If you feel that your website is under performing, it could be due to poor website design. However, before you scrap your current site, there are a few things that you can do to make positive changes.

Point of interest

Every page of your site should have a point of interest. If you have a lot of assets on your page, it could come across messy and disorganised, meaning a visitor might find it difficult to navigate or find the relevant information, leading to a bounce. To counteract this, find the key point of the page and make it a focus point. This could be a logo, product image, price or important line of copy. Sticking to your brand guidelines, alter the size, shape, orientation and colour to make this point of interest really stand out.

Colours

Choose the right colours for the page. Having a defined colour palette is important. Too many contrasting colours will confuse and detract from the overall feel of the page. Using complementary colours will add a touch of subtlety, simplicity, freshness and style; however, contrasting colours will make a page much more dynamic, sleek, contemporary and energetic.

Content

It’s not all about appearance though, and you should consider content as very important. From an SEO perspective, content will drive people to your site, and well-written content will get them to stay and engage with the rest of your page and site. Content should be informative, entertaining and easy to read. Text should be split into paragraphs and sentences shouldn’t be too long or convoluted. Of course, font style, colour and size are important for readability but sometimes these are restricted by brand. Try, where possible, to make the font as reader-friendly as you can, i.e. not too small and not an obscure colour.

Once you implement these positive design changes, visitor interaction should increase. One final note: it can sometimes be difficult to be subjective about your work. Take a step back, sleep on it and ask the honest opinion of a colleague or friend. Once you’re happy with the design, get a family member to sit down and test it out and ask for their feedback as they go along. Then, if you still think you can make positive changes, go ahead. If you think you’ve got it perfect, launch the page!