Impressing your visitors is critical to the success of your website.
You have one shot at convincing visitors that you are trustworthy, professional and worth their while.
However, you have less than a second to make a good first impression. To be precise, you have only about 50 milliseconds to do so.
While things like good copy and glowing reviews add to the credibility of your site, first impressions are created by things a visitor can immediately see/experience. Here are some things your website should have to make an awe3some first impression on visitors.
Fast page load time
Speed matters more than ever. In fact, your visitors expect your site to load in 2 seconds or less. The more time your website takes to load, the more visitors you will alienate, which will result in lower sales.
Here are some tips to improve your website load time:
- Enable browser caching.
- Use a reliable and fast hosting service.
- Optimise images and visual content.
- Reduce server response time.
- Compress files.
Security
If your site isn’t secure, it can keep users from visiting your website.
For instance, if your website does not use HTTPS, visitors using the Google Chrome browser will see a “Non Secure” warning. This tells users that your site does not have the added layer of security, which protects their personal data from being misused/stolen.
A recent study found that 64% will leave a website immediately if they saw a “Not Secure” warning!
Good Design
This is elementary and yet many businesses fail to appreciate the importance of good design.
You want your visitors to form a good opinion about your business in a snap. And that’s only possible when you have an aesthetically appealing website. Here are some critical aspects of good website design:
- Consistency – Offering a consistent visual and functional experience is critical. From fonts and colours to navigation and copy, everything that users interact with should offer a consistent experience.
- Professional assets – All assets – such as images – used on your website should be professionally produced. If your site is full of amateur pictures taken on a phone, they can leave a poor impression.
- Thoughtful design – Good design isn’t just aesthetically appealing but it is intuitive and easy to use. After all, 94% of all first impressions are based on design.
Conclusion
Take care of these essential aspects and you are all set for a setting a good first impression on your visitors. Here at Walker Digital, we take great pride in producing bespoke websites that not only impress visitors but convert them into paying customers.
Talk to us today to discuss your project.
