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7 Important Factors When Considering a Minneapolis Web Design Project

Your website is usually the first interaction a customer has with your brand. It's important that your site is created to impress, boost sales, and represent your brand's quality.

 

That's a lot easier said than done though. Web design and development can be a complicated process.

 

At Agency Jet, we're Minneapolis Web Design experts. So, we're here to help by sharing our top seven most important factors that everyone should keep in mind when designing and developing a website.

 

seven

 

Tip 1: Focus on the User Experience

 

You should assume that the average user that comes to your website wants to be guided through the website. There should be a natural flow to how users navigate through your site.

 

Today, everyone prefers their online experience to be smooth and straightforward. Most reputable companies have websites that look great and are easy to use, so it's become what people expect. In fact, 94% of customers say a website must be easy to navigate, or they'll leave it.

 

Optimizing the experience your user has on your website is an entire branch of marketing called UX. A UX expert focuses on areas such as:

  • Reducing the number of clicks a user has to go through to access points of your site
  • Making sure there are the right filter options for lists
  • Including a search bar
  • Including a clear navigation panel at the top of the website
  • Having a clear 'Contact Us' button/link

 

This may all seem like nitpicky details, but if UX is done well, it can improve sales. If a customer gets frustrated with a website because they can't find the information they're looking for, they're more likely to bounce off the page and go to a competitor.

 

Conversely, making the CTA clear, easy to find, and simple to complete can increase conversions. The customer doesn't have to find the call-to-action themselves, it's presented to them at the right time.

 

Tip 2: Speed

 

Speed is probably one of the most important factors for a website.

 

Here are a few crucial statistics you should know about website speed:

 

It's simple: speed matters. The ideal time it should take for a website to load in under three seconds. You can improve website speed by compressing files and images, reducing redirects, leveraging browser caching, and so much more.

 

slow loading site _ Agency Jet (1)

 

It takes time to implement these tactics. Additionally, you have to keep monitoring your website. As soon as you notice an increase in load time, you need to analyze what's causing it, and rectify it.

 

Tip 3: Design with Mobile in Mind

 

According to Google, approximately 50% of all searches now come from mobile. With people becoming more comfortable searching and even purchasing through their phones, it's clear the future is all about mobile.

 

Unfortunately, many people design their websites with only desktop in mind. It's crucial you design and test for mobile as well. The mobile experience shouldn't be worse than your desktop experience.

 

This multi-device design concept is usually achieved with Responsive Web Design (RWD), which allows a website to automatically fit the screen of any device being used. With RWD, your users won't have to scroll and zoom to navigate your website on their mobile device.

 

After all, the last thing you want is to lose a sale or a booking because they couldn't complete the purchase on their phone!

 

Tip 4: Localize

 

If you're a small or medium-sized business, consider a local approach. It's likely that the majority of your customers come from your local area. As a result, it's better to put your efforts into ranking on the local level versus the national level.

 

Make your website as local as possible. Consider having pages for each neighborhood or regional area you service. Publish content about local festivals, guides to the area, or other local resources. And make sure to use plenty of local keywords throughout your website copy for better SEO performance.

 

Pro Tip: Take it one step further and work with a local agency for your web design needs! Hire a Minneapolis web design company who understands the area and can help you become a local star.

 

Tip 5: Launch with a Library of Content Ready

 

A great website has resources to provide to its users. These resources can be content on a blog, how-to guides, an FAQ page, videos, ebooks, case studies, customer stories, and more.

 

Preferably, you want to launch a website with plenty of content ready to upload for the launch. This will make your website look more complete and give your users a better experience when searching for information.

 


 

Not sure if your company website is up to snuff? Get a free website assessment from Agency Jet. We mean free. No sales pitch included.

 

 


Tip 6: Continuous Testing and Optimizing

 

Both before your launch and after, you want to test and optimize your website regularly. No website is perfect and there's always room for improvement.

 

For example, you could look at optimizing where to put your CTA, how it should look, and how often it should appear on a single page. You could run an entire testing campaign if your CTA should be red, green, or orange! You'll be surprised how much changing a button's color can cause an uplift in conversions on your website.

 

By continuing to optimize, you'll improve the look, feel, and performance of your site. And, as a result of all that testing, your website traffic and conversions will continue to grow.

 

Tip 7: Hire a Reputable Agency

 

We've outlined all the things you should consider for your web design and development project.

 

If you've read this entire post and don't know where to start, we recommend hiring a reputable agency to do the web design work for you. A web design agency will have a team of experts who know how to build a beautiful custom site for you that also performs well. By handing off this project, you can focus on other areas of your business, where your time and expertise is more useful.

 

As we mentioned earlier, there's some benefit with considering a local agency if you're a small or medium-sized business. Your local agency will be more affordable and will understand your region's nuances, such as neighborhood names and local trends. If you're looking for Minneapolis web design services, Agency Jet is a top contender for building user-centered websites.

 

Agency Jet for Your Minneapolis Web Design Project

 

Agency Jet is a digital marketing agency with over ten years of experience in our industry. We offer web design and development services for small and medium-sized businesses.

 

We've established a process that is guaranteed to get the best results for our clients. We start with a current website assessment, identify your ideal budget and timeframe, take the time to understand the specifics of your brand, design with the user experience in mind, optimize for website speed, and perform frequent testing before launching the site.

 

Clearly, our process works because we won the 2020 Expertise award for Best Web Designers in Minneapolis.

 

Get started with us today by contacting us for a free website assessment. It's a no-commitment, free assessment that allows us to show you how we think your website can be improved.

 

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