When it comes to designing and developing high performance websites, the devil is in the details. From logo designs to color schemes, content development to navigational structures, each component of a website is only as successful as the last. There are, however, certain fundamental practices that are essential in fleshing out the little details to create a high performing, stellar website that generates leads and gets your business out there.
Wednesday night’s seminar (7/1/15) honed in on best practices and strategies for designing high performance websites for businesses. Imagine That CEO Tom Fellner presented at the Elevate Cospace co-working offices in downtown Frisco, to a group of local business owners, entrepreneurs and members of the B2B and B2C marketing community.
At the seminar, Fellner discussed the importance of brand awareness and development, establishing measureable goals, home page fundamentals, lead generation and more – all crucial factors in developing a website that plays a part in growing your business.
“Your logo is the tip of the iceberg, your brand is everything that sits beneath the surface,” Fellner said Wednesday. “Your vision, values and the legacy you create are what make up your brand identity.”
The funny thing about brand identity however, is that it’s only as good as the consumer’s interpretation of it. Your brand is a person’s gut feeling about your products, services and organization, and for 85% of your customers, your website is their first encounter with your brand. It’s no wonder business with great products but lacking or outdated websites so often fail due to to brand disconnect.
Of course, translating your brand into a successful website requires careful consideration. Do you understand your market and the demographics that make up your consumer base? Knowing the audience you’re delivering your message to is as important as the message itself.
There are a number of ways to determine your audience that fall in the realm of best marketing practices, such as gathering buyer personas through targeted research, DISC personality profiling, A/B site testing and more. It all boils down to one essential term: User Experience (UX). Your home page sets the stage for your website, which brings us to the five-second rule.
Do you remember as a kid, when you dropped food on the floor and you had five seconds to pick it up and eat it? Famously known as the five-second rule, this same theory applies to the home page of your website. You have five seconds to engage your audience and create a good enough first impression for your consumer before your website is “bad” – they lose interest and move on.
This is where the details come into play – captivating design trends, engaging content and clear calls-to-action are what make or break your website in those first five seconds. Over time, progress can be tracked in your metrics such as home page visitors and bounce rate.
As Fellner explained Wednesday, it’s important to envision the conversion funnel for your website. This process starts with all your marketing efforts and practices based off your brand, which is then converted into a mobile friendly and user centered design for your audience. From there, invite the customer to dig deeper with engaging content and calls-to-action. When executed successfully this brings us to the end of the funnel – branding and web design goes in, lead generations and dollar signs come out.
Imagine That’s ongoing learning series offers a myriad of presentations, courses, seminars and discussions to Colorado web design gurus, business owners and entrepreneurs. Each event is open to the public, and will be announced on our website prior to the date.
