Are you a repeat offender?
When it comes to web design, there is more than one way to make a mistake. (The ultimate offender being the DIY route.) Let’s talk about the single most important one today.
What major mistake do most people perpetuate time and time again?
They focus on their website looking pretty.
You know, a logo all glittered up with script font, a fashionable color palette, fonts that are on top right now and a popular pre-made theme that you’re likely seeing everywhere.
They spend countless hours browsing Pinterest for inspiration, trying to find their perfect theme, fonts, and all that cool stuff we all like to pin but at the end of the day, all they’ve really accomplished is going round and round in a circle.
They keep tweaking their branding and site over and over again being inspired by yet another trend never really developing one of their own.
Something is always missing and they will always be trying to fill “the void.”
Does this sound familiar?
>> There is never really any momentum because they lack consistency. It’s not their fault – something doesn’t feel right.
>> No matter what they do, their website doesn’t attract the people they seek. The people that do come through don’t convert into clients or customers.
>> The site lacks strategy. There is no purpose and to be frank, it’s ALL over the place. Here we go again about consistency. It’s crucial and can be damning.
>> If this is you – I feel you. Trust that I FEEL you. My clients have all FELT this and at some point, way back when, I felt this too just starting out. The insecurity. The OVERWHELM. You can get your website right. It is possible for you!
Now don’t misconstrue what I’m saying. I spend far too much time on Pinterest and I follow design trends. #sorrynotsorry
Get some assistance from me in an interactive way! Shop my e-guides and let me show you how to work the steps of branding your website for great conversion and less overwhelm.
Understand this: The strategy behind the layout is far more important than the prettiest and most flashy design. Skipping a strategy session followed by a wireframe is the number 1 mistake people make when designing a layout for the website. You can have pretty and flashy – -but the strategy needs to come first.
During the strategy session, you should ask yourself a few important questions:
- What’s my main purpose for this website?
- Who’s my ideal target audience?
- What action do I want them to take on my website?
- How will I measure if my website is successful?
It’s important to understand your goals. Who you’re targeting, what you’re going to expect people to do and how will you measure your success. A website is the hub of your marketing plan. After all, it’s there to promote your business, sell your products and get you, new clients.
Your website CAN and should follow website trends (especially the ones that are really beneficial to you. Trends you should follow are responsiveness, high contrast so people read easily, high-quality photography, etc. What you need to be clear on is the layout and structure first so things can begin to fall into place.
Let’s Talk Wireframing & why it’s SO Important
Once you know your goals, you can think of the elements, functionalities, and content that will help you achieve those goals. That’s the perfect time for a wireframe.
Don’t freak out when you hear the word wireframe for the first time. A wireframe is simply a very rough drawing of your website. Then, a UX designer (those who design the flow of the website and your experience with it) design a website; multiple sketches of it, to produce a simple, organic flow. The next step is to pass this layout onto a designer who will make the site look “pretty.” The best situation you can find yourself in is you find a designer well versed in UI and UX. You get both function and beauty in one.
When creating a wireframe, your designer distributes the content of your website and plans a simple layout. Since it’s just a drawing and a very simple one, it’s easy to move stuff around until they create the perfect solution for you. This is where you need to be patient because like Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither was a beautiful, functional website.
Skipping this step may mean your website will be beautiful, but may not fix the problems you were having, may not convert or may not increase the time your audience spends browsing your pages. It will not be a functional website that works for you.
Start with your Audience in Mind
Why do you do what you do? For your audience of course! So, it only makes sense that when designing your website, you start with them in mind. What do they expect from a business like yours and what kind of content will make them want to buy from you. Put yourself in their shoes and think, “why would I buy from me?” Knowing them like your BFF will also make it really easy for you to find the perfect colors, photography or even fonts for your website. After all, all those things are a part of your branding and a thing that attracts your ideal clients. You want to know who you want to attract, so you know which visuals to use to your advantage. Remember, strategy over pretty. At the very least, blend the two.
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