic, minimalist feel for your website and won’t take away from the content you want your web visitors to interact with.

2. Simplify Landing Pages on Your Site

Have clear calls to action (CTA) visible on important landing pages to hold your visitors’ interest. Next, make sure your landing page content is coherent and is related to your CTA. Your content needs to entice your website visitors to click on your CTA offer to find out more. Assume you have this one chance, on this one page, to convince your visitor to do business with you. Make that space count! Ideally, your landing page should be laid out in a logical, simplistic manner, designed to attract your ideal target audience and keep them coming back. Figure out what the most popular pages are on your site and develop them to continue to bring in high amounts of traffic. Here’s how you can use Google Analytics to determine what you most popular landing pages are on your website: 1. Log into your Analytics account   2. On the left hand side navigation, click “Behavior”–> “Site Content”  –>“Landing Pages” 3. The corresponding data will show you what your most popular landing pages on your small business website are. Pro Tip: Make sure to pay attention to the date range you have selected for your data in the top right corner of the page! If you know your target audience is particularly interested in a specific topic, product, or resource, do all you can to make those pages visually appealing and useful to your audience. Take advantage of that high page traffic and include valuable links, a CTA, or a web form to help move the visitor through your marketing funnel. Calls to action are part of simplistic, clean site design and they aid a website visitor in their navigation, but if the screen is cluttered and full of CTAs, then confusion reigns supreme. Remember, you’re going for simplicity here. Too much of a good thing can still turn out bad. You don’t want to bombard your prospects with too many offers. Instead, give them a clear path to follow that’s free from distractions to make that process quick and simple for them. Think about the most successful product pages, service resources, or written content pieces you’ve produced, and make an effort on your site to direct web traffic there. Chances are if those pages are popular already, it should appeal to many others as well. Harness your popular, simplified, landing page content and tap into that target audience market out there!

In Conclusion

Your small business website design needs to be clean and simple! Your visitors and prospects don’t want to get bombarded with flashing graphics or too many offers when they click through your website. Take a look at the tips above to help you create a simple design for your site so it meets modern search standards.