Don’t judge a book by its cover. That’s what we’re always told, isn’t it? Don’t go for the bright-coloured murder mystery at the front of the bookshop, but search through the dusty shelves for the long-forgotten classic.
Wouldn’t it be great if that were actually true? A world where we’re looking at the storylines and character development, not whether we like the title font. But that just isn’t the case. We’re human and we judge everything – including your website.
With that in mind, let’s see why your company’s front cover is so important and why working with web designers in Melbourne is a good idea. We’ll help your business to make a great first impression so that you get people landing on your website and converting to paying customers.
Why Are First Impressions So Important?
You have around 0.05 seconds to make a good first impression with your website.
Yes, that decimal place is in the correct place.
Loading speeds, design, content and many other factors affect how long someone will stay on your page and the initial impression they’ll get of your business. These factors also affect whether they’ll navigate it, engage with your content and see you as an authority in your field.
We’re so used to having everything at our fingertips. So, a website that doesn’t provide what we want quickly, won’t hold our attention. We’ll bounce before the largest image has loaded.
We also won’t be willing to part with our money on a website we don’t fully trust. No reviews? Insecure URL? These are reasons why someone won’t trust your website and will leave. And if they leave, you’re losing potential customers and revenue.
So How Can You Make A Good First Impression With Your Website?
There are many things you can do to ensure you make a good and lasting first impression with your website. One of the best ways to do this is to partner with website designers in Melbourne. You want to work with someone who takes a whole range of considerations onboard – from safety to colour palette.
But in the interim, to help get you started, here are a couple of ways to get people to trust and like your website straight away.
Tip #1: Use A Modern Design
Do you remember how modern the iPhone 4 was when it came out? New features and a sleek design, it was a complete novelty. But now look at it. In only 7 years it feels old-fashioned and limited. Trends change and you need to make sure your website is keeping up to date too.
It’s important you know what your customers want and present it to them in an accessible way. There are many signs that your website needs redesigning and once you spot one, it’s important you do something about it.
From a design point of view, choose easy-to-read fonts, engaging graphics and a colour palette that reflects your business. These design elements are what’s going to make you stand out in the bookshop.
At Elevate Websites, we take the time to get to know your company and understand how you want to be presented online. We’ll design your website to make sure it represents you well, whilst keeping in line with current trends that customers will expect to see.
Tip #2: Make Sure Your Website is Safe
Design is important but you can’t stop there. Online safety is essential – for both Google and your customers.
You need to ensure your website is using an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) connection which means the data on your website is encrypted before being sent to the server. Searchers are used to looking for HTTPS URLs rather than HTTP ones and won’t trust or engage with your website if they don’t feel it’s secure. They certainly won’t be willing to pay for anything.
Website maintenance is really important and a great way to ensure you’re up to date with the latest safety features.
Tip #3: Website Speed
This is one of the most important features of a website and one that is overlooked by many companies. In a world where we can have groceries delivered to our doorstep in 10 minutes, we expect a website to load within 1-3 seconds. Any longer than that and we’ll give up and move on to one that does.
Slow loading times are often an indication that something hasn’t been done quite right, and that’s not an impression you want to be giving potential customers.
Tip #4: Your Website Must Be Easy To Navigate
This is part of effective website design, but it’s essential for building authority and trust and getting people to where you really want them to be (i.e. the most valuable pages for your business). If your website isn’t clear or users don’t know where they need to go to get what they want, they’ll lose interest quickly and leave.
An experienced WordPress web developer in Melbourne will be able to create a clear site structure. This will keep customers navigating your website and engaging with the content they can easily find.
Tip #5: Build Authority and Trust
We’re unlikely to buy products or services from a company that hasn’t sold anything before. After all, how will we know if they’re any good? A website without any reviews or customer feedback looks new and sometimes a little suspicious, which isn’t the best first impression to give.
Add product reviews and happy customer feedback to your website. This proves you’re as good as you say you are and automatically builds authority and trust. You should also be taking advantage of local SEO features (such as GMB) which are a great way to add reviews to get people to trust you before they even click on your website!
Tip #6: Good Content
Good content marketing is essential for your company. You need content that creates a consistent brand and voice that’s engaging and informative. You want people to resonate with what you’re saying and presenting online, which will entertain them, get them to trust you, and, ultimately, buy your services or products.
After all, we really recommend books that have a good storyline, not ones with just a pretty front cover.
When you partner with Elevate Websites, you won’t just be getting experienced website designers in Melbourne, but you’ll also be getting a dedicated team of copywriters who will be able to get your message across in the best way possible.
Great copy creates a good and lasting impression from the first moment.
Tip #7: Optimise for Mobile Devices
One of the main reasons why creating a mobile-responsive website is so important is creating a great first impression. More than 60% of traffic comes from mobile devices, so if your website isn’t up to speed you’ll be losing a lot of potential customers.
Websites that aren’t mobile responsive and that have large images, small navigation bars or huge chunks of text won’t create a good first impression. Users will automatically think the company is outdated, lacking skill and not the best option. Not having a mobile-responsive website is so visual that it’ll put someone off straight away.
Why Trust Elevate Websites With Your First Impression?
We truly understand how important your online presence is. Your website represents your business and it needs to be the best it can be: well-designed, attractive, authoritative, trustworthy, easy to navigate and mobile-friendly. When you partner with Elevate Websites, you’ll be getting the whole package – the front cover, the gripping storyline and the excellent publisher.
We have years of experience designing attractive and navigational websites that represent your company and the industry you’re in. We also have content writers that will clearly portray your message so readers engage with it and return time and again.
Our SEO experts will work closely with both the designers and copywriters to create a coherent and search engine-friendly website that will get you ranking and seen. After all, users have to actually find your website for you to make a first impression.
Contact Elevate Websites to find out how we can help your website make a lasting impression and improve your company’s online presence.
Calem Koek is a web designer and owner of leading Melbourne-based digital marketing agency Elevate Websites. He has been helping businesses in Melbourne and across Australia scale their business online through quality website design and world class SEO services.