Quality Website Design:
The Mustang Vs the Lemon
Imagine you are shopping for a car.
What kind of car do you think would be best? A Mustang or a broken down lemon? The obvious choice is the Mustang, because the car is of good quality, a brand name and is presumably in good condition. A broken down lemon of a car in contrast doesn't seem likely to achieve your needs because it won't even start and needs contant repairs.
The same is true of website design. People are more likely to flock to a website which has a quality design and works very well. A good quality design (easy to navigate, visually pleasing, etc.) will cause people to like the website more, and thus increase the likelihood they will bookmark the site, buy a product or service off the site or share the site with friends.
Another good metaphor is to compare a stallion vs a broken down old nag. You want your website to be a stallion.
Lastly the synergy between good website design and Search Engine Optimization requires that the website being promoted using SEO should be well designed. What would be the point of advertising or promoting a poorly designed website?
To use another metaphor, there is no point advertising a dead horse when you're trying to sell a live stallion. Trying to sell a poorly designed website is just going to make the task infinitely more difficult. In contrast a well designed website multiplies the chances of getting potential customers when advertising or promoting the website.
It is similar to the concept "Sex Sells". Sex sells because its curvy, symmetrical and it looks good. People respond better to websites which are pleasing to the eye, have curves (ie. rounded corners) and visually entice them. A website which looks lobsided, squarish and has colours combinations that bother the eyes of the viewer will decrease the likelihood of being sticking around long enough to buy a product or service. Thus it is very important that a website's design be above par before progressing to the stage of promoting the site.
Website Design and SEO go together like ying and yang. You can't do one without the other and you want both of them to be top notch if you want your business to succeed.
Website Design + SEO Tips
#1. Your website should be designed to be Search Engine Friendly.
#2. The website should be easy to navigate, with all parts of the website accessible within 2 or 3 clicks of the main index.
#3. The website should include local keywords in the content, ie. "Toronto Website Design" in an effort to make the SEO stage easier.
#4. The website's colours and shapes should be visually pleasing together.
#5. The layout should be simple and easy for people to both navigate and enjoy. If its too complicated it will annoy the visitor. Follow the principles of KISS = Keep it Simple Stupid.
#6. Don't bother doing any SEO until the website looks good.
#7. Ask friends and colleagues for input on the design of the website so they can offer improvements on the layout, colours, etc.
#8. Ask your friends and colleagues to answer a survey about the websites layout, colours, sections, content, images, navigation, etc. and make it easy for them to fill out their responses.
#9. Use the advice of friends and colleagues to improve the quality of the design before doing any SEO.
#10. You will know the website is ready to be promoted when all your friends and colleagues ask who the website designer is and compliment you on the design.
