Your website is not just pixels on a screen. It’s a well-designed chain of psychological buttons that leads visitors somewhere — preferably out the door as customers. When most business owners consider websites, they think about what colour it should be, where the logo goes and ‘where is the contact form’. The ironic truth is that every single element on your site is either pulling sour prospects in closer, or pushing them away. That is what website psychology is all about, and something we’ve seen repeated countless times with clients.
The reality is that when you’re a small business owner, every penny matters. You’ve likely glanced at your website before and wondered, “Is this thing even doing what I want it to do for MY type of customers?” But expensive user testing consultants make your wallet weep a tear. Good news however: you don’t have to spend a fortune to find out what your users actually think of your website. DIY user testing is not only feasible — it’s downright achievable, with (more than) a little budget. Here’s what most business owners don’t know: some of the biggest insights can stem from scrappy & simple testing approaches that won’t cost you thousands.
As suggested by the top search, a potential buyer is perusing your house information whilst waiting for his or her coffee on a phone. They click your listing, come into your web site and… it takes so very, very long that in less than two clicks. The photos are small as they get. Your contact form does not work properly at all The result? They bounce off the page of your so-very-slow website and head straight for your competitor’s beautifully designed site instead. The Australian property market is a no-holds barred battleground, and your website is now far more than just a digital business card it’s your most powerful selling point. With 86% of home buyers using the internet to search for a property, your website design can make or break that all-important first impression. Yet paradoxically there are still many real estate agents out there who are stuck with websites looking so much like they were created and forgotten back in 2010.
The world of digital marketing is so different now than it was a few years ago. So gone are the days of static, informations websites with a simple contact form, and here are platforms that are actually intelligent and which can even make sense of the specific needs of your potential customers in a real time basis. This is no longer science fiction it’s happening right now and businesses around Australia are coming to terms with the fact that they can’t afford not to be part of it. At SLINKY Web Design, we have been following this evolution closely. We here are a Perth team that have been delivering AI website design that actually works for business. But that’s the thing: it’s not about technology for technology’s sake. It’s all about designing websites that put in for your business.
In the not-so-distant past, many believed web design was all about simply how a website appeared on-screen and nothing more. However, with Google’s pursuit of optimal user experiences for those who use its search engine, it quickly becomes clear that appearance alone will do little to help a website’s rankings and subsequent performance. The term ‘user experience’ (UX) is now very much at the forefront of every web designer’s mind when they are designing websites. Whilst many might say that is purely to keep Google happy, the reality is that good web design that creates websites that visitors will like and enjoy will in turn, show Google that a website deserves a higher ranking anyway. Besides, suppose a website design is catering for its users. In that case, it should follow that those users will stay on the website longer, follow the calls to action that exist there, and are far more likely to return to that website and recommend it to others. Getting a website to a point where users are provided with an enhanced experience relies greatly on the website’s design. Several web design techniques can help website designers achieve this objective, and here are ten of them that most of today’s web designers will consider using. Nostalgia/Old Fonts People of all ages, even those considered young, love nostalgia, and this fact is being used increasingly by today’s web designers. One example of this is some websites being given aesthetics that remind users of ‘Y2K’ and in truth, this is occurring in many industries, not just web design where there is a resurgence of styles mirroring the early noughties. On the same theme, some websites now have fonts that have not been seen for ten or more years. The reason is not that web designers have no modern fonts to use, but rather that users have a desire to see fonts they remember fondly.
