Tips for updating your website

You also have the option of text testimonials, however, which, when designed and incorporated properly, will still help build trust with your users.

Upland Adestra is an enterprise email and marketing automation software company in the United Kingdom. They have four videos on their testimonial page that each are contained in their own sections.

Rather than arbitrarily place all the videos next to each other, Upland separated them and accompanied them with a header and sentence detailing the result or benefit the client had working with them. Now, users have context to what they will hear about in the videos. I also like how a few of the videos show thumbnails of someone talking, which visually reassures the user that they will likely be hearing from the client themselves, as opposed to watching a text-based video.

Each card is designed with an image that showcases members of that company, which is way more trustworthy than if they were to use stock photos, or just a picture of their logo. And because they have five pages of testimonials, they've added a filter at the top of the page that allows users to segment what types of industries or solutions to look for.

Now, users can find the types of case studies they want faster. Finally, if your site only has text testimonials without case studies, there are aspects you need to be mindful about when designing them out. Take a look at this testimonial section on Drift's website.

In their case, they use tweeted reviews, but you can easily supplement this layout with something not using a Twitter feed.

Regardless of them coming from Twitter, this section gets a bunch of things right. One, there's a large number of reviews that can be seen at once thanks to the interest-styled layout.

Each of these pages is the best touchpoint for people who are either learning about your company and considering buying. So long as they are genuine, testimonials will better your website's experience and build trust with your prospects before they become clients. Once your visitors land on your site likely through the blog or home page , you need to guide them to places on your website that will help nurture them to conversion.

People are lazy, so make this easy for them. One of the best ways to improve your web design with this in mind to use strategically placed call-to-actions in areas such as the top right of your navigation, below sections that require action, and at the bottom of your website pages.

The easy thing to do on your website is to inundate users with the most bottom-of-the-funnel BOFU call-to-action wherever they go, but if someone is not ready to buy, then they likely will take no action at all. For example, if they're on a website, learning about a material used to build a custom closet, this person is more likely still educating themselves and becoming aware of their problem.

Readers who land on this article are likely thinking about a website redesign and are trying to confirm if it's the best decision for them.

So, it only makes sense to show them a call-to-action that will help them learn more about it. The offer we present to them is an ultimate guide to redesigning your website, where they can hopefully find the answers to almost all they are looking for in one place. These types of offers also have the benefit of building trust with your users. If these work to educate them, they will begin seeing your company as a thought leader, leading them to feel more comfortable researching your services.

While stock photos save you the time of producing your own imagery, many websites have imagery that falls into cliche. So, when choosing stock photos, try to stay away from these cheesy images. These are the photos of people high-fiving with over-exaggerated smiles, groups looking at the camera, executives in superhero costumes, groups of suited people jumping in the air. Look instead for photos that depict realistic scenes in well-lit environments.

This could be people in an office talking over a meeting table in business casual clothing, over the shoulder shots of people typing on a laptop, people drawing on a whiteboard in an open room. These are the types of scenes others will start to recognize as legitimate. Look for candid images and ones in real-life settings rather than studios.

Once you find photos like this that you like, you should run them through TinEye to get an idea of how many people are using that photo on their website. If the numbers are in the thousands, it might be best to use a more uncommon photo. This will aid in bringing more realism to your brand and making sure the images match who you are and what your content is explaining.

You can also check out this article for some awesome stock photo website suggestions if you find yourself struggling with getting more realistic photography on your website. Being more mindful with your photography will help better represent your brand and how you want others to perceive it. When designing your website, navigation is key. It's essentially the map that displays the core places users can visit.

It's how users can easily dive deeper into areas such as your services, products, blog, etc. There's nothing worse than a site with a disorganized or confusing navigation interface. Poor design practices such as overstuffing your navigation, using vague or confusing hypertext, and lack or organization can make it hard for your visitors to find where they want to go.

If users cannot find what they're looking for, they have no reason to stay on your site. Instead, they will certainly bounce and find a competitor that offers a better user experience. When improving your website's navigation , it's important to ensure that your visitors can easily find what they're looking for.

This would include streamlined content, navigation hierarchy, and responsive design, so the experience doesn't drastically change on mobile. Products, pricing this is a must , services, and resources. In some cases, like in the image above, the menu item will even have a descriptive line to provide more context to the purpose of that page.

The hover effect also makes it clear to the user that these are links that will result in them going to another page. Clean and specifically organized navigations like this let the user know that you want them to have an easy time moving around your website and that there's nothing to hide. As a result, your users are more likely to visit higher numbers of pages during their session, increasing their time spent on your website.

There was a time where we were wary about making our website pages too long, especially your homepage. This was out of fear of users not scrolling, so it forced folks to try and cram what they could into the most common screen size people view their website with. But those days are long gone. So there's no need to be afraid of creating a more robust below-the-fold experience. A good rule-of-thumb is to include three to five sections that help direct new and recurring users to the key areas of your site.

What should these sections be? This list could go on forever, but a quick hit-list of some of the more crucial elements includes:.

Zenefits does a killer job at hitting many of these points. By the end of the page, users have a great well-rounded idea of what Zenefits can do for them and how clients have liked using the platform.

If you want to go deeper into the anatomy of the best homepage, check out this awesome infographic or this comprehensive article revealing other important homepage elements not mentioned here. Whitespace is an essential design element that helps you break up the page and increase readability. Whitespace also plays an important role in the design process and positioning of website elements. While more whitespace can dictate what sections are separate and guide the eye, less whitespace can dictate which elements are supposed to be related to one another due to their proximity.

About The Author. Leave a reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. The Small Business Bonfire is a collaborative community for entrepreneurs that provides actionable business resources, tips and tools you can use immediately to help your small business succeed. Wix vs. Subscribe to Our Newsletter First Name. Email Address. We take your privacy very seriously.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Got it, thanks! Read More. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website.

Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website.

We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. I just found a site with a broken stop button — drove me nuts! And simple menus always win out, in my opinion. You need to tailor the website to the purpose and not cookie cutter it to some generic everyman site. For example, my agency is responsibe for a Manchester United news website.

This is has no requirement for hours, testimonials or calls to action. Great point, Stephen. For many websites, you do want to funnel your visitors through to make sure they see the content you want them to see. Thanks for reading! Great tips — I believe I have the branding, bold big images and social down pat — need help on my mobile version. It is so cheap with those free tools.

But if the website should be really successful it needs ALL of these points. Thanks for the comment! You are spot on. Free tools only take you so far. To get a homepage that converts, these tips will certainly help. These are great points when creating a website. The power of customer testimonials is highly under valued. I recommend to all my clients a strong program that encourages customers to get online and leave testimonials. It takes a lot of work to get clients bought into the process, but once the customers start pouring in, they are definitely thankful.

Great read, thank you! I think most websites should also add the Google translate functionality I have it added with a small bit of CSS on my site — fits nicely. I think point 8 is very important as half of my visitors are now mobile — a responsive web page is way forward. The advantages of a responsive web page are huge — no need to install an app or develop different apps for different mobile devices etc.

Work with a professional web design team who can help you keep a website with a simple, fresh and unique design. It will make your site more enjoyable and productive. This will increase your business websites conversion rates. Hi Michael, I had good experience from your article related to tips of creating website. Its more helpful to get the web development tactics.

And one more thing i like the point of 7. Add a directions widget. Keep update more. Your email address will not be published. Here are 17 ideas you can put into action right now: 1. Condense your menu Do you have twelve items under one heading on your navigation bar? Have a call to action on every page Every page on your website should be making your visitor act on something.

Put your phone number on your homepage Every website should have their phone number. Image from Emir Ayouni 4. Add business hours Similar to the phone number above, when is your business open?

Add an about us page Who are you? About page from Mostly Serious 6. Add a directions widget For those without a GPS, directions are convenient for just about anybody. Image from Dash 8. Make your site mobile-friendly Mobile is huge right now. Match your company branding Did you just update your logo or change your company colors?