If you own a company and are not completely ignorant of the general trends of the present day, you will know that producing the best quality goods or providing the highest quality services is no longer enough to weave a successful business. Today, if you can’t be efficient online, you better get off the line itself.
Building and maintaining a website for your company is one of the points you’ll see on all lists for successful digital marketing. Digital marketing is all about building a digital presence, and what better way to do that than having your own website? You can follow these simple steps to create a website in 5 easy steps even without having any technical knowledge
But just having a website is not all. The website has to be good, with the one word overlaid and underpinned by several other terms. To get the website and graphic designing of your company just right, you need to keep a few things in mind. If you want a quick solution, search the internet for a web and graphic design company. They’ll take care of it.
For Website Design:
- Mobile View is Very Important
While laptops and computers remain the norm in most workplaces, the majority of people rely on their mobile phones for their surfing. Given that, your mobile website needs to be efficient, well-functioning, navigable and easy to use. Cumbersome websites throw off users like nothing else.
- Easy to Discover
Your website needs to be found easily. Your domain name should be the name of your business, and shouldn’t be anything that strains the brain to remember. Learn what SEO is and use it extensively.
- Simple and Clear
Don’t overcrowd your website. Keep the structure clear, professional, and uncluttered. Make sure the contact information is easy to find (perhaps on the top), clearly indicated, and up-to-date. If you find yourself struggling with this, and can spare some money, try looking for a web and graphic design company.
- Fast wins the race
Slow and steady does not win here. If your website takes ages to fully load (read: more than a few seconds), the viewer is bound to be turned off and leave. When everything is just a click away, your website cannot afford to be behind even by what seems a negligible amount of time.
- Personalization
Be professional, but also personal. Your website shouldn’t be informal, but it shouldn’t be too formal as well. Your website should connect with viewers but in a subtle and careful manner. Use ‘About’ pages to do this. Have a voice in the content you publish. Light humor is appreciated as well.
- Connecting
Ideally, as a business, you maintain an email list. This list can be expanded via social media, but its principal driver would be your website. Pop-up boxes that pop up the moment page loads are a good and widely-used way to compel viewers to sign up for email.
- Think like the Customer
Your customers are everything for you. As you modify and update your products or services according to the needs and wants of your customers, so should your website be oriented for optimum customer satisfaction.
Know your customers. Have an idea about the kind of structure and content they are likely to connect with and enjoy. This depends a lot on what your company does, which provides you an easy baseline to develop from. If struggling, check out the websites of the big names in your sector, to get a feel about what works and what doesn’t, but don’t blindly replicate their features.
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
You have, in all probability, heard about SEO before. It’s the word that’s everywhere these days, and not for nothing: learning how to use SEO correctly can work miracles for your website.
As a fact, most individuals don’t go beyond the first google page. You need to make sure your website is listed there itself, and the way to do that is via mastering SEO.
Links to your website should be visible on other pages. You should include relevant and appropriate keywords. Then there’s ranking, which happens based on how relevant your content is, and the authority you command (determined by traffic, size, etc.). Research about SEO and use it efficiently, or hire an expert.
For Graphic Design:
- Don’t Postpone the Plan
Before you start designing the page and adding graphics, you need to have at least a rough plan, or, preferably, a detailed one. This enables you to get the work done quickly, without spending unnecessary time wondering what to do or working on a design that doesn’t come off well and necessitates redoing.
- Simplicity and Clarity
The one thing your design cannot compromise on is clarity. Your design needs to be clear and comprehensible. Visual appeal cannot get in the way of that. Always go for a simpler, less complex design if it is more suitable. Don’t play with too many fonts, but rather stick to a single type of similar fonts that complement each other.
- Colour and Colourless
You need to have a color scheme in mind. Incorporating too many colors is generally not a good idea, because the design can end up as too distracting and seem all over the place. It’s better to stick to a palate of a few colors that work well together and contribute to a balanced whole.
Additionally, don’t try to color everything. Having whitespace is not a crime, especially if it enhances the look of your design. Forced coloring worsens rather than boosts the final picture.
- Think like the viewer
If you were to view your design, what would see first? This is an important question to address and answer because it will also be what your viewers see first. You want to design in a way that the central feature is what falls on people’s eyes, followed by the others. Keep the hierarchy in mind when designing.
- Aligning and Contrast
Your design needs to have an alignment, and overall order to it, or else you run the risk of it coming across as haphazard and sloppy. Choose the alignment that works best for all elements of your design, and make sure that the final picture doesn’t come across as random or unstructured.
Make use of contrast. Size, colors, scale, all can be manipulated to incorporate contrast without allowing the jarring aspect to slip in. Contrast sits well on the eyes and enhances the overall effect of your design.
- Consistency and Experimentation
When you’ve found what designs you’re most adept at creating, the fonts, sizes, and colors you’re the most proficient at manipulating, remember those strengths and use them. You’ll also, most probably, have a distinct, unique touch to your designs. You should work on this to create a niche and distinguish yourself.
At the same time, don’t shy away from experimenting and trying new design elements. That’s the only way to keep growing.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned pointers should help you in website and graphic designing. If you want professional help, look for a web and graphic design company. Neither of the two might be easy tasks, but perseverance and hard work will yield desirable results.