Once upon a time, any business with a website was a few paces ahead of everyone else. However, today the tides have significantly changed, and websites have become a basic operational function of any successful brand. Because of this, your business not only
needs a website, but it must have a highly inviting, easy-to-use and attractive web design. Otherwise, your business will experience the downside of having an ugly website.
In the vast world of e-commerce, more than $1.2 million dollars in transactions are conducted every 30 seconds. This number breaks down to almost a million dollars done through desktop sales, and $269,683 are done through mobile devices. Since anyone can throw up a scammy website with fake products, it's important to comfort potential customers with an effective, professional web design. When your website is functional, attractive, and offers fresh content, it will build upon the credibility of your brand. Although anyone can quickly produce a site, only legitimate companies will invest the time, money, and resources into creating a good-looking website. Don't let an ugly web design destroy the credibility of your brand.
Customers Will Not StayWhile you may not be able to judge a book by its cover, people quickly judge websites by the appeal of the first page. If you have an ugly website, visitors will not stay to read your content. Did you know that only takes a mere 0.05 seconds for a someone to form an opinion about your website? Since time is of the essence, it's vital to present an attractive and inviting website.
A casual poll of friends can probably tell you if your website is ugly, but you'll know for sure if you hook your website up to Google Analytics and look at your bounce rate. If your bounce rate is high, then people are looking at a single page on your website, and then leaving without looking at anything else.
Read more: The Difference a Professional Web Design Makes
Your website is most likely the first encounter a potential customer will have with your company. Since you rarely ever get a second chance to make a first impression, it's vital to implement an attractive and inviting web design. On the other hand, an ugly website will act as a launching pad to send customers directly to your competition. Worst of all, this will render your pleasant reception area, professional employees, and expensive signs ineffective.
Traditionally, websites were used to communicate information like your hours of operation, location, and other valuable business information. While they still communicate this type of information, your web design communicates much more! As a matter of fact, every element of your website is a communicative tool. If your site has slow loading images, broken links, and forms that do not work, it will communicate that your actual business is falling apart and suffers from a heavy dose of disorganization and carelessness. Are these the messages you want to communicate about your brand? If not, get rid of the ugly website and show your customers how awesome your brand really is.
Simply put, the cost of an ugly website is too much for any business to bear in today's digital age. The solution is to ensure your website is sending the right message with easy-to-use navigation, vivid imagery, valuable content, and a professional web design.
