Imagine you’re out and about in a shopping centre looking for something very specific. Where do you go first? The store that has a well-known name, or the small store you’ve never heard of?

Most people will go straight for the big brand name stores because it’s what they’re familiar with.

How about if the small store presented itself in a very aesthetically pleasing way that also looked very inviting? You’ll probably be more inclined to stop by and check it out and possibly even walk away feeling pleasantly surprised.

It’s All About First Impressions

Unpleasing, cluttered and unuseable websites don’t do favours for your business.

You only get one chance at first impressions so it’s very much in your favour to make sure it counts.

Think about a shop window you walk by on the street that is very dimly lit, has a clutter of random items in it’s storefront, plastic letters that once spelt out the business name but are now peeling off, filthy windows with cobwebs everywhere and an incredible amount of clutter inside. Are you going to go in? No!

Now picture a storefront with a clean and sparkling front window that has the business name presented immaculately in a pleasing-to-the-eye colour, a range of a specific products laid out behind the glass that perfectly displays what the shop is selling and a clean and simple layout inside. Do you think you’ll stop to have a look? Most likely, yes!

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B&B Italia in Tokyo is a great example of how a clean, pleasing-to-the-eye storefront can spruce up a business.

The exact same goes for websites. An average person takes approximately 1/10th of a second to judge whether or not they like the look of something.

That’s about 50 milliseconds or 0.5 seconds! Hence why it’s incredibly important to make sure when a visitor enters your website, they not only like what they see but can instantly understand how they’re meant to move around the pages.

Mobile Compatibility

Once upon a time it was all about making an impression via desktop computers or laptops. Now with the expanding tablet and smartphone user base, websites should also cater for smaller screens.

I myself always thought I’d prefer to do my browsing and online shopping via a computer. But when you’re out and about and don’t have access to a laptop or desktop computer, it’s so handy to whip out your phone and search for what you’re looking for.

By 2017 it is estimated that over 90% of internet users will be accessing content via their phones or tablets. So unless you’ve sorted your website out to be mobile-friendly, you could potentially be losing quite a lot of customers.

Remember, in the 0.5 seconds it takes for a person to judge your website, they will also take into account if the font-size the website is using is easy enough to read. If a website isn’t compatible with a mobile device then chances are the text will be extremely small and require a user to zoom in to read it.

New Beginnings

With the start of a new year come the start of new habits, promises and changes.

If your website looks to be lacking in the visual department, is perhaps a bit too cluttered to make browsing easy or doesn’t display suitably on a mobile device, it might be time to inject some youth into it and let your website flourish amongst the ever-growing internet audience.

Should you deem it necessary to give your website a face-lift or go for a website renovation, you can get in touch with Live Link Websites and ask us more about it.