Gone are the days when businesses used a landing page as a placeholder just for their company’s address and phone number. Today’s websites need a friendly user experience, fast load time, blog, social sharing ability and, perhaps most importantly, quality design.

 

Although your company doesn’t require award-winning design to stand-out, it does need to be attractive to an audience to keep them engaged. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean the design needs to be complex. According to a study done by Adobe, 41 percent of respondents say they prefer a website that’s plain and simple.

 

Here are five optimal steps to create a winning online presence.

 

Design with the user in mind

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Today’s website design focuses on the user experience. This may sound intuitive, but many companies struggle to understand the user intent and how to simplify that process.

 

Start with a solid design and navigation hierarchy that makes it easy for your customer to find what they’re looking for. For example, Apple Rubber’s site is simple and to the point, and their material selection section is an intuitive process where customers can quickly pinpoint the information they need.

 

Strive for readability

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Before you design a single pixel of your website, think about what you want your audience to do. If they’re simply looking at your photography business portfolio, then loading them with gorgeous visuals makes sense. But chances are you need your readers to consume information, from your blog to your call to action (CTA). That’s why it’s crucial for your blog to be highly readable. Readers are likely to need a large text font, oversized headers, bullet point lists and tables that clearly define the information you want to convey.

 

Keep it simple

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Readability and simplicity are key for building a successful website. Focusing too much on long, complex text and visuals can ultimately backfire and drive your audience away. In fact, according to Adobe, 41 percent of people will stop viewing a website if the content is too long or takes too long to load.

 

Look to Quid’s website for inspiration. They focus on functional minimalism with only the essential elements on a page to start exploring. With fast load time and readability, this business website delivers on what consumers are looking for in their online experience.

 

Include a call to action

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Don’t assume your customers will know what you want them to do when they land on your site. They may just want to look around, consume content and go. Or they may need you to tell them exactly how to use their site and get the most value.

 

This is where a rock-solid call CTA comes in. For instance, you can add an opt-in box for customers to signup for future discounts or a free video series that helps them resolve a problem. Evernote, for example, prompts consumers to signup for their service for free to get started using their tool quickly.

 

Focusing on readability, load time and simplicity on your website all point back to the same thing: the customer experience. Get this step right and you’ll keep your customers coming back for more to a site they trust and see as a credible resource to resolve their needs.