There’s a ton of clutter out there in website land. New and bedazzling features and design elements come to market with record speed, and sometimes we think we need to use them all because they are there.
How do you decide which design elements will define and refine your brand presence while still maintaining functionality, high search ranking, and increasing traffic?
Here are seven website design trends to keep your pages popping through the rest of 2019 and beyond.
Need help incorporating leading-edge web design and stellar SEO? Our friends at Romain Berg do that. So, read the article and then when it’s time to call in the experts, give them a try.
Trend #1: Make it personal
Customization is king when it comes to web design. Embedding elements into your website that nod to the specifics of your customers can help you connect more deeply with your audience.
So, how do you enact this trend on your site?
- Do your research. You’ll need to create detailed buyer personas for each product, service, and region where you want to increase traffic. Mine your existing customer base for data like:
- Physical descriptors (age, gender, and other visual descriptors–you can get as detailed as you want here depending on who you’re trying to reach.) For example, perhaps your target audience is Big and Tall men with shoe size 13 and up.
- Values (like altruism, honesty, and integrity)
- Habits (coffee drinkers who spend $20 or more per week on their daily grind, for example)
- Socio-economic descriptors
- Create a variety of web content that touches each buyer persona
- Craft relevant blog articles with categories for each type of buyer in your audience
- Design interactive pages based on geo-location. The user can access regional information about your products and services in familiar colloquial language. You can also educate your customers about how your company extends its presence where your audience members are; right now in real-time.
Trend #2: Bigger buttons
Since most people now whip out their phones or tablets for everything from local searches to Amazon browsing and purchase, ease of navigation in online menus is paramount.
The last thing a customer wants is to hit the wrong purchase button and order up a pair of acid-wash jeans when they were going for a case of motor oil. (Yeah, we’re not sure where those two items would appear together either, but it’s possible in today’s enormous market place.)
Larger touch targets make sense for better customer experience as our screens get smaller. Be sure that when you’re launching your site redesign, you test all your buttons on mobile devices before going live.
Trend #3: Voice search and SEO
“Okay Google, find independent dog groomers near me.” “Where can I find awesome french fries in Minneapolis?”
These are just two examples of spoken queries on mobile devices for local businesses. As VUI (Voice User Interface) becomes more sophisticated and “human,” our website SEO must keep up in order to continually rank high in searches.
Now more than ever, customers use Alexa, Siri, and other VUI’s as conversational helpers in their searches for products, places, music, and more.
Spoken queries tend to evolve keywords for select businesses and industries. Be sure your webmaster keeps tabs on the top spoken long-tail keywords in your sector, and use them in your on-page SEO.
Trend #4: Scrolling mixtures
In recent years, website design has trended toward a single page with a long scroll over a home page with a barrage of menu options.
Try mixing up your vertical scroll with anchors, page options, and horizontal scrolling for added interest and dynamic visuals.
Trend #5: Augmented reality (AR)
A significant consumer complaint about online shopping is that it’s impossible to try on, try out, measure, or visualize how an item will look in their home, office, or on their person.
Websites are doing their best to combat this consumer frustration with Augmented Reality. Technology tools that assist the consumer in discovering online how products will fit into their lives fall under the AR umbrella.
Apps or links that allow the user to measure, order, or return items with ease are on the rise across the digital landscape.
For a small local business, think about embedding a Google Maps tour of your store, restaurant, or office into your site as a start.
Trend #6: Brand-centric color schemes
Simple color schemes with just a handful of colors to a palette create an uncluttered “wow” factor on many sites today. If your color blend is on point, your users stick around. If not, they’ll want to scratch their eyes out and leave immediately before ever viewing your products.
Further, once you’ve determined your brand archetype (the unique way your brand shows up online and in real life), there’s a color palette to match. This means you can speak to your desired audience with more than just words.
Carefully choosing the palette best matched to your brand helps you attract and engage with more of your “soulmate” clients and customers. Employ this pallette consistently throughout your website to create a feeling of “home” for your users.
Trend #7: Keep it simple
As consumers become more digital-savvy, their online shopping and searching behaviors become more focused. Most digital shoppers know what they’re looking for.
When your site provides a clear picture and purchase pathway of what’s in the user’s imagination, you’re more likely to get a sale.
Instead of trying to use all the latest website design and function trends, focus on the few that will net you the most engagement.
The design choices you make are the result of the research you do on your current or desired users. Once you know your audience as deeply as you can, you can choose the website trends that allow you to give the best user experience possible.
If you’re ready for help choosing and using the latest bells and whistles on your website, contact our friends at Romain Berg. Their savvy integration of leading-edge SEO and the use of the most current aesthetics in design will make your website stand out in simplicity, function, and beauty.
