Your website is the face of your business. It is the first thing your potential customers see to find out more about your business.

Nowadays, user experience is on the rise. People want something worthwhile to spend their time on even if they are not buying including browsing your website.

Everything is online. You can't deny the fact that people are buying online more often than decades ago.

Studies have shown that 63% of shopping occasion is done online and an estimated 1.8 billion people purchased goods online in 2018.

Whether you are doing a brick-and-mortar or a fully online business, a website is a must to widen your reach and make more sales. Look at your website, are you convinced enough to buy?

If the answer is a solid no, then you have work to be done. And don't worry, this article will tell you what to do to improve your website.

One thing to always keep in mind before we dive into the fundamentals: one small change can make a significant impact in the digital world.

That is right. A simple change of a button colour can result in a 100% increase in conversion. That is why it is important to put extra effort when it comes to your website.

Things to do to improve your website:

1. Get your designs right - the design of your website will leave an impression on your visitors
2. Choose relevant images - images that support the value proposition of your business
3. Display the right colours - according to colour psychology, the colours on your website will evoke certain emotions
4. Improve the readability - you don't want to squeeze everything in your home page

We will look into the details of these aspects of your website. If you don't have the technical skills to make these changes to your website, it is wise to outsource to someone who is an expert on websites.

Improvement #1: Get your designs right

Most websites provider offer many amazing templates that work best for your business. However, they are some limitations to what and how you want your website to achieve in terms of the design.

Maybe you want your website to convert visitors into customers or maybe you want them to find out more about your business. No matter what your goals are, you want your website to be able to deliver efficiently.

Improving your website's design can be as simple as choosing to show the menu header or changing it to a drawer style. How you display your image might also help - size, order, displacement, etc.

Put yourself in your customers' shoes and ask, " What am I looking for on this page?". Often times, you will find that your website will be showing images on a slideshow with no intention of helping your customers find what they are looking for.

The starting one-third of your home page is as important as the first five seconds upon meeting someone new. It is the first impression of your website AND your business. You should aim at giving them what they are looking for early on.

That applies to every page of your website because different pages serve different purposes. Think of the function of each page and make changes accordingly.

Improvement #2: Choose relevant images

Let us say that you are a business that sells stylish clothing. You will display models wearing your clothing on your website.

If you are a company that offers marketing services to businesses, you don't want to display images with people smiling at the camera which is not relevant to your business. The image simply does not support your business.

Instead, choose something like two professionals shaking hands while looking at each other. It shows that these two individuals achieve something that brings benefit to both parties. I know it is abstract but it works and that is what matters.

Consider carefully what your business offers and choose those images that support what your business offer. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and that is true in this context.

Improvement #3: Display the right colours

According to colour psychology, certain colours will evoke certain emotions. Big brands harnessed the power of colour psychology in their branding strategy and they are working very well.

Choosing a colour to represent your online presence is no easy task and it should be done correctly. You can start by asking what emotion do you want your brand to represent.

Each colour represents an emotion as you can see in the picture above. You should choose a colour that evokes the emotion you want your customer to feel whenever they engage with your brand. A colour that matches the personality of your brand is a good place to start.

Your brand colour promotes a better brand recall to your customers. Meaning they are more likely to remember your brand. That is why brands invest so much into positioning themselves to their customer through colour psychology.

Improvement #4: Improve the readability

You are doing it wrong if you try to squeeze everything in your home page. It is messy and unorganized. It will cost your business wrong impressions from your customers.

Your homepage should contain the value proposition of your business that helps your customers make a buying decision. Other pages such as the about us, services, products and blogs should be separated into different pages.

Keep only the most important parts of your business on your homepage. Use spacings and colours to organize your website copy as well as the images you want to display.

In today's noisy digital world, clarity is what your brand can take advantage of. Brands that show their value clearly early on will attract and retain more customers than a brand that simply relies on the design itself.

It is always recommended that you don't sacrifice readability for the sake of aesthetics. Customers will not spend much that time to guess what your business is about. It makes them confused and it takes a lot of effort to do so. They will leave if they are confused and overwhelmed.

Focus on clarity and the rest will follow. What you present is what your customers see. Make the process easy for them and they will definitely do business with you.

Conclusion

Make full use of your website to convert your visitors into paying customers. Taking note of these small improvements will bring you a significant impact on your online presence. The last thing you want is a customer leaving your website because of a poor and unorganized design.

This article was published by Nick Chai on LinkedIn.