Website Design: Why Your Beautiful Website Might Be A Dysfunctional Mess

We’ve all seen them before. Jaw droppers. Website design that is gobsmackingly gorgeous and designed with visual magnetism at its heart. But websites can’t just be a pretty face. Like the old adage, true beauty comes from within, the same can be said specifically in reference to beautiful websites. Looking presentable is a fair standard- but it’s what happens behind the scenes that truly counts. A beautiful website needs to:

• Demonstrate a solid business purpose
• Engage visitors
• Be easy to locate to their target market
• Have the ability to increase conversions where applicable

It’s easy to pour money into a website and sadly, very easy to lose that investment in a bottomless pit. If the website (unknowingly or not) serves little purpose, has not been built with strong intent for commercial gain, and is not likely to engage search engines in a positive way, then it’s as good as a poisoned apple- very likely nowhere near as delicious as it looks.

There are plenty of sites out there that are beautiful without purpose- and maybe we can be thankful of that, as serious business owners who know the value of a hardworking website- because the competition is tough enough already without having to worry about being knocked out by a competitor skating by on their appearance.

We are lucky that a website’s worth can be determined simply by getting to know it a bit better. When we look for conversion rates, outbound clicks, pages visited and exit/time on page rates, heat maps and the average customer experience, we get an idea of how well that site is functioning in the digital landscape. But none of this is meant to imply that website functionality should come at the price of aesthetics. Search engines of today possess high intelligence when assessing sites for efficiency- but they can also determine whether that site is visually pleasing by evaluating user engagement data. So, choosing between the two doesn’t have to be a forced decision- it’s just that the functional design should always headline over aesthetic design.

The One Stop Media offer website design services that get great results. Skilled in envisioning the design of highly functional, great looking sites that wow search engines and your target market accordingly, we know great web design. If you’d like to talk to us about website design that is highly appealing from both perspectives, get in touch with our team today.