Designing a commercial website is not just about using proper HTML, CSS and other common components. Nowadays with the popularity of ready-made CMS-based templates, design jobs have become easier. You can do a bit of research , find a few design templates and then build your site on any of them. Even an expensive designer will not charge you more for this. It is all at affordable cost and simple to order.
One must be happy with this just because you got a great design at cheaper price. There is hardly any brainstorming and you required to do.
However, are you sure a great looking site is all that you were expecting for your business? Did you examine it from usability point of view? What are the parameters you consider while judging a website from a usability and commercial point of view?
Do you know about responsive design?
It is essential that before making your site live you should hire a usability expert for the job. They will be in a better position to say what are the components your site is missing and how it affects your reader’s interest. You will also come to know the required changes you need to make on the site.
The areas you need to concentrate more are :
Design layout : It makes sense when you have an e-commerce site or a product based site. If you are featuring multiple products of different brands on your site you want visitors to browse most of them at minimum clicks or scrolling down. You also need to funnel them down to the Add to cart page or contact us page or direct payment gateway page. A design layout is good only if it is easily navigable and accessible from the main page.
Arrangement of content :
This is again a crucial factor since in a product-based site you will not have enough space to display content. Every pixel of space does matter here. However, you cannot help but put some bold lines with engaging texts to convey how to proceed within the site. Therefore, any content you put must play a major role in educating and helping viewers. Placing them wrong and in discreet positions may do blunder.
Use of font, font color, style and image:
Choosing font type, size and color is all up to you, your audience and their demographic and behavioral characteristics. If your target customers are of Gen-X you can experiment with font color and type,else sticking to a traditional form is the safe bet.
How to conduct usability testing?
Usability experts conduct interviews with sample audience and observe their tastes and preferences. These are often neutral and unbiased opinions which help in improving design quotient. ABC analysis is another test through which you will know what sections of your site are getting maximum clicks and how an internet surfer skim your site. These observations are valuable and they give you a realistic picture of your site.
Richmond web designers can help you do usability analysis of your site, in case you don’t know how to do. Ask their help for responsive web design services.
Author Bio:
Peter McKiel is passionate about blogging, website analysis and Internet technology. He has been into this digital marketing field for last 5 years. Other than traditional search engine marketing Peter has forayed into paid marketing and social media optimization. You can find his published articles on popular technology guest blogs and online journals. In this article Peter shares his thoughts on Richmond website design. For additional details you may also refer to Richmond web design company – Red Barn Software.
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