You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. And if you’re thinking you’ve landed on the wrong site, bear with me. We’re not talking about equestrian care – we’re talking about web design.

Search engine results are like a highway bypass – you don’t want your site to be the one bypassed – you want your site to be the final destination that makes people stop and stay for a while. Web design is the icing on the cake, working together with highly focused informative content to give searchers what they’re looking for.

At GOOP, we provide the web design Geelong businesses need to stand out from the crowd. Our designers and developers will work with your business to define what makes you you and create a visually appealing, personalised website. We’re happy to share our tips about web design so Geelong businesses know what we can do to put them ahead of the competition.

Remember the fold

This is an oldie but a goodie, and still applicable. There are studies upon studies of how short our attention spans are. Some have it as short as two seconds! Search results are becoming so intuitive people expect to get a direct hit on what they’re looking for. Instantly!

Research also shows the way people read websites is in an “F” pattern, much like a newspaper. We start in the left-hand corner and move across the top of the page, then down the left-hand side. We’ll read a few words across the page, but quickly move down to the next sentence if we don’t see what we’re looking for.

We keep this in mind with your web design. Important elements are in the top half of the page, above the fold. Branding and menus are where people expect them, in the left corner and centre-top or left side for easy site navigation.

Use a grid layout

Responsive web design isn’t an option any more, it’s a requirement. The percentage of people viewing websites on a mobile device is on the rise and predicted to continue growing. Google recently rolled out an algorithm update prioritising search results for mobile-friendly sites – so if your site isn’t at least responsive, it will be penalised in Google search on mobiles.

Research into buyer journeys and behaviour at each stage shows people do the bulk of their research on a mobile device. Workers in particular will spend a majority of their daily commute researching and comparing products, services and prices on their phone. If you want your site to figure in their search – you need to be visible across multiple devices.

White space is your friend

It creates focus in a crazy, overstimulated world. Classic, minimalist web design not only creates a sense of instant authority, but it helps to focus visitors’ attention where you want it to be.

GOOP is proud to be the experts in web design Geelong businesses rely on. Please contact us if you would like more information on how web design can benefit your business.

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