On an average, it only takes 5-10 seconds for people to decide whether they want to stay on your website or not. It means by the time you read the first line someone would have already made their decision.
Website engagement is a critical factor, especially when you want to attract quality leads. You can’t expect to get good leads simply by choosing a random theme and writing a bunch of lines representing your business. Instead, it’s important to analyze your business goals, evaluate the target market, and utilize modern-day design practices to devise a user-friendly design for your website.
And, since web designing is constantly evolving, it’s always necessary to stay on top of the latest trends to ensure your website can engage potential customers. In today’s post, we’ll dive deeper into the best website design tips to maximize your website’s engagement and unlock new lead generation opportunities more effectively.
1. Have a Consistent Theme Across Your Website
When it comes to website design, consistency is extremely crucial. All the web pages on your website should follow the same color scheme, logo, and design elements to maintain the desired consistency.
This will deliver a seamless user experience and allow users to navigate through different web pages without any hassle. Using the same design elements will also help you establish a consistent brand identity.
Here are a few effective tactics to build a consistent design scheme across your website:
- Create a brand logo that matches your website’s overall color scheme and make sure it’s displayed across all web pages.
- Instead of using multiple font styles on every page, try to use 2-3 fonts (for headings, subheadings, and content). This will make your website’s content readable and you’ll be able to keep the users engaged more effectively
- In addition to your website, make sure that you’re using consistent color scheme while branding your company across different channels
2. Focus on Your Website’s Navigation
Your website’s navigation plays an integral role in deciding whether you’ll convert a visitor or not. The general thumb rule says that it should not take more than 3 clicks for users to find the desired information on your website.
To do this, start by linking all your web pages within the navigation bar in the header using menus and submenus. A navigation bar will allow users to reach the desired web page in a few seconds.
If you own an ecommerce store, you can further link the most popular product pages and categories right on the homepage. This way the shoppers won’t have to go through the navigation bar to look for the desired product.
Another way to enhance navigation on any website is to add a static search bar across all web pages. Using the search bar, customers will have the liberty to search for services, products, pages, etc.
3. Have a Responsive Design
It’s no secret that smartphones have become an integral part of everyone’s life. Believe it or not, but more than half of the Internet traffic is generated through mobiles. So, regardless of your business niche, it’ll be crucial to optimize your website for mobile users.
One of the effective ways to do this is to choose a responsive design. For readers who don’t know, a responsive design will automatically change the layout of the website according to the screen size.
If you’ve already hired a web development company, they’ll utilize responsive design trends to build a mobile-friendly website.
However, if you’re using one of the ready-to-launch website builders, you can choose one of the available responsive themes. Almost every website builder including Shopify, WordPress, Wix offer an array of ready-to-use responsive themes that you can customize to build a personalized website.
4. Optimize Your Landing Pages for Better Retention
When it comes to engaging users, it’s necessary to have enough landing pages to direct customers through your sales funnel. However, landing pages may not work if you haven’t optimized them to match user intent.
Unlike regular web pages, the primary intent of a landing page is to sell your services/products and convert leads. It means instead of stacking it with unnecessary elements, make sure to add information that encourages users to move to the next phase of the sales funnel.
An effective way to optimize the landing pages is to add enough visual elements such as pictures, infographics, videos, etc. This will instantly engage the users and you’ll be able to drive better conversions.
5. Don’t Undervalue the Importance of Social Proof
Have you ever purchased a product from Amazon with 1-2 star reviews? No, right?
So, how can you expect your potential customers to sign up for your services or buy items from your website without a valid social proof. Having enough positive reviews not only improves your brand identity, but also encourages people to choose your products/services. Relevant social proof will always work in boosting engagement and overall conversions.
After customers have bought products from your site, encourage them to leave feedback for their shopping experience.
6. Add Relevant Call-to-Actions
One of the most effective ways to increase user engagement and boost conversions is to add proper call-to-actions.
If you don’t know this already, call-to-actions are dedicated buttons that allow users to complete an action. For instance, the “Buy Now” button on a website like Amazon acts as a call-to-actions as it allows shoppers to complete a purchase.
However, when it comes to adding CTAs, make sure to be strategic about their placement. You can’t expect to convert customers by randomly placing CTAs acros the website. Instead, incorporate them into your website’s design so that they automatically encourage users to complete the desired action.
7. Use Stock Images Wisely
The general thumb rule says that you should always use original high-quality pictures on your website.
However, if you have no option but to choose stock pictures, make sure to follow a few golden rules to make the right decision. Why? Because chances are your competitors are likely to be using the same stock images.
So, if you are planning to choose stock images, make sure that these pictures align with your company’s vision. To stand apart from the crowd, you can also perform competitor research to check whether your potential competitors are using the same images.
Conclusion
A website’s design plays an integral role in increasing its engagement. As a website owner, it’s your responsibility to implement the latest website design trends to keep the users engaged. You can also partner with a professional web design and development company and let expert designers enhance your website’s UI/UX to boost the overall engagement.
