Web designing is a rather subtle way of putting know-how and creativity together. It takes a lot of brainstorming to bring coherence to ideas and designs into the webpage so as to allure, attract and retain visitors. To put it simply – a company’s webpage, as the first point of contact with visitors, serves both the business end and the aesthetic needs of a brand. So, when we are talking about customers and business prospects, it’s mandatory to work on the website, and hence choose a web designing service provider who can do it for you.
But designing a website is collective work. It’s not enough to find a good vendor – the vendor can only help to put your vision into the digital canvas. So, if you really want your website to stand out and make a difference, it’s best to do your homework as well.
Look at Your Competitors and Market Leaders:
It’s good to know what your competitors are doing. Since at the end of the day, you are going to use your website for business, knowing how your competitors are able to retain website visitors and conversions is a good place to start from.
There’s a lot you can learn from your competitors – and the market leaders as well. Following are some of the lessons you can incorporate into your website design and concept from a competitor’s website.
Start with the Homepage:
When looking at a competitor’s website, start with the homepage. Identify elements that attract you as a visor, impress you or even turn you off. The competitor site can give a profound idea of the elements that catch the attention of users.
The homepage is the window into the whole website; it should contain a preface of the product and services offered. But don’t go overboard with a variety of graphics, catch phrases or patterns to kill the essence of real content. The key is to balance all the essential elements.
Layout and Color Scheme Does Matter:
This is the slightly tricky part. Color choices make a lot of difference to how welcoming your websites are – and what works for your competitor might not work for you. Colors will also have to be aligned to your brand and logo. It is also necessary to maintain uniformity in colors in order to maintain brand entity. But when analyzing the competitor’s website, don’t ignore the structure, layout and navigation pattern.
Your competitor and industry leaders have been reworking on their websites from time to time to maintain the UI/UX and offer a clutter free experience for their clients. Now all you have to do is learn from them and incorporate the best experiences into your webpage.
Social Media Accounts and Customer Engagement:
In this age of social media networking, the channel is being used widely as a marketing channel as well. A well-designed website will come with all social media buttons and links, so as to drive visitors to the world of social media as well. It’s however important to remember two things when incorporating social icons into your web page:
Your linked social handles must be active. It’s a big turnoff when visitors are directed to social profiles only to find it inactive.
Your social profile is the place for audience engagement. It is the place where you can plan strategically to convert random visitors into customers.
Also, considering the need for search engine presence and ranking, social presence and the right content strategy can do wonders for Search Engine Optimization and online presence.
Is your Website Mobile Friendly?
Since the number of mobile using consumers has risen to a considerable amount, a lot of importance must be given to keeping your website responsive and mobile friendly. With Mobilegeddon playing an important part in driving traffic to websites, it’s unwise not to pay attention to website graphics, features, images, font, color, and navigation etc. Chances are high that it can gain a considerable amount of organic traffic.
When going to your competitor’s website, therefore, do check how they have worked on these elements.
So, make sure to keep these points in mind while approaching a web designing service provider so that by putting in your best ideas into creative solutions, a world-class website can be designed to standout in a competitive market.