Amidst prolonged social distancing, we’re more connected than ever…at least digitally. As a result, we would argue that prioritizing your company’s website has never been more important. With budgets tight and uncertainty abound, a full website makeover might not be in the cards; but perhaps you could swing a bit of a facelift.
As with all things in the creative marketing space, we recommend that research and planning always precede design. This ensures everything that makes it on the page has a specific reason for being there, and in some way can be tied back to your ultimate business goals.
Here are 7 ways to give your website a fresh look without a total overhaul.
1. Swap Typefaces
Finding the perfect font pairing is essential to great design. If your website feels a bit stale, fonts are a quick and effective way to inject life into your pages. Along with white space and size, using different (yet cohesive) typefaces helps draw people into what is most important, emphasizing message hierarchy and calls to action.
2. Integrate Original Photography
If you don’t have original photography representative of your products, services and people, we highly recommend budgeting for a professional photo shoot, as it is well worth the investment and can be used in sales and marketing efforts across all mediums. While beautiful stock imagery exists and is a helpful tool, nothing helps tell an authentic story quite like original photography.
Custom photography and videography paired with striking design elements work together to create beautiful, user-friendly websites. If you invest in a session with a professional photographer, populate your shot list from a place of strategy. What are the goals of your shoot? What final products are you hoping to leverage assets for? What images represent your key messages and will speak to your target audience? If you have a communications strategy for your business, now is a great time to put it to work.
3. Spruce Up Old Content
A few years ago, creating a “content engine” was very important. Prioritizing a quick-turn, frequent content schedule that kept fresh material posted on the site was the goal, and it worked. Presently, there is a full-blown debate about long-form vs. short-form content and frequency of posting, with compelling data supporting each side.
One thing that consistently wins consensus is that quality content performs better than words slapped on a page to meet a production deadline or post quota. To maximize the effectiveness of your content, resist the urge to focus on quantity. Investing time and resources into creating optimized, personalized and influencer-activated content experiences presents greater ROI.
If you dig into analytics on most sites, you will see that the same few landing pages seem to generate most of the traffic month after month. Often referred to as evergreen posts, these content pieces keep pulling people in. In addition to creating new content, work updates/expansions of existing posts into your calendar. Not only does it help with SEO, it further speaks to your credibility and authority in your respective industry.
4. Integrate CTAs
What one action do you want a user to make most when visiting your website? Once identified, write a succinct call to action that clearly communicates the suggested action, pair it with an on-brand, eye-catching graphic element and post it strategically throughout your site. You can even leverage an exit intent triggered pop-up form CTA to give a user one last opportunity to engage before clicking off your site.
Pro Tip: In the world of scroll, users skim as their brain quickly discerns what it will expend energy on when consuming content. If you feel like you are being too repetitive with your CTAs across the site, you’re probably right where you need to be. Repetition and consistency help users process information and understand what is important.
5. Feature Client Testimonials
Words are important, but they mean the most when coming from an outside source. There are opportunities to graphically feature customer testimonials throughout your site in various formats and lengths, and each reinforces the credibility of your own words. Consider the following:
- 92% of customers read online reviews before buying (Big Commerce).
- 70% of people trust reviews and recommendations from strangers (Nielsen).
- 97% of B2B customers cited testimonials and peer recommendations as the most reliable type of content (Demand Gen Report).
6. Differentiate Hyperlinks
We consume (and pass over) a lot of content daily. Visual cues and indicators are essential in anchoring a user’s mind and helping them navigate content efficiently. That’s why making clickable elements recognizable is so important; indicating clickablity through visual cues including placement, size, color, borders, etc. promotes a more user-friendly experience on your site.
7. Incorporate Icons
Icons are a great way to add visual interest and help a user navigate through a website, presentation or printed materials. When done well, they break up heavy text to make content more digestible, drive engagement and add finesse to any project. One of our favorite things about icons is they provide a crisp and professional way to infuse personality and life into a page, even if the featured content is heavy, ominous or common.
We hope these quick ideas give you some inspiration to put an extra coat of shine on your pages. Need a hand taking your website to the next level? Let’s talk.
