How to Design Websites That Convert: Tips from the Pros

When you are developing website you do not only want a site to look attractive, but it must be functional. That means making visitors customers, subscribers, or leads. But how do you make sure that your site is performing that exact role? Before we continue further, here are some proven tips and tricks to building websites that get traffic and convert visitors.

Introduction

And in the today’s world where a website doesn’t only represent your business but acts as a tool to convert your visitors in your customers. Whether you’re running an e-commerce store, a service-based business, or a blog, your website needs to be designed with one goal in mind: conversion. And what all does that encompass? That means tailor making a website for its guests with the aim of making them take a particular action like making a purchase, subscribing to a given newsletter or even filling a contact form. Well, how can you make sure that your website has that CONVERSION focused design? Let’s break it down.

Know Your Audience

The first thing that you should know before you go further to designing is the audience its going to appeal. Who are they? What are their needs? What pains are they feeling and how can your website address them?

User Research

User research is pivotal in the development of any successful converting websites. What your target audience wants to see when they first get to your site is very important to understand. Interview users, ‘usability tests’, conduct questionnaires, and collect as many data sources as possible to identify their discomfort and choosing habits. This will make design decisions that cater for the users needs and ultimately provide improved user experience and increased conversion rates.

Focus on User Experience (UX)

Web usability is one of the most important factors to consider when designing or remodeling a website. Navigation issues are particularly damaging because a cluttered or puzzling site will rapidly lead to a 100% bounce rate. Ideally, you want your site to be as user-friendly as possible, and you want it to lead people into conversion without really having to force the issue.

Clear Navigation

The first and one of the most critical elements of UX is navigation. Your visitors should not be forced out to guess where to find what they are in search of in your site. The most important advice on website navigation — ensure that your navigation menu is clean and easy, and make sure that it has some form of logic behind it. Consider the user’s flow on the site and try to guess in what section he might be interested next.

Fast Load Times

There is one more attribute, which is the speed that plays a key role in users’ experience. If your site is slow customers can give up and leave your site before they get to view your page/contents. Google reveals that customers are likely to desert a site they are accessing via mobile devices if the site takes more than three seconds to load. Your website must be faster; it means optimizing images, not using extra scripts, and using caching in the browser.

Mobile Responsiveness

Today, over fifty percent of all global web traffic originates from mobile devices, so your site must also be optimised for mobile screens. A mobile-responsive design also means that no matter which device a user is a part of, their experience will be the same. This is more relevant for conversion specifically—after all, a dissatisfied user won’t wait around to buy something.

Strong Call-to-Action (CTA)

And as much as you have built a beautiful website layout it will not perform any sales conversion tricks on the users. That is why a powerful call-to-action or CTA comes into the picture to aid you with the remainder process. Regardless of whether you would like users to subscribe to your newsletter, download a particular guide, or buy your products, your CTA must be catchy.

Placement and Visibility

The location of your CTA has a great bearing on the amount of conversions you achieve. A perfect place to put your CTA is above fold, meaning visitors don’t need to scroll to see it. It should also be placed at natural decision points throughout your site for example, after reading a blog post, at the end of a product description or in the side bar.

Action-Oriented Language

When it comes to CTA ensure its message read more like a Call-to-Action than just a Call-to-Action by having more call-to-action phrases in the text. That button doesn’t have to only say “Submit” or “Click Here” – go for something like “Your Free Guide” or the more enticing “Your Discount Today”. This kind of language not only instructs the user on what needs to be done but provides them with justification for why this needs to be done now.

Optimize Your Forms

Those forms remain vital especially for lead generation on most sites. But let’s be honest – forms just ain’t that fun. If your form is too long, intricate or if it demands too much information from the visitor, they are sure to leave it mid-way. If you want to increase your conversion rates thus making your website even more productive, the main focus should be placed on the forms that you have on your website, trying to make them as easy to fill in as possible.

Keep It Simple

The overall design means if people are presented with an easy form they are more likely to complete it. It is acceptable to ask for basic details : name, email address and if possible, the phone number but not / anything more than that. The fewer fields there are, the sooner users can fill in the form, and the higher the conversion rates will be.

Use Progress Indicators

It is good to use progress indicators where your form spans several submittal steps such as a multi-page checkout. This has a demoralizing effect and makes user see that they are almost through thus helping him/her finish the process.

Build Trust with Social Proof

But, trust is one of the biggest players when it comes to conversion. Customers are much more likely to buy from your brand if you assure them that your brand is legitimate. Another concept is social proof which is the more the people that can vouch for you the better for instance recommendation through word of mouth, customer testimonies or even success stories.

Show Real Results

Customers believe others like themselves, thus incorporating genuine feedback, success stories or examples of satisfied customers might influence the customers. If you have testimonials that show how it benefited from your product or service, These are even better. Actual and believable stories of success definitely do a conversion better.

Aesthetics Matter Too

But, just for the record, functionality is not the only aspect that drives conversion, aesthetics do count. Properly designed website that has design in compliance with your brand makes your website more credible and attractive for the viewers.

Consistency in Branding

They concluded that the design of your website should reveal the nature of your brand. Choose colors and fonts that will best represent your brand, as well as images that convey your brand’s mood. Having some continuity in branding makes users feel professional and confident in your business; thus, more conversations.

Test, Measure, and Improve

That is why the key to having a high converting website is to always be improving it. Something that brings traffic today may not necessarily bring traffic tomorrow, thus you should frequently change some elements of your site and make the changes based on the results you get.

Appendix B: Testing for Ongoing Refinement

Adaptive and/or A/B testing is considered one of the best strategies towards increasing the conversion rate. Trials vary on your CTAs, landing pages, as well as your website templates since visitors click different links in a website that has a better user interface. Applying measurable analytics that underline user activity and the conversion that takes place, in this way we can work on the design and redesign it in order to fit the accepted norms.

Conclusion

Here lies the illusion for web design: the process of creating an aesthetically pleasing website doesn’t necessarily lead to – or guarantee – designing for conversion. The ways to achieve this are, incorporating more amount of user research, begin with a UX strategy, employ effective calls to action, and incorporate social proof to design a site that not only grabs the attention of the users but also converts them into customers. Bear this in mind, though – testing and optimizing are invaluable for maintaining peak site conversion.

FAQs

One question that seems to stand out on most minds is ‘what is this one thing on a website that sells’?
I also touched on good user experience (UX). A cluttered and hard to find its way site is the first thing that helps a business gather a lot of leads though.

What can I do to my CTAs to ensure they are effective?
Write in active voice, position where they will be seen and make them conspicuous on sight.

Should I ever use Pop-ups on my website?
If they are used judiciously and occasionally they can prove to be useful. Make sure they aren’t going to interfere with the game in any way.

What are the best practices to enable quick loading of my website?
Make the pictures as small as possible; reduce HTML, CSS, JavaScript code as small as possible; try to connect to CDN.

When is a website considered to be good at conversion?
It is also useful to track conversational metrics such as, sales, sign-ups, contact forms submissions using tools such as Google analytics.