Inbound Marketing Rules: Avoid A Bad Web Design

There is no use denying the impact of online, client-focused inbound marketing in our daily lives. Everything can be found on the Internet nowadays, from networking sites to online shopping and more. In such a visual medium, there can be so much room for error. That is why good design is often an investment worth making, and if you’re lucky, can even serve as a promotional vehicle in its own right.

Websites serve a dual purpose; not only do they provide information, but they also promote your company and brand as it becomes your virtual storefront. An informative, well-designed website will, in fact, attract more website traffic because they serve as a reflection of your company values on the Internet. With the Internet being such a vast resource, it can be what makes the difference between doing good business and doing fantastic business. Long-gone are the days of newspaper subscriptions and cold-calling; now we reach out to the public and focus marketing strategies on them.

In this case, first impressions do matter. You decrease your web traffic immensely if you have a website that looks complicated, messy, or unprofessional. Good web design focuses around having a clean, user-friendly interface with a smart use of colours and positioning of information. It has to look clean, and it has to be legible, but it also has to look good. You wouldn’t wear a pair of plimsolls with morning dress, so you should act accordingly.

A little knowledge of culture and psychology applies here; if you are targeting an area where the people mostly read from left to right, the eye then also goes from left to right, and then to the centre. For Arab communities, it may be easier for them to read from right to left. Try to position important information, like company logos and relevant news about your industry, in the areas as follows.

Another attribute that is often overlooked is spacing and font size. Spacing in between words, pictures, and paragraphs allows the eye to “breathe”. Learn to do this wisely. The space between paragraphs is known as “kerning” and is often utilised to separate thought. Spacing, on the other hand, pertains to the distance between letters and words from each other.

Font size should be sized appropriately, in that it is small enough to be grouped appropriately on your computer’s screen, but large enough to be read easily. Headers and titles often are in larger type and in bolder font. Decorative typefaces are difficult to read, so shy away from overtly complicated looking script in your web pages unless it corresponds to the look and feel of your brand. Focus more on Sans Serif font faces for content. There is a reason why fonts like Times New Roman, Arial, and Tahoma are so popular.

Lastly, the use of colours is important. Whilst colour combinations will depend on a number of factors, such as the context of your industry – say, green and earth tones for agriculturally-inclined brands – or location of your company, what matters is that there is high contrast between text and background images. This way, it makes content easier to read. High-contrast colours should matter in regards to background and typeface. If you have a dark background, you make your font colour in a lighter hue in order for it to be read properly.

Good website design is easier said than done. An attractive and user-friendly website requires some investment, but if done right and used with inbound marketing-friendly practices, it will more than pay for itself. Remember that next time you try to argue with a graphic designer or illustrator, or when you want to insist in a particular decorative font. The dividends will be well worth it.


Sources:
  • Is a Cheap Web Designer The Best Option?, BecksWebsite.com
  • What Makes an Infographic Bad and How to Make it Better #infographic, Visualistan.com

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