How a good web design can increase the time a visitor will stay on your website

Website design is not just about a pretty page, or the fanciest design on the web. It is more so about making sure that integrated into the design is usable functionality and making it really work and draw your customers in deeper with friendly features and not over cramming it. After all everyone that visits could be potential customers or business for you. I’m not saying it shouldn’t be a good looking page but it needs to be useable. It needs to intrigue visitors so the main page should have teasers of what your website has to offer. This will influence a visitor to click through and want to see more without having to go through 5 different pages to find what they want. You need to get across a message without going into masses of detail. It’s a known fact that a person will not read every last bit of text on your site so keep it short and easy to skim through, and try to steer clear of tiny lettering. Bigger is better but obviously not massive. Navigation is also a major part in web design; a good web designer will know how to create an easy to use navigation system. It works as a guide for visitors and is an easy way of categorising content without having it crammed in a list on one page. Use drop down menus with sub categories and this prevents people having to sit for ages going through a list and will also help people go from one page to the next easily. They also free up more space on your website because once someone isn’t looking at them they are hidden and only drop down when needed. Also your designer should integrate breadcrumbs as a second navigation as this not only helps with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) but makes it easy to go back to a page you where looking at before. Mix it up a bit, have pictures in with text, it makes all the difference. Even just one picture on a page can make it more likely your content will get read. However keep your pictures clear and of a high quality. A poor quality picture can give of a bad impression of your business, and make you look slightly unprofessional. It may look like you put little effort into your website which people will assume is the same about how you treat customers. Relevancy is key; keep updates and content current. Adding new content and updating pages regular can gain trust and show that you are active online. This is a benefit for most people because they feel as though they will get fast responses from you.Discuss with your web designers what ideas you have and what you would like to gain from visitors. A good site should entice customers and visitors to leave something for you, an email or phone number in exchange for say a newsletter. If you can implement all of this into a good looking website then your site will be near enough perfect, just remember that less is more.