Earning customer trust is a critical step in most marketing efforts. Building a professional website is a strong start, but doing so without appearing generic can be tough. Fortunately, you can create a unique yet polished site with a few simple design choices.
In this article, we’ll go over why a professional site is essential to your business’ success. Then, we’ll give you three useful tips for creating a dynamic website that represents your expertise. Let’s get started!
The Importance of Maintaining a Professional Website
No matter how stellar your business is, your website’s appearance makes a strong impression on its visitors. Ninety percent of people surveyed have reported leaving a website because it was poorly designed. That’s a staggering—and avoidable—loss of potential customers.
Consumers today tend to expect high-quality websites from the brands they do business with. A professional site can help establish your company as both competent and tech-savvy. While a messy site might scare visitors away, a polished one can encourage customer trust from the first click.
Advertisers are likely looking at your site, too. Marketers may be more interested in working with brands that maintain polished websites. Emphasizing your authority via web design can demonstrate your ability to respond to client and customer needs.
All things considered, you might want to examine the current state of your website’s design. Effective pages involve both technical aspects as well as high-end appearance. While this might seem daunting, adding a little extra functionality to your site can make a big difference.
3 Simple Ways to Add Professional Polish to Your Website
Fortunately, you don’t have to be a coding expert to take your website to the next level. Here are three straightforward tips to help you curate an impressive online presence.
1. Optimize Your Site for Multiple Devices
Your customers have more device options for accessing the internet now than ever before. Smartphones are an especially popular route—over half of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices. Consider optimizing your site for their experience.
Even if your home page has a stunning desktop design, you should try to make sure all other formats are getting the same treatment. A layout that works on a computer but is clunky on a smartphone can make it look like your brand has a web design blind spot.
Device optimization is a simple way to make your content more accessible to more people. If you’re not sure how your home page will perform on mobile devices, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check it out:
Just enter your home page’s web address into the search bar and click on Test URL to see your results. The Mobile-Friendly Test will give you an overview of how optimized the page is, including a screenshot of what it will look like if someone visits your site on their phone.
The good news is that many modern WordPress themes are mobile-friendly right out of the box. To avoid spending too much time worrying about cross-device performance, try running your chosen theme through the Mobile-Friendly Test before adding your content.
2. Encourage Engagement With Interactive Elements
Engaging with your audience is a simple way to help them build relationships with your brand. While it’s possible to connect with visitors using a simple website, dynamic content tends to be more impressive.
Driving engagement doesn’t have to be complicated, either. Even small opportunities for interaction can have powerful effects. By giving your users the option to interface with your brand, you can both demonstrate your technical competency and boost conversions.
A simple way to connect is by using a popup. As long as you give your visitors an easy way to exit the window, popups can be an effective way to grab their attention. We recommend the Popup Maker plugin if you’re in the market for a tool to streamline creation:
The interface is pleasantly easy to use for pretty much any content you want to present in a popup. Consider using this format to promote important announcements or valuable offers. Try to keep it simple by only requesting a single action from your users, such as providing an email address.
3. Choose a Highly Customizable Theme
One of the most appealing aspects of WordPress is the huge selection of quality themes you can choose from. You might find the perfect theme that doesn’t require any adjustments. However, you might also want to consider customization potential during your search.
Themes that you can use with few changes can be efficient solutions. Nevertheless, applying a ready-to-use design runs the risk of a generic appearance. You might also be in danger of muddling your brand identity and getting confused with other companies if the look is popular. Consider spending time with your theme’s customization options to avoid this:
There’s no need to overhaul any code if you don’t want to. Subtle changes can add your brand’s distinct identity to your site. Try playing around with the colors, widgets, or menus. A professional theme tweaked to fit your company can help you stand out from the crowd.
Adding easily accessible contact information is one of the most practical site customizations you can implement. Consider placing this info somewhere that visitors will see it consistently, such as your site’s footer. It’s a simple way to remove communication roadblocks and build your site’s credibility.
Conclusion
Creating an impressive website is a simple way to show off your competency to potential customers. Fortunately, with a few simple tweaks, you can create a home page that embodies both your brand and your skill.
What do you think is the most important part of a professional website? Let us know in the comments section below!
Featured Image credit: Mimi Thian on Unsplash