Inside Edge Newsletter

Our FREE Inside Edge Newsletter series is read by thousands of business owners who are looking for valuable insights into making the Internet work harder for their business.

Web Design & Development

"It is critical that your website is visually appealing, optimized for conversion and rich in relevant content."

San Diego Web Design

Your website is the main way you represent your business online. It is your primary marketing vehicle online with in depth information about your company, your products and services. It may not be the first point of contact for your consumers since they may have arrived via your targeted search engine marketing campaigns, landing pages and/or social media profiles. Either way, it is where your consumers end up validating your industry expertise and brand credibility. It is critical that your website is visually appealing, optimized for conversion and rich in relevant content. You must follow web design principles that properly reflect these elements.

Make a great first impression

We all know how significant first impressions are when it comes to face to face interactions with your customers. Similarly, your online interactions via your website will also result in critical first impressions, leading you to either win or lose a sale. The key difference here is the time you have to make a great first impression online is quite short. At best, these demanding consumers will generally give your website 8 short seconds of their valuable time to decide if they want to continue learning about your particular product or service. This means your website not only needs to be visually appealing, but it also needs to be informative enough to help them determine if your website is providing them the details they were searching for. Having a visually impactful web design might be the determining factor of converting a mere visitor into a lead, and a lead into a customer.

A few points to consider with your web design to appeal to your target audience:

Don’t overuse flash or animated images – Elements like flash can make an ordinary website into something very visually appealing and innovative. But if you overuse these elements, your website becomes too busy and distracting, ultimately does more harm than good.
Find the right balance between graphics and text – Use images and graphics to make your site visually appealing and help you tell the story, but include text on your home page to help your visitors and search engines understand what your company is about.
Ensure your call-to-action is above the "fold" - Buying or reserving information and calls to action should be prominent and above the "fold" so your visitors can find it easily.

Consumers will often judge a book by its cover and you cannot risk losing potential customers because your site fails to attract and communicate what they need to know quickly. Content and design go hand-in-hand, so take the necessary steps to optimize your design to attract visitors to your content. We are well versed in website design best practices, so be sure to contact our San Diego Web Design firm today to help your website achieve its full potential.

Fast Facts

	Despite current economic conditions video ad spending is expected to rise by 45% in 2009 to reach $850 million. - Source eMarketer, Dec 2008
	Advertisers will continue to use or increase their Search Marketing budgets in 2009. Expected growth for this online advertising tactic is in the double digits at 14.9% in 2009, to a total $12.3 billion. – Source eMarketer, Dec 2008
	Total US Internet ad spending will increase to $25.7 billion in 2009, an 8.9% growth rate. – Source eMarketer, Dec 2008
	In light of the economy US advertisers are moving millions of dollars from traditional media to the Web, to take maximum advantage of its measurability and cost-effectiveness. The same holds true for the UK and other developed nations.– Source eMarketer, Dec 2008
	Online buyers are shifting a greater share of their total purchases from stores to the Web in search of more convenience, broader product selection and cost savings. – Source eMarketer, Dec 2008