Nowadays, so many young entrepreneurs are neglecting Branding which is one of the essential aspects of a business.
Branding means so many things; it includes logo design, banner design, packaging design, merchandise design as well as the web design.
In short, branding is what prevents your business from being ignored or forgotten, especially amongst the next generation of consumers.
However, it’s a little surprising and disconcerting to see so many businesses use considerable resources to create compelling content only to fall down in one key aspect: Design.
If readers find your content visually unappealing they’re likely to leave the page. Visual appeal is essential no matter how detailed and informative your content is.
How great design can increase content marketing conversions
No doubt about it, great design is one of the keys to converting readers into brand advocates nowadays. Keep reading if you want to discover how places like 99 Designs and other alternatives can help you find and work with talented freelance designers online.
Improved functionality
While your content should drive traffic to your website, design should keep them there. Incidentally, a good design is also a key SEO component thanks to Google’s emphasis on User Experience (UX). It should be easy for visitors to find whatever they’re looking for on the site.
Poorly designed sites have content buried deep in the navigational jungle and visitors simply won’t put in the time or effort to find it. Always keep user behaviour in mind when designing a site.
For instance, when visitors land on a blog page, they should always know what to do next on the site. There should also be as few obstacles as possible when it comes to making a purchase on the site.
“Great design is the secret to business!”
Finally, make sure the site can be accessed from different devices and operating systems. If your website isn’t ‘mobile friendly’ you’re doing it wrong!
The average user won’t wait more than a few seconds for a page to load nor will they tolerate a site that isn’t mobile friendly when browsing on a Smartphone. Responsive design enables you to create a website that can be properly viewed on any screen size.
Provides consistency
Design needs to be consistent across a website or else visitors will get confused. When we say ‘consistent’ we mean colour scheme, imagery and writing style among other things.
Your website is an extension of your brand so make sure it fits. This consistency also helps create a positive first impression. For example, a Call-To- Action’s look and feel should be similar to the landing page it leads to.
Visitors will make up their mind about your website and brand within seconds of landing on the homepage. A jumbled up mess will not only cause them to leave the site, it will probably permanently end your chances of gaining their custom.
Visual impact
It takes a pretty special writer to effectively convey feelings such as joy or sadness. As a result, you’re unlikely to have much of an emotional impact on visitors if they’re greeted by a wall of text.
In contrast, visual elements are incredibly effective at awakening memories and providing readers with emotions such as self-confidence, hope and happiness. You can also use artistic design and clever colour schemes to convey a sense of trust.
Visitors should be able to consume your content in several forms including images and videos. Unfortunately, the general public’s attention span has dwindled markedly in the Internet age so they are less likely to read lengthy articles than they were 10 years ago.
Pictures and videos allow you to tell your story with less reading and fewer clicks. Interactive content such as infographics are fantastic for providing readers with a large amount of content in an aesthetically pleasing format.
Great design gets their attention
Great design is crucial if you’re looking to immediately attract attention. Let’s be honest, we all prefer a ‘pretty’ design over a less than attractive one. The Angry Birds Space website is a prime example of hitting visitors over the head with a sledgehammer design-wise.
The shiny moon really stands out against the blue background while the ‘Angry Birds Space’ title is also immediately noticeable. Despite all of this, the designers still manage to ensure the actual bird characters are also easy to spot.
Finally, readers can also see text offering instructions on site navigation. Your task is to learn enough about your target audience to understand what they find aesthetically appealing.
Conclusion
It should be apparent by now that design has a huge impact on your target audience, the actions of consumers and your brand as a whole. When you optimise design, you eliminate confusion and make it easy to guide visitors from blog posts to landing pages to videos. Great design will boost your conversion rate as you not only immerse people in a journey; you give them precisely what they want.
You need to work with your designer to establish the goals of the project whether it is a company website, video, infographic or social media page. Once you know the message you want to convey to your target audience, it will be much easier to find the design that best complements your content.
