Importance of Web Design in Digital Marketing

Importance of Web Design in Digital Marketing

23/04/20 | Rebecca Dudley

Is Web Design Important in your Digital Marketing Strategy?

The short answer is yes; web design is hugely important in digital marketing strategies. A good, strong website has the power to influence and affect user experience, branding, SEO, conversion rate, user interactions and more. In summary, web design plays a vital, impactful role in digital marketing, and has the ability to affect how well your business thrives in the 21st Century digital age.

Let’s delve further into why web design is important.

Online presence and exposure are important for businesses because it allows them to further their sell and/ or market of their products and services. A website is the starting point for this; often, this is the first place where most people interact with your business online. 

It is important for a business to carry out a combination of both online and offline marketing efforts and activities to help drive users to their website. The purpose for driving people to your website could be due to an array of different factors, from providing additional service and product information to making purchases or bookings, or simply to get contact details – although more and more, this is being provided in the SERPs through Google My Business, and knowledge panels.

 

What is web design?

Web design is a category of web development that encompasses different aspects of creating a website, including web page layout, content production, and graphic design.

 

What impact does web design have on your digital marketing strategy?

Although you might not realise it, web design can have a major impact on your digital marketing strategy. One of the best ways to tell if your web design is working for you is if the website landing page that you’ve used for a marketing campaign has resulted in real-life sales or conversions for your business. 

If you are left disappointed, it might be time to start analysing why your website is underperforming and then implement solutions to combat this. For example, your website might not be converting due to a variety of different factors such as site speed, responsiveness, navigation, or a misalignment between click and resulting page content.

 

When reviewing your website design, what factors should you consider?

  • Conversion Rate
    Are users filling out contact forms? Are you converting leads/ customers?
  • Competition
    What are your competitors doing that you aren’t, or vice versa? Are you outperforming competitors? If not, why not?
  • Branding
    What is the branding like on your website? Does it reflect your brand and how you want to be perceived by potential and existing customers?
  • SEO
    How are you performing on search engines? Are you on the first page of results for keywords that reflect your products or services?
  • Site Speed
    How quickly do the pages on your website load? 
  • Responsiveness
    Is your site responsive?

When, and if, you’re not getting the results you’d like from your website, or if your site isn’t performing effectively in most of the above factors, then it might be worth considering redesigning or optimising your site.

 

How to fine-tune your website design:

Define your site goals

Ask yourself: ‘What is the purpose of my website?’ Is it for lead generation, sales, brand awareness, or something else? When you define your website objectives you can then base any website redesign around it. Your end goal is to make sure that a web designer or agency knows your goals and objectives and that your new site meets these.

When setting objectives, it can be helpful and important to set measurable KPIs (key performance indicators). KPIs can be based on conversions, page or site visits, bounce rate, average time on a page, or keyword rankings.

 

Ensure you have the main components

We have briefly touched upon this already, but a good web design needs to consider these components to ensure it meets your goals.

  • Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
    Good website design will take into consideration: structure and navigation, aesthetics, metadata and content. 
  • Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)
    Conversions don’t always have to be product purchases, they can be any desired action you wish a user to take on your website – such as contact form or email submissions, booking completion, account creation or transaction completion. 
  • User Experience (UX)
    When designing a website, you want it to be easy to use, accessible to all on both mobile and desktop as well as worthwhile for users. Visual appeal is often an important factor to consider as users are more likely to interact with sites that look better. 
  • Brand Identity
    Your website may be the first initial impressions people have about your business or brand, so make sure you’re happy with how it’s represented. Brand identity also helps build trust and may influence user decisions. 
  • Analytics and Monitoring
    No website is perfect, nor will it ever be completely perfect. Like all things in life, a website needs constant review and to adapt and change. Each section of your site can be monitored and optimised for users. It is worth taking the time to understand the user journey and identify pages that aren’t receiving traffic or converting. Google Analytics can help you achieve this.

 

Contact

If you’re interested in redesigning your website, talk to us. Our specialist team can help with all aspects of your website, making sure it is optimised with all the integral components that make a great web design. Call us today on 01604 765 796, alternatively, you can fill out our online contact form and we’ll be in touch.