In regards to web design and digital marketing, most people think that having an aesthetically pleasing website is the most crucial aspect of a website. While having a great-looking site is important, it’s not the only aspect of your design that affects your marketing efforts. Your website is the confluence of all your online marketing rivers. It’s the place in which your social media, PPC, and SEO efforts arrive.
How Marketing Web Design Influences Your SEO
People often think of Web Design and SEO as separate topics but in reality, the two are quite interdependent. So much so that the two concepts should be thought of together. When approaching marketing web design with SEO in mind, there are several techniques to consider.
Content Placement on the Page and SEO Rankings
There is a significant amount of research that suggests placing the content above the fold and toward the top of the page can influence a website’s search engine rankings. Google favors websites with a substantial amount of written content (1000 – 2000+ word count per page). If a website isn’t designed with content placement in mind, it can have grave consequences on your search engine rankings.
The top of a web page is a valuable piece of real estate that needs to be reserved for your most important content. It needs to indicate the topic of your content to both your visitors and search engines.
For example, a local dentist in Franklin Tennessee knows that their most valuable keyword is “Dentist Franklin TN”. While the dentist has included this phrase on his website it is currently hidden on the page and not easily identifiable to users. The dentist should find a place for this keyword and relevant content near the top of the page. And, should label the section with an appropriate heading like “Best Dentist in Franklin Tn”. Google is getting better at associating synonyms and using LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) to make search rankings more accurate. Meanwhile, we have found that businesses that use literal keywords in their opening heading or paragraph are ranking better. Users are responding positively to copy that is focused on the information they are looking for. In Addition, Google is rewarding these websites with better rankings.
Mobile-First Web Design and SEO
Having a mobile-first website is a must for any business looking to increase its website traffic and generate new leads. Sites with a mobile-first design perform better in search engine results and prospective customers discover them more easily. Over 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product while searching for their smartphone.
With the majority of internet traffic officially coming from mobile sources, a mobile-first approach to marketing web design now makes the most sense. Traditionally mobile design has been an afterthought for many website owners and web designers alike but user behavior has changed.
Google processes 40,000 searches a second or about 3.5 billion searches a day. On average users are looking to Google to answer their questions several times a week. People want answers to problems and solutions and they’re used to getting them fast. In today’s climate, there is absolutely no room for messy content, sloppy designs, or broken websites.
With a mobile-first approach, users will be able to locate the information they need quickly if it’s on your site. So what does a great mobile design look like?
Prioritize the actions that you want your users to take with the most important front and center. Make sure the first CTA on your website is congruent with your company’s #1 marketing goal. If you’re currently building an email list for your business remove all other links from the landing page. The subscribe or lead form should be the only action on the page the user can take.
- Reorganize Menus – keep your menus as simple as possible. Mobile users can get to the most popular and useful content on your website as quickly as possible.
- Never Make users scroll excessively – Have clear navigation and buttons that allow users to jump from topic to topic easily. Sticky navigations, anchor links, and “back to the top” buttons are all great.
- Avoid intrusive promotions – annoying a user on your website is a great way to make sure they never come back. Use pop-ups and advertisements sparingly and make sure they are easily dismissible.
Mobile SEO is dependent upon a clean and consistent mobile design that allows users to navigate your site hassle-free. A mobile-first web design will increase engagement and conversions on your website and will result in higher rankings in mobile searches.
Web Design and Content Legibility
Content is among the most crucial aspects of your website and digital marketing strategy. Your website visitors are looking for relevant, informative content that is fresh and unbiased.
Without quality marketing web design, most visitors won’t even bother to read the content that you have worked so hard on.
Studies suggest people are less likely to read content if the font size is too small and clustered together. When designing a website you want to use a large font with lots of line spacing and white space.
According to a study performed by the ClickLabratory – by increasing a website’s font size from 10pt (13px) to 13pt (17px) and adding some line height between the text. They saw a 10% decrease in bounce rate, a decrease in site exit rate by 19%, an increase in pages per visit by 24%, and that website’s conversion rate skyrocketed to 133%.
Designing for Conversions
Optimizing a website for conversions is the process of leading a visitor through a series of actions to reach a goal set out by the webmaster of a web page. Basically, this action can be anything from filling out a form, calling a phone number, reading a piece of content, or even purchasing a product.
After a basic system is in place, marketers will want to drive traffic to their funnel to establish a rate of conversion. This is where the real fun begins, as you can now begin A/B testing to learn more about your target audience.
Many marketing web design factors affect a website’s conversion rate. Everything from the color scheme of a website’s design to the placement of a CTA (call to action) on a page. When designing a web page, it’s best to have a clear idea of who the page is intended for.
Design Factors That Affect Conversion Rate
Intuitive page layout and Usability (UX)
It’s safe to assume that your prospective customer visiting your site has spent a significant amount of time on other websites. So when he/she lands on your web page, they have expectations of how a website’s information should be organized.
It’s important to meet these expectations so as not to frustrate or confuse a prospective customer. A user should be able to quickly and intuitively locate the information they are seeking.
76% of consumers list “the website making it easy for me to find what I want,” as the most important factor in a website’s design. A typical intuitive layout for marketing web design should contain:
- A logo that links back to the home page.
- A contact link at the end of a horizontal navigation menu
- Consistent navigation layout sitewide
- Contact info in the footer of the page
- Highlighted and easily identifiable links
By designing your website to be intuitive for your intended users, you provide prospective customers with more information, and opportunities to build trust with your brand. This will ultimately increase your conversion rate. Increased engagement and conversions for your topic will signal the relevancy of your material to google. And, finally, this will lead to your website climbing up the search engine page rankings.
Placement & Text of CTA
A Call to Action (CTA) is a button, a link, or a form placed within the content of a web page. Generally, it captures the attention of a prospective customer, converting them into a lead.
