The majority of business owners nowadays realize the vast importance of utilizing web design services. Websites are used to differentiate businesses and help attract prospective leads. While most business owners are aware of the grand idea behind the concept, they are clueless about the basics of web development, so we decided to expand on them a bit.
The Basic Tenets of Web Development for Businesses
Navigation
One of the very first things that you must look at to determine the effectiveness of your website is its navigation. This vital function allows users to explore and discover your site. In most cases, it appears across the top of your page or down the side and includes internal links to your webpages.
For starters, your main menu navigation should have as few items on it as possible. If not, it can often appear cluttered and unorganized. Users may get confused and be unable to locate what they were looking for. This can cause them to abandon your site entirely, which results in the loss of a potential sale.
Prioritization
Try to list only the most important links in your main menu navigation. If your site has a lot of content, use sidebars, expanded lists and related links at the bottom of the page so that your main menu navigation doesn’t get overwhelmed. The goal is for users to easily navigate your site as seamlessly as possible.
Mobile-Friendly Compatibility
In the days of tablets and smartphones, it has become absolutely essential that websites are compatible with all of the various mobile devices out there. Consider every time that you’ve come across a website on your iPhone or tablet that wasn’t compatible. What did you do?
Sometimes you have to zoom in just to read anything, while other times you can’t even see the whole page. Either way, this annoyance probably left you with a bad impression of the company based on their site. In all likelihood, the incompatibility caused you to leave that page.
Therein lies the astronomical importance of making sure your website is responsive so that it can be viewed on any device. The goal is to broadcast your page to as many users as possible to help attain new customers.
Layout
Furthermore, a key component of web development is considering the many different ways that each user will navigate your site. It’s important that you pay extra attention to the layout of your web design.
For instance, busy pages with images, colors, and content all over the place can sometimes be a lot of work on the eyes. It’s hard to concentrate and process just one thing with so much clutter. Use spacing, padding and white space around your page so that your content is shown in the best light possible.
Try to visualize with the eye of a user and consider what works and what doesn’t. If you can’t remove your own mindset to realize your page’s inefficiencies, then try to enlist the help of someone less familiar with it. Ask them what they think about your site and how easily they process all of the information. If they are having trouble focusing on or retaining your content, then you know you have some improvements to make.
Web development has helped so many businesses carve out their unique space online. However, you’re never going to get far if you don’t pay attention to how it’s most simplistic functions work for the user’s benefits.
