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Tourism and City Visitor Map Design

Author: Sean H.

Designing a visitor map for Louisville, Kentucky’s Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) involves a strategic and thoughtful approach that benefits various stakeholders including local retail, tourism, wayfinding, corporate partnerships, and overall Louisville business development. Here’s a detailed case study:

Project Overview

Client: Louisville, Kentucky
Project: Downtown BID Visitor Map Design
Objective: To create an informative and user-friendly map highlighting local businesses, restaurants, entertainment, hotels, and hospitality services provided by the BID.

Research and Analysis

  1. Stakeholder Assessments: Collect data from local business owners, hotel managers, and tourism officials to provide accurate data and provide what they hoped the map would achieve.
  2. User Studies: Gathering information from tourists and locals about their navigation challenges and interests in the downtown area.
  3. Competitive Analysis: Reviewing existing maps and visitor guides from similar districts in other cities for best practices.

Design Strategy

  1. Content Selection: The map includes prominent local businesses, popular restaurants, key entertainment venues, and hotels. Each category is color-coded for ease of identification.
  2. Wayfinding Elements: Clear street names, landmarks, pedestrian pathways, and public transportation hubs are highlighted to assist navigation.
  3. Accessibility: The map is designed for print and digital use, ensuring accessibility for all users, including those with disabilities.

Benefits

  1. Local Retail: By featuring local shops and boutiques, the map drives foot traffic and supports local commerce.
  2. Tourism Enhancement: Tourists benefit from a comprehensive guide to the city’s attractions, increasing their likelihood of extended stays and repeat visits.
  3. Wayfinding Improvement: The map simplifies navigation, reducing the stress of exploring a new city and enhancing visitor experiences.
  4. Corporate Partnership Opportunities: Local businesses can be featured on the map or advertise it, creating resources for the BID and promotional opportunities for businesses.
  5. Boost to Louisville Business: A well-designed map can be a tool for economic development, encouraging investment and interest in the Downtown BID area.

Implementation and Distribution

  1. Production: The map is produced in both print and digital formats, ensuring wide accessibility.
  2. Distribution Points: Maps are distributed at key entry points to the city, including the airport, hotels, visitor centers, and participating businesses.
  3. Online Presence: A digital version is available on the Louisville BID website and through a dedicated mobile webpage.

Evaluation and Feedback

  1. User Feedback: Regular surveys of map users to assess its effectiveness and areas for improvement.
  2. Business Feedback: Ongoing dialogue with local businesses to measure the impact on foot traffic and sales.
  3. Analytics Tracking: For the digital version, usage analytics help understand user behavior and preferences.

Conclusion

The Louisville Downtown BID visitor map represents a significant step in enhancing the visitor experience, supporting local businesses, and promoting the district as a vibrant and welcoming destination. Its strategic design and thoughtful implementation are crucial in realizing these benefits. Continued evaluation and adaptation will ensure the map remains an effective tool for visitors and locals alike.

6 Key Components of an Effective B2M Website

Author: Eleanor Hecks

A business to many (B2M) website must serve multiple functions and reach two distinct audience types. Juggling the different users and meeting their needs isn’t easy, but it can be done quite effectively with a little forethought and tweaking.

According to Internet Live Stats, there are 1.87 billion websites in the world. While they aren’t all active at the same time, and some simply park on top of other domains, you’re still competing for customer attention with a ton of other pages. Spending a little time on site renovations will pay off with more sales.

However, what works for one business model may not work for the next. The needs of your buyer personas are unique to your industry and perhaps even your company. How can you ensure your B2M website is effective for your users?

1. Find Common Elements

What are some of the needs and values your business and consumer customers share? Perhaps they both like quality products that stand the test of time. Maybe they have a need for speed. Perhaps you solve a similar pain point for both, but on different scales? Look for the similarities and showcase them on the main pages of your site. Think about the values all your customers care about.

When you land on the Chase.com website, you’ll see an option for personal or business options. As you browse through different offers, such as checking or savings, you’ll see a comparison of different types of banking accounts. Since many B2B clients might also want a personal account, shifting back and forth between the options is a matter of clicking a tab at the top of the page.

2. Segment Your Audience

How well does your navigation work to get your users to the section related to their needs? When serving both consumers and other businesses, it requires a smart and streamlined navigation to get the user from Point A to Point B without any detours.

Consider separating your site into two parts or more. When people land on your home page, do you direct them to the next step or do they feel lost? If you aren’t sure, hire some testers to go through your site and point out any weaknesses.

3. Choose Relevant Images

Be cautious not to focus on photos of only one type of work you do. If you serve consumers and businesses, your images should reflect how you help both. If you direct someone to a page specifically for companies, you would focus on pictures to relate your ability. However, if the page serves both B2C and B2B, you must mix things up.

Note how ADCO Garage Doors highlight images of modern homes, traditional homes and commercial spaces. By varying the photographs, they show they’re capable of a wide range of styles and options. The landing page speaks both to homeowners and business owners.

4. Check Your Headlines

The first impression a user has of your site is often via the headings. When they do a search, they’ll see your heading in the SERPs. They’ll also see it when they click and land on your page.

Do your headlines effectively pull in both consumers and businesses? How can you tweak them to make them work better for all your buyer personas? If you separate your site into pages for both B2C and B2B, then you should have varied headlines for each.

5. Revamp Your CTAs

Does your CTA make sense for both segments of your buying audience? If not, either separate out the landing pages further or tweak your CTAs. Run the words, color, placement and size of button through the filer of your buyer personas.

You may need to adjust the language or colors to better meet the psychographic profile of each customer type. Don’t be afraid to segment your pages even more if it means you can create a more personalized experience for your users.

Lamps Plus serves both commercial spaces and homes. Rather than trying to come up with separate CTAs for the landing page, they create a bright box to highlight a current sale and invite all users to “Shop Sale.”

Business owners and consumers want to save money on shipping and costs, so the CTA works for all segments of their audience. They get a bit more specific on product pages, depending on the offer.

6. Study Heat Maps and Traffic Patterns

What do users do when they actually land on your page? You can track the journey of a business owner as they stop by your home page, click on the business section and move through your site. Where do they linger? Is there a point where the majority bounce away? What can you improve?

Once you know where users linger and convert into customers, it’s easier to repeat those elements and delete clutter that isn’t serving your needs.

Experiment and Test

Every effective B2M website has some of the components above, but what works best for your site is dependent on your individual customers. Try different tactics and test each one via A/B or multivariate testing to see what performs for your business.

Try different colors, segments, language and images. Offer incentives to entice people to sign up for your mailing list. Experiment and see what works best. Once you have an idea, it’s much easier to repeat those efforts and grow your business into a B2M powerhouse.

Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.

How to Design a User-Focused Hero Image

Author: Eleanor Hecks

A hero image should grab the attention of site visitors instantly. However, it’s easy to get so caught up in using beautiful images and grabbing attention you forget to make sure the photos are user-focused. Each hero shot should serve a specific purpose and meet customers’ needs.

According to Netcraft, the number of websites is constantly in flux. The billions of domain names don’t truly reflect how many live websites there are at any given moment. For example, the internet gained 6.28 million sites in May 2021, but also lost 4.87 million domains.

If you want to be certain your hero image hits on all the points needed for a potential customer landing on your website, follow the tips below to ensure you’re selecting the right layout and options for your users.

1. Show the Product

One of the top ways to focus on users is by using your hero image to highlight the product site visitors want to see. If you’re an e-commerce store, you’ll need to choose a category or share new arrivals.

On the other hand, if you sell a service, you can show the product in action or offer a before and after side-by-side. Think about what you’d most want to see if you were the customer. Put yourself in the user’s shoes.

Ditto Residential is a real estate firm with a focus on revamping and creating healthy, beautiful spaces. To show some of what they offer, they use a hero shot of one of their luxury living spaces. The photo helps people see their overall design concept and get a feel for the light airy look to their style.

Another advantage to the placement of their hero image is they can swap out the look for one of their other properties. If they notice a sudden uptick in consumers looking for larger homes, they might highlight an airy space, for example.

2. Choose Stellar Typography

Your hero image should capture the user’s imagination, but you also need to think through the headlines and other details on your page. To enhance the user experience (UX), choose a color and font size that stands out from the background.

Choose the hero image that allows your text to show up. You may want to overlay a solid transparent color over the entire photograph or choose a different picture with some darker or lighter areas where text will pop.

3. Gain User Trust

Your hero image can go a long way toward showing you’re knowledgeable and trustworthy. Choose an image if your technicians in the field or some other expert insight no one else provides. When people think about your product or service, you want to be seen as the go-to authority.

D.E. Gemmill chose an image of their traffic control marking experts hard at work. The employees look capable and the photo also highlights the brand’s equipment. The truck moves off to the left of the screen, creating a sense of motion and work ethic.

4. Choose High Quality Images

You may know the exact photograph you’d like to use, but when you blow it up to full screen width, it’s a bit fuzzy. Always choose sharp, high-quality photos over anything else. You may need to reshoot the photo in a higher resolution, or go with a completely different selection.

At the same time, you must optimize pictures so your site loads as quickly as possible. Use a high resolution, but compress the image. Test your pages load times to ensure your speed is up to par.

5. Add a Video

A still shot grabs interest, but a video hero image tells an entire story. You can share moments of action, inspire users with what they might gain from a product and set a unique tone for your site.

As with any image you choose, make sure the footage is relevant to your industry and your business in particular. Ideally, you’ll hire a videographer to shoot and edit a clip to use in the background of your website’s header.

Ag America offers lending to farmers. They take a moment to highlight some of the hard work farmers do in a day, showing tractors, a farmer walking the field and a close look at crops. Their target audience will see they understand the business at hand and be much more likely to trust the company with their business.

6. Remember the CTA

Your call to action button (CTA) must stand out against the hero image. You can choose the most interesting photograph in the world but if you don’t ask users to take the next step, you risk losing them to the competition.

First, your CTA button should be a color varying from the rest of your color palette. Many companies use a vivid orange, red, blue or green for their CTAs. Second, you should tweak the size, position and language on your button to see what performs best with your target audience.

Test and Retest

Try different images, headlines and CTAs on your website. Conduct split testing to see what performs best with your audience. Even a change of the wording on your CTA can make a difference in your conversion rates.

Try different options and test after each change. Over time, you’ll find the perfect selection for your users. If you want your site visitors to respond with action, you must tweak every tiny aspect of your page, starting with your hero image and moving on to what sits atop it.

Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.

5 Steps to Write a UX Design Proposal

Author: Jessica Fender

Given how digital technology became commonplace in our society, users’ expectations from the platforms they use also evolved. According to published data, 94% of people won’t trust a website or app with outdated design, with 75% basing the business’ credibility on design alone. Statistics suggest that 52% of users won’t use a website because of poor aesthetics, with 90% who stopped using apps due to their poor performance.

Your website, app, or online platform may be due for a visual and User Experience (UX) design overhaul. This is where writing a proper UX design proposal comes into play, as it can help you outline your design in great detail. Let’s tackle UX design proposal writing in detail to enable you to build a better platform for your users in 2021.

Reasons to Write a UX Design Proposal

So, what are UX design proposals all about? They are documents that help businesses outline their UX redesign plans for an app, website, or online product. Typically, companies don’t write UX design proposals if everything in said product is working well and their user bases and revenue continue to grow. However, businesses also want to outperform their competitors and position their brands properly on the open market.

According to reports, 80% of users are willing to pay extra for better UX, with 70% of business leaders seeing UX as a competitive differentiator. It’s not enough for a mobile app or a website to simply “work” – it has to be aesthetically pleasing, engaging, affordable, and functionally up-to-date. This is where UX design proposals come to the forefront. Writing such a document before tackling a major UX design overhaul of your product can lead to several benefits, including:

  • Full understanding of your product’s current pros and cons
  • Assurance that the new UX design won’t be worse than the current iteration
  • Making sure that the new UX design has long-term viability
  • Ability to outline the development timeline and budgetary needs properly
  • Freedom to pilot the new UX design with test groups and spruce up defects

Writing a Great UX Design Proposal

  1. Outline the Pressing Issues in Current Design

The first item on your agenda should be to audit the current state of your product. What exactly leads to your writing of a new UX design proposal? Is your website or app underperforming, experiencing technical difficulties, or is lagging on UX design trends?

UX redesign is a major project, one which will take your team months to implement properly. This is why your team will want a clear outline of exactly are the issues with the current build of your product. If your writing skills are lacking, you can order product review writing from a trustworthy service to help in the product review and auditing stages. Use your strengths as a software developer and UX designer to describe what caused you to write a UX design proposal before moving further.

  1. Define the Outcomes of Implementing New UX Design

What would the hypothetical results of implementing a new UX design look like? As we’ve mentioned, rolling back a non-functional UX design to a previous build will take up unnecessary resources. For your UX design proposal to hold under scrutiny, you will need to outline the very objective benefits of its implementation. Depending on the extent and specific areas you want to address with your UX redesign, some outcomes can include:

  • Improved product stability and visual appeal
  • Better user engagement and market acquisition
  • Optimized future updating and development processes
  • Elimination of outdated code and visuals from the UI
  1. Describe the Development Timeline and Budget Needs

Once you’ve outlined the cause of writing a UX design proposal and the benefits of implementing it, you should proceed to describe the development timeline. How long will it take you to test the new UX design and implement it on a live build? Subsequently, what do you need in terms of manpower and resources to develop your UX design?

It’s best to be as objective and critical as possible when writing this section of the proposal since your team will want concrete referential information. Be realistic about how much time and resources you need, and your proposal is more likely to be approved for full production.

  1. Back your Claims with Social Proof and Statistics

You can help your cause by including references and statistical research based on UX design. For example, studies show that 88% of people are unlikely to return to a website after poor UX.

Your colleagues and decision-makers within your company need to be aware of current UX design trends to make an informed decision on UX redesign. You can go a step further and collect user feedback on your app or website and include it in the UX design proposal. Social proof coming from your user base is essential, as it will indicate what works and doesn’t work for your audience.

  1. Create a FAQ Section to Cap Off the UX Design Proposal

Depending on how tech-savvy the decision-makers in your company are, you may want to write an FAQ section into the design proposal. This can serve as a great referential segment for people who are not designers or programmers but still have a say in approving your document. Some questions you should aim to answer include:

  • How do we define a “successful” UX design?
  • Why do we need a UX redesign at this stage?
  • What will we do in case the new UX design doesn’t catch on?
  • What will happen if we go over budget or breach the development deadline?
  • How will we test the new UX design before going live with it?

Answer each of these questions with a short 2-3 sentence paragraph to show foresight and critical thinking. Answering “taboo” questions in a FAQ section will increase the likelihood of your UX design proposal being approved.

Making Good Use of your UX Design Proposal (Conclusion)

Once your UX design proposal is greenlit, you should stick to it as much as possible. Don’t deviate from your plans to justify the trust put into your hands. If any changes need to be made to the UX design proposal, you should ask for additional approval before course-correcting. Going into a redesign with a concrete plan is an amazing way to showcase that you are not only a designer but a decision-maker.

Author’s bio. Jessica Fender is a copywriter and blogger with a background in marketing and sales. She enjoys sharing her experience with like-minded professionals who aim to provide customers with high-quality services.

How to Design the Perfect Portfolio Page to Best Represent Your Brand’s Quality

Author: Eleanor Hecks

One of the best ways to attract new clients is showing them your top projects. Your website portfolio page is your chance to highlight your expertise in specific areas. You can use it to stand out from the competition and make a strong impression so they remember you when they are ready to hire someone.

According to Internet Live Stats, there are approximately 1.86 billion websites online. However, not all are active and some park on top of other domains. Still, you’re competing with a lot of noise to get your portfolio page noticed. People have many options on where to spend their time. Make your page interesting enough that they want to devote some of their day there.

What is the secret ingredient that makes one portfolio page stand out from another? You must grab attention, showcase the wide scope of your work and instill the idea your brand is high quality all with a few photos and text. Here are the steps to achieving the perfect online presence.

1. Choose Your Best Work

Selecting only the photos highlighting the top quality work you do might seem like a no-brainer. However, it’s easy to hone in on the project you completed and not realize the photos don’t truly do it justice. Your portfolio is about more than just great projects. It must encompass great pictures to highlight your abilities.

Make sure any photos you use clearly show the before and after of your work. Take the time to invest in photo editing and excellent equipment so your images aren’t filled with shadows and poor lighting. Select only the best images.

Ronald L. Receveur, DDS offers dental implants. They showcase their best work in their “Smile Gallery.” You can scroll through the different images to see the beautiful smiles they’ve created.

Something they add to their portfolio page that works particularly well is a link to patient testimonials. Click on any video to hear more about what their service did for the person and get a glimpse of what their smile looks like in real life.

2. Add Trust Factors

When people land on your page, they have no reason to trust you. Even if a friend or family member referred them, they’ve not done business with you before. You must show them you can be trusted. You can add several trust factors to your portfolio page to show you’re honest.

In addition to reviews and testimonials, make your contact information easy to find. People want to know they can get in touch if something goes wrong after their purchase. Add any organizations you belong to, such as professional trade associations or the Better Business Bureau.

3. Utilize Case Studies

There may be times when you have a particularly challenging task to complete. Highlighting how you were able to overcome difficulties shows clients you don’t stop until you find the right solution. Case studies give you an opportunity to share photos of the finished project, but also dig deeper into the story behind the job.

Illuminated Integration shares the details of a job they did for Otterbein Church. The task was to convert a gymnasium into a church sanctuary. They had to figure out how to create a welcoming atmosphere that suited the needs of a large, modern church. The company worked on lighting, acoustics, audio, video, curtains and atmospheric controls.

4. Tell Them Who You Are

In the midst of sharing stories about your projects, make sure you show potential clients who you are. While telling customer stories, tell your own story. What do you stand for? What is at the core of why you do the work you do?

At a minimum, include a short about section and a link to more details. Your portfolio page is an excellent location to share a video about your brand story.

5. Share the Details

Your portfolio is about more than just the finished product of your hard work. People want to know you understand the steps involved in getting from Point A to Point B. You must tell a story as you share examples of your work. What was particularly challenging about the job? How is it unique from other projects of a similar nature? Show off your expertise.

Walnut Ridge Landscape Design shares their three-dimensional plan for the space next to a photograph of the finished project. By showing site visitors their concept, they prove they can come up with a plan and bring it to life.

6. Include a Call to Action (CTA)

You might not naturally place a CTA button on your portfolio page, but the goal of the page is to seek new leads. When someone views your images, the ideal result will be they want to hire you.

Make your CTA easy to find. Ideally, you’ll include a link near the top of the page offering a free consultation or quote. Some people will click the button right away and others will spend time perusing your portfolio, so you may want to add a second button under your gallery or to the side.

Try different placements until you find the one your users respond best to. Conduct split testing, adjust the wording, try different colors and keep tweaking until you’re satisfied with your conversion rates.

Quality Over Quantity

Your photos are the face of your brand online. It’s better to have a few high-quality images taken by a professional photographer than a ton of pictures with fuzzy focus or dark shadows. Ideally, you’ll choose a wide range of projects so you can showcase your abilities, but don’t be afraid to limit yourself until you have the right ones to prove your worth as a business.

Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.

Medical Equipment Sales Website Design

Author: Sean H.

Med-Dyne was looking for a new e-commerce solution for their medical equipment sales.

How to Approach UX Software and Apps During the COVID Pandemic

Author: Romy Toma-Catauta

It seems that COVID-19 has transformed every part of the world. While that’s true for most markets, the way users and investors approach UX software is just about the same.

It’s part of the reason why markets are bullish on companies that have robust technological platforms. While it’s not all rainbows and butterflies for every tech platform, the strength, stability, and growth of most platforms are undoubtedly signs of things to come.

But how do you approach UX software and apps in the current COVID pandemic, and where’s it all going when the dust settles? The answer might not be as complicated as you think.

It’s Still About Convenience

UX software, especially CRM software and apps took off in the first place because of the convenience factor. It’s everything UX stands for. It needs to look and feel natural, and of course, be extremely useful.

So, in a world where a global pandemic has limited human interactions, it’s no surprise that those with easy to navigate user-friendly software and apps are reaping the rewards.

UX Software and Apps are Taking Off During COVID

Experts tell us that we need to stay apart from people to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. We’re still longing for that connectivity and a way to interact with the world and live our lives. UX software and apps have bridged those gaps and are gaining in popularity by the day.

But why exactly has UX software and apps taken off during COVID? A large part of it has to do with the way that COVID-19 has shifted human behavior. According to Forbes, Covid has increased internet usage by 70%, and online streaming services by over 12%.  Instead of going to stores to shop or the movies for a night out, consumers are shopping online and using apps to stream movies.

It’s about bringing your product to the consumer instead of having the consumer come to you. This is where UX software and apps thrive. They’re not about trying to get a consumer to a specific place. They’re about making everything as easy as possible for the product to come to you.

But it goes beyond that. Consumers are spending significantly more time at home and are using apps like Zoom, Facebook, and Skype to connect with friends and family.

This leads to more consumers on the Internet throughout more of the day and more ways to reach them. Even better from a UX software and apps standpoint, it’s forcing entirely new consumers to the web.

Many of these consumers are technologically illiterate, so the easier it is to navigate the app or software, the better. It’s a golden age for UX software and apps.

How to Hire the Right Specialists

If you’re serious about investing in your UX software or apps, you need to find the right specialists. Hiring the right developers the first time can save you hours of frustration and tons of money.

But where can you find a qualified developer that will take the time to put your product over the top? While there are tons of great choices out there, freelance marketplaces are a choice, according to Taso du Val, CEO of Toptal: “the reason that we are able to do that is that we actually have a lot of process and domain expertise internally to be able to vet those talents, whether it’s in finance or software development, to ensure that that person before we send them to you, is the perfect match.”

Tech is the Future – With or Without COVID

Tech has slowly been taking over just about every industry for years. COVID-19 only hastened the transition. It’s because of this that you don’t have to worry about new UX software or apps going out of style once we’ve finally beaten this pandemic.

COVID-19 is unique because older generations have more of an incentive to switch to mobile apps and software to meet their daily needs.

This benefits UX software and apps in two ways. First, it brings along a market that has long been dragging its feet into the fray. Second, older generations benefit the most from software and apps that are more user-friendly. It’s a win-win for UX software and apps.

The better the UX software and apps, the more likely they will be to succeed. Whether you’re looking to invest in your own business or get into a new career, UX software and apps aren’t going anywhere.

It’s why major corporations have been investing in their mobile apps and software for years, and those that invested more had those dividends pay off sooner than expected once COVID-19 hit.

It is very clear that the new age of social distancing has changed the way business is done, and as the market is connected more than ever, it is time to maximize your social media management to reach out to them.

Invest, Invest, Invest!

If you’ve got a business or product that you’re trying to take to the next level – UX software and apps are undoubtedly the way to go. Even if a vaccine for COVID-19 is right around the corner and solves the pandemic woe, the world has shifted to a tech-centric model for good.

As the older generation learns and realizes how easy it is to use some of these programs and apps, they’re likely never to go back. Even if they do, the younger generation is making up more of the population every day.

If you want to compete for the upcoming generation, you need to do it through software and apps. Of course, the more user friendly the app, the more successful you’ll be! It’s why UX software and apps are the way of the future.

It’s beyond maximizing profits; it’s a necessity to keep afloat in a changing world. The good news is that once you make the transition, you can see profits like never before.

Summary

While COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on just about every industry, those that have learned how to adapt are starting to overcome its worst effects.

Both large and small companies are learning what those in the industry have known for years – UX software and apps will dominate the market in the 21st century. But don’t lose faith if you’re late to the party! Take the time now to catch up and take your business over the top!

 

Why Your Landing Page Needs to Make a Better First Impression

Author: Lexie Lu

You only get one chance to make a first impression — and when it comes to landing pages, visitors make up their minds fast.

According to research from Google, visitors can develop design opinions within just 17 milliseconds of opening a new site.

If there’s something wrong with your landing page design — it isn’t clear, it doesn’t make a good offer or it takes too long to load — you could risk giving those potential customers a bad impression. Using the right design can encourage customers to move forward, no matter where they are in the sales funnel.

This is why your landing page needs to make a great first impression — and how the right design can boost conversions.

1. Consistency Builds Brand Recognition

Consistency can provide a good first impression and also make your landing pages more effective.

Landing pages need to be consistent with the ad campaign they’re attached to. Otherwise, you’ll be passing on a valuable opportunity to build some extra brand recognition.

You may also confuse customers if your landing pages and ads are vastly different. Without consistency, it may not be clear why the link they clicked led to the landing page they’re on.

2. Less Intimidating Forms May Reassure Potential Customers

Your business may need a lot of information from a potential customer to move them along the sales funnel. For example, ride-sharing companies like Lyft and Uber need a driver’s name and contact info, as well as a lot of detailed information on their car and income.

Asking for all of this information at once can create a fairly intimidating lead form.

Simple tricks can break down complicated lead forms without reducing the amount of information they collect. For example, many companies organize their lead forms with multiple columns. This way, no scrolling is necessary, and a visitor can always see the entire lead form at once.

Many sites will also split an overly long questionnaire over several pages or site elements — hiding later parts of the form until the visitor completes the current section or clicks through.

3. Strong Images and Design Can Lead to Conversions

A good first impression can reassure customers and quickly demonstrate what kind of results they can expect if they work with your business.

Continental Door Co., a garage door installation company in Spokane, Washington, provides a good example. Its page is dominated by a high-quality hero image that shows off some of the company’s work. Other page elements are paired with other photos that communicate the services it provides.

The more concrete and literal a product you sell, the better chance you have of taking advantage of this kind of strategy. If you market a physical object, leaning on visual commerce can be a much better strategy than using text, shapes and colors on their own.

4. A Good Impression Can Make a CTA More Appealing

Simple design choices can lead a visitor’s eye, making a CTA much more obvious and appealing.

This landing page from Wistia, a Cambridge-based video software company, shows how effective a simple palette and strong use of color can be in encouraging customers toward a page CTA.

Subtle color choices help the CTA stand out and communicate what kind of service the company is offering. This kind of design is especially important when the service you offer is more abstract and you can’t lean as much on images of the physical product.

A video on the side of the page helps add visual interest and shows off the company’s product — in this case, video hosting software for businesses.

5. Simple Navigation Can Keep Customers on Track

Navigation- and designwise, landing pages are often some of the simplest pages on a business’s website.

This is because a clutter-free, easy-to-navigate page can help keep customers moving through the sales funnel. Effective landing page design makes it clear what your company can offer, as well as how visitors can move forward in the buying process.

The landing page for I Done This, the developer of a collaboration app, features a compelling heading, a subheading that provides some extra explanation and a highly visible CTA with an obvious purpose.

There are also minimal navigation elements at the top of the page, which helps streamline things. The fewer clickable elements there are vying for a visitor’s attention, the less likely they’ll be to get lost.

This is a pretty standard way of structuring a landing page, and it works well for many businesses. The combination of short, compelling copy that doesn’t overexplain your business with an effective CTA and engaging visuals can go a long way in convincing customers.

6. Social Proof Can Make or Break a Sale

Customers are more likely to trust your brand if there’s evidence that other people have been satisfied with the products or services you offer.

Testimonials, reviews and similar evidence can go a long way in convincing customers and creating a positive first impression.

Many landing pages include quotes from satisfied customers or snippets from reviews for this reason.

Effective Landing Pages Make Good First Impressions

Visitors form their opinion about your landing page fast — which means effective design is just as important as your sales pitch or what you’re trying to offer.

These best practices can help you create strong landing pages that take advantage of good design to make a lasting first impression.

Lexie is a digital nomad and web designer. When she’s not traveling to various parts of the country, you can find her at the local flea markets or hiking with her goldendoodle. Check out her design blog, Design Roast, and connect with her on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

Effective Use of Fonts in Web Designs

Author: Sofia David

Do you know that sometimes little things make a big difference among professional web designers and incompetent web designers? It is little things that we often ignore and don’t pay any consideration to. If you are a professional designer, then you might know these facts or those little things that are stopping you from becoming a master in your field.

If you have experience in designing a website, then you might know all the little points that make a big difference.

Have you ever tried to make minor changes on your website that resulted in a significant contrast? Yes, this is what I am talking about. Fixing ignored results is a considerable improvement that left us surprised and pleased at the same time.

Okay, if changes are so uncomplicated and easy to make, then why not do it 100%? If you want to give a professional and eye-catchy look to your website, then don’t even try to miss these tiny errors that may create a big problem in the future. Now you might be thinking that what obstacles I am actually referring to? Let’s proceed with the topic.

Effective Use of Fonts in Web Designs

The actual topic that I want you guys to understand is the complexity and significance of fonts or typeface that we use on our websites. The use of fonts in designs referred to as Typography that can impact significantly on your website.

With the right typography, you can make people understand your website in a better way. Now, how true is this? Let’s go in-depth to prove my words.

Why Should You Care About Font Design?

Do you know that Steve Jobs is called as the father of typography? Is it just because he originated ten fonts? No, it is because those ten fonts had made a vast and remarkable significant to our industry. He got this recognition because fonts play an unimaginable role in our website that can’t be contradicted.

Let’s make you more impressed and gratified.

Everyone wants a change in life. We, as human nature, get gloomy while looking at the same thing for a long time. Have you ever wondered that for how long we could look at the same style or design of font? Of course, we can’t. Choosing the right font for your website can do wonders that you can’t imagine.

Let’s come straight; typography reflects the context of your work. If it is done right, then it will have a powerful impact on the users. With the right typography, a user can easily understand the logic of your design. If you haven’t chosen the right fonts for your website, then how come you will be able to make them know your design?

Now, let me elaborate on this topic by mentioning points that will allow you to stop for a while and will force you to think that why you should care about Font design.

1- It Creates a Specific Identity

Believe me or not, but the fact that you can’t deny is that a specific font conveys a particular message to the reader or a visitor. It depends on you that what type of message you let to communicate them. For example, if we use Montserrat font in our graphic designs then its impact will be different on our audience, however instead of this if we use any other font then there will be a big difference. The fonts vary from website to website. You can’t utilize the same style or the same size as the font for every website. Understanding the importance and nature of fonts for your newly created website is a symbol of a professional designer.

2- It Helps You to Grow

Using the right font for your website assists you to flourish your business. Now, how much right is it? Let’s verify this point with a little example. For Instance, you have made a website on a specific niche. If you have selected the right fonts that are easily understandable, then the chances are that people will agree to read the entire context of your website with comfort.

On the other hand, if you haven’t chosen the right nature of font or size of the font, then the user will switch to someone’s else website where he can read the same context with a better font quality. Isn’t it make sense?

3- It Attracts the Audience

Choosing the right font for your website attracts your customers. It let them stay on your website due to good readability, and good readability comes by selecting the readable fonts. If you want that more and more customers visit your site, then be selective and be careful in choosing the font. A perfect font conveys a certain mood or message to the audience, so make sure it won’t be the wrong one.

4- It Develops Conformity

When you use the same font or two fonts repeatedly, then it helps to create harmony or conformity, and the user remained stuck to your website. However, using so many fonts in a single context make people confused, and somehow, they lose their interest, so that’s why fonts have so much importance.

Final Thoughts

So, here are a few points that you should consider before designing a website. As a professional designer, you should never avoid little things that may disturb your entire site. Try to adapt those things that have a positive impact, and try to avoid those mistakes that have a negative effect.

I hope you will find this article useful and informative, and it will help you to make the most excellent website in the future. Consider these points and be a professional web designer.