Three Web Design Tips to Make Your Startup Stand Out
If you’re about to launch your startup, nailing the website is a great way to maximise your success. Your website must not only get your concept across, but you want your audience to hang out for a while and take whatever action you want them to take. Here are some top tips to help you ensure your website is as impactful as it can be.
Image Source: Pexels
The Five Second Rule
If you’re wondering how long you have in which to make your site visitor decide to stick around, a good rule of thumb is you should aim to impress them, or interest them, or grab their attention within five seconds, or they’ll be hitting that back button. But how do you make a good impression in so little time? The key is creativity. Your home page should contain something astonishing. Whether it’s an image or a turn of phrase, find something that represents your business that grabs the reader’s attention. You’re not trying to sell your product in the first five seconds – you’re simply trying to get your audience to stay and find out more. Once you have their full attention, proceed with your killer sales copy that tells the audience that you understand their problem and how your product is going to solve it.
Design and Copy That Does Double Duty
Every piece of work you do for your website should do double duty. For example, your copy should both engage your reader and nail your SEO. If you’re only writing with your product description in mind, you could be throwing away your chances of beating your competitors in the endless race for Google search rankings. If you take your search ranking seriously, an seo website audit is an essential step. What you’re looking for is copy that simultaneously sells your product and helps your business come out tops in your customer’s search. Likewise, web design that looks great on desktop is a wasted opportunity if it doesn’t look perfect on mobile as well. Even if you’re making what feels like relatively small choices, make sure you’re thinking big picture.
Photo by Fabian Irsara on Unsplash
Nail Your Design
Getting a custom built website is an expensive outlay for a new business. Even if you decide to go with a template from a site like Squarespace, you’re still going to have to invest a considerable amount of time in your website before it’s ready to launch. So before you call up a web designer or sign up with a site host, make sure you’re absolutely sure what you want your website to do. A few key questions to ask yourself are: what should the overall look and feel of my website say about my business? What am I trying to express? To answer these questions, you’re probably going to have to drill down into your company values and understand your priorities as an organisation. How do you want to be seen from the outside? What do you want the user to feel, or do? Once you’ve nailed down the tone and the impression you’d like to make, start thinking about colours, layout, fonts and images, making sure you hold every choice up against the design strategy you set out with.
Whether you’re building it yourself or calling in a web designer, these tips will help you get your website right first time.
