How to Make Your Website Look Professional

Having a professional-looking website can do wonders for your conversion rate. You see, your website is the first contact that the majority of your audience will have with your business. So, if it’s non-responsive, non-aesthetic or counterintuitive, it will make these people develop a negative impression of your enterprise. On the other hand, if everything runs flawlessly, you have a chance to make a positive first impression, which will ensure that you get off on the right foot. There are several things you should try.

1. Just one CTA is enough

More choice will result in a scenario where people are less likely to make up their minds. According to one study, when faced with 24 options to choose from, people are 10 times less likely to make up their mind that when they’re presented with just 6 options. The navigation of your website needs to be simple and seamless. A CTA needs to be simple, clear and transparent. Even the colour of the CTA may determine the CTR of the button. Red is more efficient than green and oval is more efficient than a square. These are just some of the design tricks worth bearing in mind.

2. Try to stay consistent

Changes to your website are almost mandatory but how much you deviate from your previous designs and layout is quite important. The key thing is that people maintain the impression that they’re still doing business with you. You need to keep the layout and stick to a colour palette, even if you change some nuances and distribution of various elements. Also, keep the layout of the page and try not to interfere with the navigation structure.

3. Mobile responsiveness

While the conversions for mobile users are still lower than those of desktop and tablet users, you cannot ignore the fact that the majority of the online audience is mobile. The majority of internet users are mobile, which is why you should heavily invest in mobile responsiveness. In some cases, even going mobile-first would be a good idea. Then again, responsive or adaptive websites may also give the desired effect.

4. Great About Us page

To humanize your business, you need to show the faces that make it all possible, not just brag with the numbers and logos of your clients. In other words, you need a great About Us page. This is where you can tell your story in a couple of sentences. It is a perfect place for you to tell something about your mission, vision and corporate values, in general. This is also a perfect place for you to show the team behind your business. Ideally, you would include some quality corporate headshots, as well as a picture of your entire team at work. 

5. Intuitive navigation

The next thing you need to invest in is intuitive navigation. People already know how to use the internet. There are a lot of unwritten rules about where certain elements should be positioned and how the navigation should work. Remember that there are so many alternatives online and that it’s quite easy for your audience to just leave you for a different platform. This is far more likely than having them stick around to figure out the way your site works.

6. A favicon adds a nice touch

Nowadays, virtually every platform has a favicon of its own. This is a unique way to strengthen your brand and make navigating through different tabs easier for your audience. First of all, it enhances your brand recognition efforts by placing an additional logo in front of your audience’s eyes. Second, it makes you look more professional and more trustworthy. Overall, it’s a major gain for a minimum investment of time and effort.

7. Keep things simple

Overcomplicating and overcompensating is probably not going to give you the results that you were looking for. Keeping a simple, sleek, even minimalist design is usually a good idea. An abundance of whitespace will increase the readability and make the layout of the page easier on the eye. Also, keep in mind that your HTML-to-text ratio needs to be between 25% and 70% for the sake of your SEO. Generally speaking, you have two types of audience – a human audience and search engine algorithms. For your website to reach its full potential, you need to find a way to appeal to them both.

In conclusion

At the end of the day, your website might end up giving you a competitive edge when compared to the rest of your competitors. Sure, if you don’t offer some essential services or ask for too much, no amount of investment in your website is going to save you. What your website does is allows you to portray your brand as professional and reliable from the first moment. It helps you make a great first impression and start on the right foot. On its own, this has an immense value in the business world and should not be taken lightly.