The Role of Web Design on the Success of a Website
The past few years have seen the growth of the internet increase tremendously thanks to improving technology developments. As a result of this growth, the internet has become a new avenue where individuals and organizations can market their products or exchange ideas. With growing popularity in the use of the internet, websites have become a very important tool to enable internet users to communicate effectively as well as exchange information. Having identified the relevance of websites in this technology age, today internet researchers are focused on establishing the factors that enhance the success of any website. Many research studies suggest that web design is one of the most important tools in ensuring that any website is a success. As such, this paper discusses the role played by web designs towards the success of any website.
According to most online studies, the visual appeal has a crucial role in the success of any website(Chevalier, Dommes, Martins, & Valérian, 2007). The appearance or feel of any website is a huge determining factor on the impression generated by its users regarding the materials being promoted on a specific website. On the other hand, having a website design that is unpleasant to the user’s eyes can be a turn off to most people meaning that the website is unlikely to attract a lot of traffic (Chevalier, Dommes, Martins, & Valérian, 2007). Based on this understanding, website design is very important because it influences the public perception on a given online brand. As such, online researchers recommended that good web design should be appealing to the eye and user-friendly because it would make it easier for users to navigate through it easily, hence attracting a lot of traffic. Based on this understanding, it is quite clear that web design plays a crucial role in the success of any website.
Web design experts suggest that having a unique design for a website is the best strategy to adopt especially if the idea is to have the website running for a long time. Instead of constantly changing a website design with every growing trend, experts advise that a website should have one unique and quality design that is capable of standing the test of time (Flavian, Gurrea, & Orus, 2009). Establishing such measures is very important because it ensures that a website will establish itself as a brand that users can easily recognize and connect with. Moreover, adopting such strategies ensures that websites reduce bounce rates while also boost their ranking on search engines. As such, maintain unique web designs is one of the important roles it plays towards ensuring that a website is successful or it meets its intended objectives.
Branding is an important aspect of any web design because it is the basis on which websites find their identity. The main features of a website include a logo, design elements and a color scheme, which are the elements that users of any websites identify it with (Inan, 2002). These website design elements are what the visitors of any website are going to recognize or identify as the main symbols of the website’s brand. For this reasons, (Flavian, Gurrea, & Orus, 2009) suggests that website owners should look to invest in a good web design for their website that will lead to the creation of quality web design elements which visitors can easily identify as the website brand. As such, wed design plays a crucial role in promoting any website.
One important web design element is color, and most online retailers advocate for bold and big headlines highlighted with bright colors if their website is to receive the desired attention from online shoppers(Chevalier, Dommes, Martins, & Valérian, 2007). As such, while most web designers mainly use black as the main color on their website, studies show that bright colors like red are also effective in promoting the visibility and attractiveness of any website. Web designers all user-friendly colors such as navy blue for various website services like a call to action features with studies showing that they often lead to high rates of conversion (Chevalier, Dommes, Martins, & Valérian, 2007). With the right mix of colors, a well-designed website often leads to better conversion rates on any online enterprise brand while customers are also able to recognize the brand quite easily. These facts highlight the significant benefits associated with good web design features in promoting any given website.
Simple web design is easy for users to navigate through it while at the same time providing information in a clear and user-friendly manner, a factor that can be very appealing to its users. Though a website may be packed with a tone of useful information, the ability of its users to find what they are interested in is the most important factor determining the success of any website. Studies show that users of any website make their judgment about it within the first few seconds after arriving on the homepage. A website with a confusing and chaotic design is usually very unattractive and a turn off to most visitors. (Flavian, Gurrea, & Orus, 2009) Suggests that most customer’s attention spans tend to very short and when visitors to any website find it hard or take too long to navigate through the website, they get bored and move on to a competitors website especially if it is easier to navigate through it. Based on this understanding, keeping the web design of any website simple is very crucial to ensure that users of any website can navigate through it with a lot of ease. As such, web design role in promoting the success of any website is very crucial.
Poorly designed websites often lead to loss of customer service or trust because they can a huge turn off to any users who visit them. (Fan & Tsai, 2010) Describe a poorly designed website as a rude and unhelpful customer care representative because both of them lack appeal and users often find it hard to navigate through it. On the other hand, they compare a properly designed website as a customer service representative who is willing to go the extra mile to ensure that he or she services customers to their satisfaction. Based on this analogy, (Fan & Tsai, 2010) argue that poorly designed websites lack appeal to their target audiences and in the case where the website is used to promote specific products, customer’s trust and confidence may be eroded because of the nature of the business it is promoting. On the other hand, properly designed websites are very attractive, and the customer’s trust and confidence in the products being promoted by these websites are quite high. Fan and Tsai study and analogies paint a clear picture and illustrations of the importance of web design in promoting the success of any given website.
Web design has been known to increase the organic searches of a given website, a factor which helps draw more traffic into a site. In this case, organic searches refer to the search results made on Google without them coming from paid advertisements, and it is estimated to drive approximately 50% of the traffic generated on the web (West, 2016). Combining SEO search engines with web design is what has made the leading websites to have a high stake in terms of organic searches on various search engine platforms. Studies show that web sites that are designed in such a way that they can attract more visitors and rank highly on major search engines increase their credibility and appeal to potential visitors (West, 2016). As such, commercial websites are today applying SEO web design strategies to attract more visitors to their websites, a factor that helps promote their sales volumes. Commercial websites that are used to promote certain products are best suited with such web design strategies because they ensure that the website ranks highly on various search engines. These facts highlight the significant benefits associated with good web design features in promoting any given website.
Finally, today experts in web-based technologies are advising website owners to put more invests into advancing the web design technologies and capabilities to remain competitive within their specific niche. Websites have become very popular and completive as brands compete for online traffic. According to (Chevalier, Dommes, Martins & Valérian, 2007), most organizations within a given industry have access to the same information and resources when it comes to developing their products and driving their competition. This means that there are only a few factors separating organizations operating within the same industry or any other domain. As such, (Chevalier, Dommes, Martins & Valérian, 2007) argues that web designs are the one tool left for such organizations to acquire an edge over their completion because it offers a unique way of developing unique products that cannot be matched. This means that organizations that will be able to come up with more appealing and attractive web designs will have a competitive edge in the market. It therefore implies that a good web design is crucial to promote the competitiveness any a website.
From the preceding, the discussion advanced in this study asserts that web design plays a key role in promoting the success of any website. According to various internet related studies, web design has been credited for helping websites get a positive outcome from their intended users because of its ability to influence how users perceive a given website. Various elements of web design such as branding, coloring and overall structure have a huge influence on the overall outlook of a given website, a factor that determines its appeal and reception by its target audience. Moreover, simple web design is easy for users to navigate through it while at the same time providing information in a clear and user-friendly manner, a factor that can be very appealing to its users. The factors contribute to a web design having a significant influence on the overall success rate of any website.
References
Chevalier, A., Dommes, A., Martins, D., & Valérian, C. (2007). Searching for Information on the Web: Role of Aging and Ergonomic Quality of Website. Human-Computer Interaction. Interaction Design and Usability Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 691-700. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-73105-4_76
Fan, W., & Tsai, M. (2010). Factors are driving website success – the key role of Internet customization and the influence of website design quality and Internet marketing strategy. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 21(11), 1141-1159. doi:10.1080/14783363.2010.529335
Flavian, C., Gurrea, R., & Orús, C. (2009). Web design: A key factor for website success. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 11(2), 168-184. doi:10.1108/13287260910955129
Inan, H. (2002). Measuring the success of your website: A customer-centric approach to website management. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.
West, A. W. (2016). Enhancing the Website. Practical Web Design for Absolute Beginners, 51-57. doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-1993-5_7
