As marketers drive prospects to their company’s website, web design can make or break a campaign. Devanshi Garg, COO of Icreon Tech, offers advice on getting it right
A well-crafted website is a sign of an enterprise that takes all facets of the business seriously. A website is often the first point of contact for potential customers or leads. In order to drive new business and maintain competitive advantage, enterprise websites must meet new industry standards.
All facets of compatibility, content, usability and site layout serve to influence the perception of a company by its customer base. Through our firm’s experience with web projects for international brands such as National Geographic and Fox, I have found the following aspects of design and development to be crucial for designing sites for enterprise clients:
1. Design for mobile
With the multitude of computing devices, do you know which devices your customers use most to access your website? Designing a website with compatibility for tablets, smartphones and computers is vital to increasing web traffic and attracting business from a global audience. Responsive web design serves as a way to attend to the multidevice challenge.
Incorporating responsive design into web development will ensure a website’s consistency of quality from whatever device it is accessed. If a substantial percentage of your site visits stem from mobile, and your site is not mobile optimised, you are likely to be losing click-throughs from potential mobile customers.
2. Remember the user
Web development that focuses on the user experience (UX) results in a digital design process that ensures optimal usability. Expert web developers map out the functionality of a website through the use of wireframes. Wireframes effectively detail the operations of every click, drop down menu, image feature or page layout in order to create a seamless user experience.
Navigating a website should occur in a natural intuitive way. Once a user feels impeded by the poor design of a site layout, they head to a competitor. For example, one of the best ways to lose new customers is to make contact information five pages deep instead of available through a single click.
3. Design and architecture
The best web developers out there are inspired by real world architects. Architects design buildings with the person’s direct experience in mind. Informed architecture within web development is not just about writing compelling content, it’s also about using it to augment the UX and wire framing stages.
By placing functionality above aesthetics, the world’s best web developers consistently deliver an end product that is a pleasure to navigate. A website should offer up a fulfilling experience for the user interested in your product or service.
4. Content drives traffic
Content within a website is also key to a professional web presence. Text within a page is the main driver for increasing traffic. Search engine optimisation strategies can bring increased visibility for your page. For instance, are you properly displaying the entirety of your product and service offerings? In order to streamline the updating and revisions to content, content management systems (CMS) are suggested.
CMS solutions such as Drupal, Tridion, and others allow for easy access to a website for editing content within web pages. Drupal, as well as other CMS offerings, is designed for users with zero knowledge regarding coding. CMSs are incredibly useful for managing content on multi-lingual sites for international enterprises. Consistently updated content that meets SEO guidelines is vital for increased web visibility and higher revenue generating traffic.
5. Learn to value microsites
In order to maximise the ROI of a website, there are numerous innovative ways besides design that can grow a business. For instance, traditional business documentation such as case studies and whitepapers can be adapted for the new era of internet consumption. Sites with affiliated microsites addressing specific aspects of a business are becoming more common.
Microsites are similar to blogs in terms of being focused on a specific aspect of a company’s services, experience and offerings. A microsite is easier to share and access than attachments and provides specifically focused content for certain products, services or marketing efforts.
6. Consider HTML5
HTML5 enterprise applications are great because they run within a standard browser, meaning there is no need to download plugins. Native app development (which deals with a specific device like an iPhone or Android tablet) is more programming intensive. HTML5 development from an enterprise perspective benefits from the ‘write once, run anywhere’ approach. Given device fragmentation in the enterprise is a wide issue, thanks to bring your own device policies, HTML5 is valued because of its cross-device compatibility.
Improvements in Javascript, CSS, and HTML have allowed for offline functionality, enhanced performance, high-end graphics and much more. One popular trend in the enterprise is to create lightweight focused applications that can integrate for added functionality. For instance a dedicated document signing application can integrate with the app used for expense reports. Over the upcoming year expect HTML5 web design and development to proliferate throughout the enterprise.
