Let’s face it, web development is not as easy as many of us have been forced to believe. It is a necessary process that ultimately determines how your target audience interacts with your brand, company, or organization. And there’s more to developing an eye-catching and user-friendly website than just coding integrity. It’s no secret that the evolution of technology is at a constant sky high, meaning that as a web developer you need to be on top of your game and at par with the ongoing trends, from programming languages to how to rank in search engines, to engaging customers and stimulating conversions, in order to remain relevant. That aside, there are other crucial aspects or things you need to consider before beginning the web development process.
Here is a list of 5 essential things that should be considered by every web developer before they start designing and building a website.
1. Purpose and Target Audience
The design, functionality, appearance, and navigation of the website needs to be driven by a purpose that aligns with the target audience and fulfills their needs. With that in mind, planning and research should be the first step in your web design process. It is essential to understand the purpose of the website as well as the user personas and what better way to get this information than carrying out extensive research? Doing this allows the web developer to align the features of the site with its purpose, which ultimately determines users’ experience with the brand.
2. Usability
A user-friendly interface directly impacts the retention of visitors to your site. Consider the fact that average users or visitors are not HTML experts, so they need things simplified. This means that the layout should make navigation through the site easy and not a poorly organized treasure hunt. To prevent visitors from abandoning your website for another more appropriate and well-organized site consider ensuring that visitors quickly access the right information easily and conveniently placing the subscriptions buttons for ease of navigation.
3. Aesthetics
Having an appealing appearance is a no brainer. Consider the fact that the website has less than 10 seconds to make an impression on a visitor and determine their next move. Visually appealing content can evoke an emotional response, such as calmness, trust, happiness, or frustration, from a potential customer. So, is the color scheme and design compelling enough to make the visitor stay or better yet, together with the usability, convert them? A general rule of thumb to use when it comes to choosing the perfect color scheme and design for a website is putting into consideration the vital elements of a brand such as a target audience, company’s niche, branding and how the color scheme or design complements the brand’s logo.
4. Speed and Functionality
The speed and functionality of your website can make or break the online presence of your brand. Generally, your site has about three to five seconds to load; otherwise, users will exit the webpage, which limits the sales, conversions, and customer feedback. Any broken links, operational issues, or loading issues are a result of a functionality problem. During the website development process, always check to ensure that sections such as contact forms, surveys, and customer feedback are functioning correctly and not causing your site to underperform.
5. Brand Consistency
When we talk about a brand, we usually refer to the name, logo, or visual element that is associated or used to represent a company. But there’s more to the term ‘brand’ than just the visual elements. In the real sense ‘brand’ refers to the emotional or psychological associations that consumers have with your business, product, or service. Therefore, branding is vital to the success of your business. The fonts, color schemes, portfolio, and the logo should be consistent across all platforms to guarantee brand familiarity, audience engagement, and most importantly drives sales. In general, brand identity should be incorporated in web development.
Whatever the reason behind creating a website, every website should meet its purpose, drive traffic, convert visitors, and drive sales. The things to consider in web development mentioned above have been tested and proven to ensure you achieve this.
[“source=grafdom”]