How long do you think people spend on any given website? 5 minutes? 3 minutes? 90 seconds?
It might surprise you to learn that according to statistics, the average user only spends 15 seconds looking at that first page. Within that short window of time, they’ll be deciding whether or not they want to stay and look further or click off and hunt out of the latest in YouTube cat videos instead.
So, what can you do to persuade users that yours is a website worth more than 15 seconds of their time? We’ve put together what we would consider to be the basics of website design to help you out.
Readable
Too many websites have far too much going on on their landing page. They’ve read the 15 second statistic and decided to put all of their content on the first page. This is the web equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot. The messier a page is, the less likely people are going to want to stay on it. Keep things simple, with just enough information to intrigue.
Mobile friendly
The most important thing you can do for your website in 2016 is make it mobile friendly. More and more of us are using our phones to access the internet – it’s worth investing the time into making sure those users have a good browsing experience. We’d also recommend giving them the option to ‘browse as web’ because some users prefer this.
Good copy
Great design is made better by great copy. You want your own distinct brand personality to shine through on your website, especially if users have come to expect a tone of voice or style of writing from you from your other marketing materials or your social media presence. Nothing lets an otherwise great website down more than badly crafted copy.
Easy to navigate
Don’t hide your navigation buttons! This happens far too often on websites – they might look good, but if your users can’t immediately see how to navigate the page then why would they waste time searching for the tabs they need?
Web design is all about making things as easy as is possible. If you feel like your site is in need of some attention, or you need help with search engine optimisation or your general marketing strategy, then get in touch with the experts at Colourful Owl to find out what we can do for you.