3 Simple Ways To Improve Your Website

Your website is your business’ online store window so it’s important to improve your website. What you present to website visitors influences whether they become customers.

Look at the websites of businesses at the top of their game—like Apple—and you will see a pretty flawless user experience. We’re talking minimalist design, heavily visual, mobile optimized and super easy to find what you’re looking for.

Of course, Apple has an army of digital marketers working to make sure the website performs. However, there are things you can start doing today to improve your website.

Make it visual to improve your website

One of the biggest traps business owners fall into with their websites is overwhelming users with too much information too soon. You have loads of great information and products to share but you need to warm people up first.

Let’s come back to the store window analogy for a moment. Store owners don’t throw all of their merchandise in there! They choose a select few and make it visually appealing. Take the same approach with your website design.

The average human attention span is just 8 seconds – that’s not a lot of time to capture someone’s attention when they land on your website. You have to appeal to them fast.

The easiest way to do that is to lead with strong imagery – choose rich, high-quality photographs and graphics. Think simplistic in design – avoid anything that seems too overwhelming.

Having a bank of your own photography is something to aim for but you can find quality, copyright-free images relevant to your business on sites like Unsplash, for an immediate solution. I created a big list with free stock photo websites (22 websites that don’t have cringe-y photos!) so you can browse and find photos you love. 

Pick a color palette

It can be tempting to use an array of colors on your site to draw attention to key points, but it can harm people’s opinion of your business. Too many different colours going on can seem unprofessional which is not the message you want to put across.

You only need around five shades with one or two primary colors you use regularly. This applies to all design across your website, from the text to the menu. Pick complementary shades rather than a rainbow of colors. For example, rather than red, green and blue, choose dark grey, light grey, and navy blue.

There are plenty of tools available to help you establish your color palette.

Choose your text wisely

While less is more when it comes to website copy, you should carefully consider the words you do use. The importance of SEO shouldn’t be underestimated – you want to make sure your website appears high in search engine results and including the relevant keywords in your text will influence your rankings.

A good starting point is to think about the products or services you sell and what potential customers would search for to find your business. Then start working those words and phrases into your website content.

Starting a blog is another good way to create content around your keywords. It can seem like a big commitment to post regular blogs but you can develop a content calendar that suits your schedule. Find more advice on how to use blogs to promote your business.

You might also like to read:

• Making a success of your online store
• Setting up shop: getting everything you need for your new store
• What you need to know to make your blog your business
• Does your business look as good as it could?
• Interior Design Trends: Inspiring Bold Colors