If you have a website for your business, you want it to look the best, right? But did you know that design isn't just for aesthetics anymore? So why is design important for your website anyway?

Having a well-designed website can improve the whole customer experience, which makes retaining customers and attracting new ones that much easier. 

There are over 1.7 billion websites online right now, and yours has to be able to compete. While all of those websites aren't in your niche, it's likely that some of them are, and they probably have professional designers.

If you're not convinced, keep reading to learn about why design is so important and how a well-designed site can really boost your business.

Why Is Design Important?

Everyone wants an aesthetically pleasing space, but does it really matter? It's easy enough to buy a domain and slap on a simple website, so why is design so crucial? 

Your customer experience is going to be impacted based on the design of your website. Design isn't only the aesthetic appearance, it's also the user interface and how the site functions. If you want happy clients, you want a well-designed website. There are plenty of ways the user experience is changed by design.

Navigation

Some websites are impossible to navigate. They're overcomplicated, the colors blend into each other, and fonts are meshing together. It's not an ideal situation.

A well-designed site will have an easy navigation path for users to take. Simplicity is key here. A smooth and simple navigation bar with easy to read labels is often all it takes to upgrade a website's look.

Users who are able to navigate your site are able to look through your products and services with ease instead of getting frustrated and moving on to the next site.

Professionalism, Trust, and Branding

When you run a business, a website is similar to a business card. That website represents you. Imagine your business card was a Post-it note with your business name written on it. That's probably not going to get many clients, right?

70% of people polled said that they would not trust a poorly designed website. When someone is expecting professionalism, that makes sense. Part of being a professional is knowing how to present yourself, and website design is all part of that presentation. 

But why is design important? 

Would you be more trusting of a professional who came to work in their pajamas or someone who came in a finely tailored suit?  

A bad website is like internet pajamas. 

You want your personal brand to be professional, trustworthy, and attractive to clients and customers. 

Usability

Similar to navigation, this matters a lot to customers.

A customer is likely on your site for a specific purpose. They want to find a product or they want to find information. If these things aren't immediately accessible to them, they may get frustrated and give up. You'll lose your business to another similar company because of poor website design. 

You want to make sure that all of the main information that a customer might need is easily available to them, either on the home page or through a link that clearly designates it as that information's home. 

People generally want to see addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and (if you offer a service) pricing information, or a way to learn about it.

People are notoriously impatient online, so making this information as accessible as possible is going to up the usability of your site incredibly. 

Mobile Usability

In 2020, all websites should be mobile-friendly. 

More people than ever are using their phones as computers more often than they're using their actual computers. This means that if your website doesn't work on mobile, you're doing yourself an incredible disservice and losing a large part of your potential userbase.

There are many different screens to adapt to, and what looks good on a desktop might look awful on the small screen of a phone or the differently shaped screen of a tablet. 

It's crucial to pay attention to these things when considering your website design.

Conversion

The goal of your website is often to direct users to specific products or services that you have on offer. You can't make them click on those things, but you can certainly encourage it with smart design.

Bringing people from your homepage to your desired webpage or product is a goal of good website design. It has to be attractive or subtle enough to not be abrasive to the customer, but also not be hidden amongst the rest of your links. 

You want users to click through your site, not just reach the homepage and disappear. 

Well-designed websites have better conversation rates than poorly-designed, difficult to navigate websites. 

SEO

Everything is about SEO online. You want to ensure that photos or images on the site are all paired with alternative text and placed appropriately for image searching. You want to ensure that the coding isn't too heavy for slower computers. 

Poor SEO quality means lower ranking on search engines. 

Is It Time to Hire a Designer?

Not everyone is a website designer, and that's okay! It's still important to consider website design as an important part of your company. Hiring a good designer can be considered a cost of doing business.

So why is design important again? A well-designed site will have you gaining and retaining more customers over time, so the investment in a designer is an investment in your future business growth.

For more information on designing a webpage for your business, contact us. We have plenty of examples of our satisfied customers in our portfolio, and there are plans and pricing for everyone.