Partner Article

Revamp your Website Design

One of the biggest stories in web design recently has been the staggering price tag of hotel group Four Season?s new website. At a cost of $18m (around £11m), it may well be the most expensive website yet produced.

<a title=“Permanent Link to How to Revamp your Website Design, Without Breaking the Bank? data-cke-saved-href=? href=? rel=” bookmark”=””>But beyond the headline grabbing figures, the sheer amount that Four Seasons have spent on their website illustrates the importance that many firms now place on their web design and their online presence in general.

The new Four Seasons website looks good and appears to work well, as one would hope it should do for such a princely sum. But of course few businesses have that kind of money kicking about, let alone going spare. Fortunately most website redesigns cost the tiniest fraction of this, and it is possible to enhance your site?s aesthetics and usability with a relatively small budget. Here are a few ideas for small design changes that can make a big difference to your users? experience.

• Check your navigation ? Is your site easy and intuitive to use, or is it ambiguous and at times frustrating? Web users like sites that are clear and enable them to find exactly what they want with minimum hassle and clicking. If in doubt, carry out some user testing, even if it?s just a small sample of people.
• Make your content as concise as possible ? Long blocks of content are one of the biggest potential turn-offs on any website. By breaking up information into more easily digestible chunks, using headers (and additional pages) where needed, you can instantly make your site more usable.
• Keep your design simple ? When designing a website it can be tempting to make it flashy and attach lots of impressive bells and whistles. However, these urges are best avoided in favour of creating a website that is clear and simple to use for even people with minimal online/ computer skills.

According to Econsultancy?s Marketing Budgets 2012 Report (http://econsultancy.com/uk/reports/marketing-budgets), while digital marketing, such as websites, is a top priority for many companies, ?shortage of [in-house] talent is still preventing them from fully harnessing digital marketing.?

Fortunately, that talent can be easily accessed by businesses both small and large, when they need it, in the form of web design, SEO and digital marketing agencies.

Speak to your web design or SEO agency to discuss revamping your website without breaking the bank.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jon Celeste .