Sponsored by ReferLocal:
There are a number of ways you can optimize your website for search engines. Most will list content creation – specifically blogs and videos – as the primary method to improve search rankings. Others will suggest external sources like business listings and networking. What isn’t covered very often is the layout of the website itself.
Your website contains all the content you’re trying to promote on Google, so you need to make it something that will not only draw in visitors, but keep them there. In order to do this, you need to use the latest design techniques. Here are just a few design tricks to improve your engagement.
Color Scheme
The color scheme you choose for your website is no different than painting a room. The visitors’ perceptions of your site will be set by the colors.
Vibrant monochromatic colors, such as blue, mint green, purple, red, and orange, are the most popular to use. It usually takes up to three different shades to make up a theme. However, a simple white background with two different shades will be enough to attract a visitor’s attention.
Use of Images
Any photos or images you plan on using should be the highest possible quality. It’s also recommended that you avoid using stock photos. Stock images are not helpful when it comes to directing attention to important facts.
Studies have shown that people will follow the same direction that a person in an ad is looking. An image of an employee looking at a piece of text or form is a good way to keep things subtle. On the other hand, simply drawing an arrow to the area you want to emphasize is favored for being both direct and effective at giving that area greater attention.
Parallax Scrolling
Web designers will frequently archive pages in the form of drop-down menus, accordion lists, and a carousel of thumbnails. These are considered trendy ways of getting the visitor to explore the many pages that are tucked away. But, they’re also novelties that lose their mystique in a hurry.
Basic scrolling is still a pragmatic method of site navigation. Using parallax scrolling on your website can add style to this basic function. Parallax scrolling treats the background content as a static piece while the main content rolls over it as the user scrolls downward. This encourages longer visit times that allow users to get acquainted with your site and business.
Typography
When you sit down to build text content, consider the affect it will have on mobile users. A bulk of your traffic will come from smartphone and tablet users who might be searching for business listings or quick stats. For this reason, you’ll have to adjust the size of your text.
Every mobile device will automatically re-size the layout for the device’s limited breakpoint. While traditional word processors will set fonts at 11 or 12 points as a default, you should aim for 16 points. This will make the text legible on most smartphone screens.
Adding short videos help greatly in increasing engagement on the website or blog. Many people underestimate the power of videos but I have witnessed that adding short videos reduces bounce rate greatly and in WordPress just giving the link of Youtube video gets it loaded without making your website heavy.