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A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Web Design and Development from Your Digital Marketing Agency

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Web Design and Development from Your Digital Marketing Agency

You know you need a website if you hope to compete. But simply having a website is not enough. For your business to stand out in a crowded digital landscape, you need the right website—one that uses current web design and development trends to create unique online experiences. Whether you’re starting from scratch or have an existing website that isn’t performing the way you hoped, talk to the digital marketing team at Smart WSI Marketing today. We’re an internet marketing company with the skills and tools necessary to create a website that works hard to increase your reach and grow your business.

Are Website Design and Website Development the Same Thing?

The terms are often used interchangeably, but there is an important distinction:

Website design is user-focused and includes what visitors see when they visit your site and how they interact with it.

Website development is everything that goes on behind the scenes, including coding, programming, and front and back-end development.

Website Design and Development: Vital to Visibility and Business Growth

eCommerce and brick-and-mortar stores alike need a website that accurately and pleasingly represents their business to customers. As part of your overall online marketing strategy, a well-designed website:

  • Makes a favourable first impression.
  • Gives users a great experience that leads to positive reviews and repeat business.
  • Improves conversion rates.

When you work with an internet marketing agency, you benefit from its experience and careful attention to all the elements that go into building websites that convert.

User Interface (UI)

UI includes all the small elements of a website like buttons, links, text, and images. Designed individually, they must come together to form a cohesive site.

User Experience (UX)

A critical website design feature deeply interconnected to UI, UX focuses on users experience your website. Is it easy to navigate? Does it feel intuitive?

Navigation

An easy-to-navigate website keeps users on your site, which increases the chances of conversion. It also signals to Google your site has valuable information, which helps your ranking.

Page Speed

The average human's attention span of around eight seconds means you need a fast-loading site to prevent people from leaving. Web design and development use the right ideas and tools to keep your site lightning fast.

Responsiveness

Mobile phones make up about 54% of all web traffic. If your website design doesn’t look good on mobile, your visitors may go elsewhere!

Clear Calls to Action (CTAs)

The main goals of a website are to get people to make a purchase, join your email list, or sign up for a consultation. Prominent CTAs help you accomplish all that and more.

On Page SEO

Every web page must be optimized for specific keywords to improve search visibility and traffic. A digital marketing agency knows how to align elements like headings, content, title tags, and internal links with the right keywords.

Branding

Using consistent colors, fonts, and images keeps your site on-brand and successfully conveys the product or service your business offers.

Visual Design

A website exists to provide helpful information to your customers. Your website must keep up with aesthetic trends to keep visitors engaged.

Engagement

Visitors become customers when your website holds their attention. If your content’s good and the site’s design is functional and enjoyable, people will spend more time on your site and more likely convert.

Intuitiveness

An intuitive site guides users to complete the desired action. For instance, links in a blog post can be used to recommend other posts and pages on your site to customers.

Conversion Architecture

People buy from people, not websites. Good website architecture ensures your value proposition is clearly communicated and vastly improves conversion rates.

Design and Content Work Together

Website design supports and promotes your content that provides visitors with a solution. Your web design should complement the site’s content, not detract from it.

Error Handling

Mistakes happen. Error handling in the form of error messages keeps visitors from getting frustrated when they reach a broken link or non-existent page.

Forms

Site-based forms need to function correctly and be easy to use. To provide the best UX, they should be clear on what action the user should take.

Website Design & Development: Essential KPIs

Well-built, SEO-friendly websites perform well for certain key performance metrics, including:

  • Conversion rate
  • Exit rate
  • Bounce rate
  • Customer satisfaction

Of these, conversion rate or the number of people who complete a desired action on your website is the most valuable. The metric measures what’s known as “qualified leads” as opposed to the number of visitors to your website. Because ultimately, it doesn’t matter how many people visit your site if it isn’t converting them into loyal, long-term customers.

Bounce rate, exit rate, and session duration are also significant as they let Google know if your site is helpful to the people visiting it and tell you whether your site is optimally designed for sales.

The Benefits of Iterative Design

Design iteration brings powerful results to your website, but what exactly does it do? This simple yet brilliant concept is a continuous cycle of modeling, testing, and making adjustments and refinements to your website. It uses regular testing and user feedback to create websites that are highly effective and efficient.

When you approach website design as a living, evolving project, you can consistently build upon it, giving customers what they truly want. It also helps catch problems before they spiral out of control and improves usability across your key metrics.

Professional Custom Website Design Solutions

Websites must be usable and profitable. Is your website performing as it should? Smart WSI Marketing is an Edmonton digital marketing agency that builds websites that help you stand out from the competition, attract more qualified leads, and boost conversions. Our unique and creative website designs are tailored to your specific niche and needs. To learn more about how your website’s design can improve your marketing returns, contact us today.

Lynne team member
Lynne Motkoski, Digital Marketing Strategist
Specialty: Digital Marketing Strategies
Education: MA Communications & Technology, BComm [U Alberta]
Author: The Online Marketing Handbook for Busy Entrepreneurs (coming soon)

Lynne is known for her strategic approach to marketing communications, technologies, and lead generation. She has a passion for education, keeping up with current marketing trends and practices, and helping clients keep ahead of their competition.

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