Updating your Website – Design Tips
It’s no secret that our world is entering a digital era. In this age of Google searches and Siri inquiries, it’s important to have a strong identity online. The best way to do this is by having an effective, appealing, and updated website.
Creating a website that includes details of your business is important – more on that can be found in this blog – but it’s also crucial to make those details visually appealing to your visitors. Though you may have outlined the pricing of each package or a la carte product/service you offer, if it’s paragraphs long of black and white text, no one will bother to read it. Making an attractive website is just as important as making an informative website. Here’s what you need to know.
don’t have a lot of text
We understand that you want your website to convert prospects into sales. That being said, you may want to write about every feature you offer, your entire business history, your passion and experience, what makes you different, etc. All of those things are important, but can easily be touched on in a sentence or two. You should be the salesperson; not the computer. If you write down your entire speech and give every detail about your service on your website, what will be left to talk about when they give you a call? Your website should be a teaser; give them just enough to intrigue them and make them interested to know more.
While prospects do want to get a feel for you and your experience, do this throughout the website with little quotes – like an arrow pointing to an image saying “This was one of my favorite couples to shoot because their dog was so precious!” – and tidbits about yourself – like stating “My day starts after my third cup of coffee” on your contact page. Brides like to have an idea of pricing before wasting yours and their time contacting you, but you don’t need to lay out your entire price sheet. Just mention a few popular items or packages or say “Pricing starts at…”
post quality pictures
You know what they say: A picture is worth a thousand words. Therefore, instead of writing pages of text, post pictures instead. Brides are more likely to spend time on your website browsing a gallery of your previous work than they are reading endless text. However, you shouldn’t just post any pictures. Blurry photos taken on your iPhone, a half-picture where your thumb is covering half the lens, or a thumbnail won’t leave a good impression. Contact the photographers of any weddings you’ve done to get access to their photos. If they grant you permission, you can then post their gorgeous, quality photos on your website, social media, and Pinterest boards to inspire future brides and push them to hire you.
use bright colors
Using color is extremely important in marketing. Almost 85% of consumers say color played a primary part in their decision to buy a product, and colorful ads are read up to 42% more often than black and white ads! To find out more stats and info about individual colors – and what color will be best for your website – check out this article. Whatever color you decide to feature, you should stay within that color scheme and use it only as an accent color to highlight certain features.
Want more web design tips? We can help!
don’t go overboard
Though we recommend using color to draw attention, you should use it sparingly. Don’t use multiple colors – like red, blue, green, and orange. Select one color and use shades of that. You should always have a white background to keep your site clean and easy to read. Use color for the headlines, call outs, buttons, etc. Content text should be black or gray.
have a consistent theme
You shouldn’t have a completely different layout, different color scheme, different font style, etc. on each individual page. Though each page can be slightly different from each other, they should each reflect the same idea and theme. This extends beyond your website, too! Your pamphlets, banners, signs, etc. should all be consistent. For instance, if you’re reading a book series and the cover of the first book is a dark picture of a ship with looming clouds and using all gray tones, it wouldn’t make sense for the second book to be a picture of a cruise boat with bright sunshine, shimmering ocean, and waving passengers. You should maintain a consistent theme.
keep it simple
This tip relates back to the “Don’t go overboard” tip. A simple and clean design is modern and appealing to millennials. White background, limited text, big pictures, and one bright color will go a long way in making your website look professional. Don’t clutter the page up with gifs, quotes of the day, or too many things to click on. Make things easy to find. Keep it clean. Keep it simple.
choose the right font
We discussed this in the blog about including your business details, but I wanted to point it out again because it’s so important. To have a consistent theme throughout your website, you should have a consistent font – one script and one “print.” The “printed” font should be easy to read and used for blog posts, any content or text about your company, drop down lists, contact forms, etc. The script font you use should only be used as headers and in large font sizes, as they’re more difficult to read. All text should be written at 18pt or larger to make it easier to read on a mobile or tablet screen.
make it mobile-friendly
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT! The majority of Millennials probably have a few wedding apps downloaded on their phones already and are using their phones to search for you. Instead of sitting down at a desk to plan, they take their wedding planning notes to Starbucks, Chipotle, or the park and rely on their phone. If your website doesn’t adapt to their phone screen, I guarantee that they won’t be staying on your site for long. It’s frustrating to zoom in and out, scroll over to continue reading a sentence or to find the contact me link and then back over to fill in the form. If your website is hosted on WordPress, make sure you have selected a theme that is responsive (another word for mobile-friendly). It will adapt to the size of the screen to optimize visual experience.
When it comes down to it, your website is just one more way to market your services and products. The best way to do that is by capturing the attention of your audience. Bright colors, a consistent and clean theme, gorgeous pictures, and relevant and sparse text will ensure that they spend a good amount of time learning about your services and hopefully contacting you!
