Could your website design be hurting your search ranking?
When business owners, executives and marketers think of search engine optimization (SEO), they tend to focus on text-based issues like keywords and...
2 min read
Mark Parent December 23, 2015 10:30:00 AM EST
There's a reason why myths abound in our culture: people feel compelled to find out what should scare them and how they can avoid those scary eventualities.
However, most myths arise almost from thin air; they aren't based on scientific evidence or empirical data. Professional website design isn't immune from the tendency toward myth.
Read on to learn about common myths in this industry and why they aren't true.
The people who view your website are more important than the website itself.
An attractive website design is important, but only if it serves your audience. SEO Book makes an excellent case for intentional web design; it should meet the needs of the people who visit your website and allow them to accomplish their goals as quickly and painlessly as possible. Otherwise, you'll frustrate them until they leave.
This is why generic website templates rarely benefit a business. They might offer beautiful graphics and engaging fonts, but they aren't built with the business and its customers in mind. A professional website design that is custom engineered for your business will always perform better than a template you download from a website.
Your website is speaking to your customers, so make sure you know what your website design says about your business.
Your home page is an essential component of your website, but it's usually not the most important. In fact, landing pages are often more useful for running PPC campaigns, tracking visitor behavior, eliminating distracting elements, and funneling visitors toward a desired action or task.
This is why businesses shouldn't hire a web development firm for the home page, then cobble together the rest of the website on their own. Your visitors will find you through search engines and links that won't land them on the home page at all.
Want a better website design? Start with a better strategy.
Professional website designs are the result of a carefully crafted strategy. They employ elements that meet specific needs and work toward certain goals; they aren't just beautiful pieces put together on the screen.
If you work with a pro, map out a strategy based on how you want your customers to behave when they visit your site. Do you want them to delve into your blog posts? Buy your products? Sign up for your newsletter? Ask your designer to usher customers toward those goals.
These days, professional website designs are built with the customer -- that's you -- in mind. Your designer will use your budget to create a website that meets your needs. In many cases, web design is quite affordable.
Plus, it can generate massive return on investment (ROI). A professional website design will attract more customers, keep visitors engaged for long periods of time, and build your search engine optimization (SEO) ranks and garner links faster than a poorly-designed website.
Now that you know these so-called facts are actually myths, you can make an informed decision about your website.
To gain insight into how inbound marketing, data analysis, and agile design align with your website's development, download our Growth-Driven Design Playbook.
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