Designing Websites that work

By 2019 website design has been through many variations. If you’ve been around long enough, you may have built a few websites for your business(es). In the early years, your website design would showcase your business online. In the middle 2000’s your focus switched to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), now, maybe you’re looking for the next variation.

A web project that begins with the consumer

If you’ve had a conversation with Paul about your new design (or your very first website) you’ll recognize that he wants to make the website a tool to help your business grow. Showcasing your products & services in a beautifully designed digital format is essential, SEO is also a requirement, but how are visitors using your website? How can we make this work for you? Can we cut down on the amount of emails and phone calls you’re getting by answering questions in digital? Can we qualify your customers before you have the first interaction?

Winning the rankings game

When you achieve high rankings (in terms of SEO), you’ve done an excellent job at the three “E” rule. Paul’s entire website design concept is centred around the 3-E rule.

Entertain
Educate
Engage

The 3-E rule was born out of a simplistic and effective way to help business owners understand how to build an effective digital strategy. The online world has taught us much about consumer behaviour. How do we use websites, social media, and mobile apps? How do they benefit our lives? Why do we need the digital world in business?

Entertain

If your content lacks entertainment, your users will bounce. You live in your business, you know what consumers love. Highlight some entertaining stories, photos, and videos. Keep their attention to help build the confidence in your business.

Educate

This portion of the website is the most critical to attract the visitor who is “checking up on you”. If they’ve been referred to your business, they are checking you out to see what you do and how good you are. Everyone calls themselves experts these days, why not use your website to show it off?

Engage

Getting someone to take the “leap of faith” is the first step in converting your new lead into a customer. After you’ve showcased your business, exploited your experience, now it’s time to get them to take action. Engagement is the #1 determining factor of effective web design.

Attention span and website design

With our attention span shrinking by the minute, your presentation needs to be quick and painless. If you are a hairdresser, you know your users are coming to your website for 1 of 2 things; pricing, contact info. Your website doesn’t need to be an elaborate history lesson of your salon with extensive bios of your staff. Get visitors the info they are looking for and while you have their attention, let’s entertain them with visuals.

Take a look at your website today and see if the 3-E rule has been applied. Need some guidance in the process? Kindly reach out and Paul will gladly explore your website with you.

Paul