The hopes of every website is to generate a constant stream of visitors and traffic. Search engine optimization can do wonders in getting people to your website but captivating them is the cornerstone of great web design. There are many analytic services that can assist you in gauging people’s interest in your web site, but none that can provide solutions as to how to keep people coming back. Your website, on all pages, has to offer a benefit to people. Something that is unique enough to capture their attention, keep them coming back, and most importantly, spread the word to others. You may be asking yourself “how can I possibly provide enough content to get people interested, and convert them into reoccurring visitors?” The answer is not an easy one, but there are many things you can try out. Upon testing things you can identify what your user-base is most interested in and focus your efforts there, and of course, generate more traffic.
One of the best ways to drive traffic is a blog, preferably a blog right on your website. There are a multitude of blogging services out there that allow you to easily write, manage, and advertise your blogging efforts. A website lacking a blog is a missed opportunity for the majority of companies and individuals. A blog will not only help your search engine rankings, but it will keep people coming back for fresh content. Most of the time I hear people say they simply don’t have the time to blog. This is understandable enough, but if you are serious about earning legitimate traffic there is no excuse. You know the products and services you offer better then anyone else, so writing about it will be easy, and it will go a long way. Keep your blog in mind when having your website designed. Your blog should be an important focal point on the site, and easily accessed by the people that want the information you are providing. Often times I suggest featuring two or three of your recent blog articles on the homepage of your site.
One thing that all websites should have is an in depth “about” section. When a user reads about your company’s history, or employees it instills a sense of trust in them. Your website or company is no longer a faceless entity behind a logo. It is now personal and relatable on a human level. The trust that is gained through this information will build on a user’s willingness to promote your site or refer others to it.
Another seemingly simple, and overlooked, method of getting traffic to your site with great web design is to use a multitude of relatable images through out your content and update them regularly. Not only to images do a great job in illustrating blog topics and content, but aptly named images will also show up in Google image searches. Try to generate unique images for use, which other people will find interesting and useful. You can also go as far as tagging your images with your logo or website address if it fits in smoothly with your design. This way if anyone else uses your unedited images you will be able to receive free advertisement.
A hot web item these days is infographics. Infographics do wonders in capturing peoples attention while educating them on subjects of any kind. Infographics have existed for a long time but have recently become a very popular way of gaining traffic for a lot of websites. Take the time to plan an infographic and employ your web or graphic designer to make it visually appealing. Post it on your website or blog and provide a code snippet for reposting. When people repost this infographic on social sites or their own site it will bring traffic to your website. Most often this traffic will be based off interest on the infographic’s subject, which will generate qualified leads.
Another important area of website design is interactivity. This goes a long way in generating a positive user experience that will get people to stay on your site longer. This can be subtle or bold depending on your focus group. Rollover images and links (areas of your site that change when moused over) are a simple yet attention grabbing area to promote interaction. Beyond that rollover images help illustrate links in a more user-friendly fashion. Blogs can also be a great area for interaction. Allow user’s to comment on your blog and respond to these comments. This will build a great relationship and make people want to revisit your site because they feel their voice is being heard.
After your website is completed graphically, the web designer’s job is not over. There are many things that should be put in place after a design is functional and operational to ensure people find your website. One of the most important things to do is submit your site to various search engines. This service is free of charge, and in essence makes the search engine’s job easier. Google Webmaster tools are a great example of this service. You can submit your website’s sitemap, request Google to crawl and index your pages, and receive useful information about errors Google has accessing your website. People not utilizing these services risk having minor pages ignored by search engines, and no one wants the work they put into these pages to go to waste. Your web designer should now how to do these things quickly and easily, as they are not complex or difficult for even the most novice of web designers.
Follow these tips and you are sure to keep people on your website longer, and also keep them coming back. The thing to keep in mind is that a neglected site is a sad site. No user wants to read information that was published years ago. Keep writing content. Keep interacting with users. And have a professional web designer do things right the first time. Gaining people's trust back is much harder then gaining it in the first place.
