Website Design

Your website is almost always creating the first impression that people have of your company so needless to say, your website design should be outstanding, your website design should bring your brand to life online, your design should be up-to-date, mobile friendly, should load quickly, and should never rely on third party extensions like Adobe Flash that don’t work on most devices.

Designing an effective website that quickly and clearly presents your company’s unique value proposition to your visitors is an involved process that should be taken care of by internet marketing experts who specialize in effective website design, website optimization and conversion. It is astonishing how many companies end up letting inexperienced website designers create and design the first impression for their brand online or choose to use a stock WordPress template and attempt to customize and build out the website themselves. Being penny wise and pound foolish on your internet marketing presence is never a good idea.

According to most studies we have reviewed on the topic and also considering how we react when searching online, new visitors to your website make a decision in under 2 seconds as to whether or not they like your website. If a user does not like your website on their first impression, they click their back button and your site and your opportunity to reach a new potential client are gone. With such a limited opportunity to create a positive first impression, you need to ensure that your site design and look are compelling and very well done.

We offer some general tips below regarding important website design elements that should be considered when putting together your new website design.

Brand colors

If your company already has a logo, it’s a good idea to incorporate your logo colors into the color palette of your website to ensure brand consistency and using the colors from your logo will make your website look more professional and personal. And of course also add your logo to the website in more than once place. Using branding elements from your logo in the website design will give your website an extra element of customization and professional looking design.

Brand fonts

In addition to using the colors from your logo, if you have a logo that uses your company name you should incorporate the font from your logo into the font of your website headings and website content. We find most companies completely overlook incorporating the font from their logo into their website content and headings and by failing to incorporate the logo font throughout the website, an opportunity for a more professional and tight design is missed.

Google offers a service called Google Fonts that allows you to embed the fonts on your website. You can choose from almost a thousand different fonts so you should be able to find an exact match or close to an exact match to the font you are using in your logo. We recommend avoiding paid fonts in your website design as paid fonts can be difficult to manage over time and it is likely that Google Fonts has an exact  match or close to an exact match that you can use on your website at no charge.

Changing the font of your website headings and website content is typically a simple task that is normally managed by a global setting in the website CMS that you are using. Paying attention to the font in your logo and incorporating the font from your logo and branding elements from your logo throughout your website will give your website a much more professional look and feel as users browse through your website.

Authentic photos

Images are an important part of every website, the positive impression that great photos can make will help you convince visitors who are potential clients into choosing your company. Original photos are almost always better than stock photos but we realize not everyone is going to have original photos they can use on their website.

If you are showcasing service related offerings on your website, make sure every page of your website has a photo that shows someone happy with the service you are showcasing on the page. A photo of a happy family can be used on a General Dentistry page or on a life insurance page, the possibilities and messaging for photos are endless, just be sure the photos you are choosing make sense for the page you are placing the photos on.

While using your own photos is usually a better idea, you can create a very professional looking design using the right stock photos. We recommend using photo websites online where you can purchase a license for the photos you want to use. If you choose to use a free photo website, it is important to know that if you receive a demand letter from a lawyer regarding the photo in question and you used a free photo website, the problem is likely yours to handle and can get expensive. We always recommend purchasing the photos you want to use to ensure that you have the license for the picture.

Searching for can take some time but is always worth the effort. Below are a few popular paid photo websites where you can purchase the license for the photos you want to use on your website.

Paid photo sites

• https://www.istockphoto.com/
• https://stock.adobe.com/
• https://www.shutterstock.com/
• https://www.bigstockphoto.com/

Favicon

A favicon in most cases is a miniature version of a company logo that can fit into a square shape. The favicon is visible in the browser next to the title of an open website. Browser bookmarks and many mobile browsers tend to show quick launch links to recently browsed pages that are made using a favicon.

Because of its wide use in internet browsers you should definitely set a favicon for your website. To set a favicon in your WordPress panel go to Appearance -> Customize, then click on Site Identity and set a “Site Icon”.

Depending on your WordPress theme the favicon setting can possibly be moved somewhere else, but since this is a standard feature in the WordPress CMS in most cases you can find the favicon setting as described.