If your website is a bit dated and tired, a complete website redesign may be the best way forward. That said, if you don’t have the budget or resources to completely revamp your site there are some elements that can be looked at that won’t cost you an arm and a leg! Here’s our simple steps to spruce up your website.
Having a simple, minimalistic design goes a long way! Many people worry about having too much white space, but research has actually shown this is a good thing on a website. White space on a web page allows the brain to take more in and not overwhelm a visitor with too much visual stimulation. So, get rid of all that clutter and ensure that elements on your pages are not competing for attention allowing your visitors to focus on the important aspects of what you are offering.
Have you ever been browsing a website and you click through to a different page and everything seems different? Yes you say, annoying isn’t it? One simple improvement that can be made to a website is ensuring all pages follow a consistent design and structure. This includes things such as colour schemes, font sizes, typography and icons.
This not only makes your site and content more accessible, it also improves the user experience allowing people to navigate your site more easily.
We would suggest choosing strong, bold fonts for titles, two main colours that follow your branding and try to avoid light text on a dark background.
As you have probably heard many times before, content is king! The wording on your website is equally as important as the design and layout. Information should be laid out clearly and concisely to avoid bombarding visitors with too much information.
Your site should be regularly updated with fresh, new content that will grip your visitors attention. Not only is this useful in getting potential customers to return to your website, it’s also extremely effective with search engine optimisation. Because Google loves regularly updated, well written and relevant content.
Not only are meta tags extremely helpful with determining your search engine rankings, they are also likely to compel someone to click on your website. Your page titles and meta descriptions should be straight to the point and enticing. It’s also important to take into account keyword placement for your meta tags, some keyword research could go a long way!
Pictures and imagery are probably almost as important as the wording on your website. Go through your pages and replace all those tired old stock photos with something eye-catching and different. If you have a good camera or know someone who could provide you with some low-cost shots, it’s definitely worth putting that extra bit of effort to have something unique that will make you stand out above the rest.
And there we have it, our top five tips to improve your website without paying out an arm and a leg for a complete redesign.