With more consumers turning to online channels to get the products, services and information they’re looking for, a polished, high-quality website is more important than ever—especially for small businesses. But what makes a good website? Is it all about eye-catching visuals, pleasing fonts and striking colors? At MediaBlend, we believe it’s a combination of all these—but more importantly, how they support UI and UX.

User-friendliness is the most important factor when it comes to the success of any website. After all, if your target customer can’t use your website, how will they find out more about your brand, and how will they go from prospect to customer?

Today, the most successful brands and businesses understand the importance of user experience and the importance of user interface. These concepts go hand in hand, and they create the overall feeling a customer has when they interact with your website.

Here’s why both good UI and UX design are critical to every successful website, as well as some key tips for designing a website the right way, according to MediaBlend’s in-house experts.

What Is UI/UX Design?

User interface and user experience are two different yet corresponding concepts. They work together to determine exactly how people interact with a website.

• User Interface (UI) design refers to the process of enhancing the interactivity and presentation of a website, focusing on the site’s visual appeal and how users use it. Elements like buttons, links, text and other visual components fall under the umbrella of UI design.

• User Experience (UX), on the other hand, refers to the process of enhancing the overall experience of users as they visit and interact with your website. The goal is to provide the maximum in customer satisfaction, and UX processes should be built in to the basic framework of the site. UX includes wireframing and structuring all components and elements to create a seamless, flowing experience for every user.

• Optimized together, user interface and user experience play a powerful role in the efficacy of a site. Here’s a look at some of the key advantages that can spring from thoughtful design of both:

Boost Conversions

Whether you want your target audience to sign up for your email list, make a purchase, contact you for more information or anything else, your website needs to include a clear call to action. A visible, concise call to action is a big component of good UX and UI design.

By focusing on the overall user experience of your website—lowering download speeds, improving the structure of your site, or making your site more responsive—you can prevent your target audience from “bouncing” off your page and get them to take the action you want them to take.

Establish Trust and Credibility

Today’s consumers expect their favorite brands to have high-quality, responsive websites that are easy to navigate and pleasant to look at. By building in good UI design to your website, you can increase user involvement and define how they act with your site.

A thoughtfully designed website delivers engaging content to customers, while being easy to navigate. In turn, your customers will be more satisfied with your products and services, leading to long-term loyalty that turns one-time customers into repeat buyers.

Build Your Brand

People like buying from brands that make them happy, and even an unpleasant online interaction with a brand can make or break its reputation. In many cases, you’ll get feedback from your loyal followers about what features you can upgrade or what new features you should include, to boost the credibility of your business as you build relationships with visitors. Put simply: a well-designed website that prioritizes UI and UX is one that strengthens the perception of your brand.

Save Time and Money

Old, clunky websites that don’t account for the user experience aren’t just difficult to use—in many cases, they don’t work. Tired of hearing from potential leads or customers about problems with your website? If you invest in a thoughtfully designed website built with UI/UX in mind, there are fewer chances for problems with your website.

Not only will you not need to make frequent upgrades, you’ll direct your customers to the action you want them to take, rather than fielding questions about broken or missing website features.

Boost SEO

Every small business owner wants their website to rank as high as possible for specific keywords that are relevant to their products or services. If you run a busy hair salon, you’d want to rank high for the keyword “hair salon near me,” so potential clients will see your page (and hopefully click on it) before the competition. But there’s more to SEO than keyword-rich content. User experience matters.

Search engine crawlers look closely at your site, and they can tell what elements make a good user experience and what ones don’t. In turn, they include their ratings for your site’s user experience in the way they rank your site for important keywords. An easy-to-use, responsive website built according to good UI/UX principles is important for your business, because it makes your site more visible in search engine rankings.

Important UI/UX Tips to Consider as You Design Your Website

Whether you’re in the process of re-designing your website or you’re brainstorming how you want a new site to look and function, you need to put yourself in your ideal user’s shoes.

Your website design not only needs to look great, it also needs to function fluidly and intuitively—your target customer needs to be able to easily find the information they need, without frustration. Here are some of MediaBlend’s best UI/UX tips to keep in mind as you create your website:

• Understand your user: Rather than basing your design decisions on what appeals to you, think about your target user first. Get to know your target customer and what resonates with them by developing data-driven marketing personas. You can also do some competitive research, learning about the other sites your target customer engages with, to try to mimic and improve upon the flow and user experience of those sites.

• Start with functionality: At the most basic level, a website needs to be functional. Rather than focusing on the “bells and whistles” as you design a website, think about the foundational building blocks. Using the core purpose of your site as a guide, make key decisions about the content you have on your pages and your site navigation. By perfecting the basic building blocks of your website, you’ll spend less time backtracking and redesigning as the UI and UX design process continues.

• Create a compelling homepage: Want to make a great first impression on potential customers? In many cases, it all starts with a great homepage. This is your first opportunity to engage with potential customers. While you don’t have to include everything on the homepage (and you shouldn’t) it should serve as the core for your branding, messaging and site navigation. Keep written content as concise as possible and place sales language or CTAs near the top, so users can see it immediately.

• Make your site responsive: A responsive site is one that’s accessible—no matter where a user is. Your target customer could be looking at your site at work, on the go, in their living rooms, at their favorite café or anywhere else. And today, more people are relying on smartphones or tablets to search the web. A website made with responsive design in mind is accessible, functional and good-looking no matter what type of device the user is on.

• Stay true to your brand: Rather than getting caught up in the latest trends, business owners need to stay true to their brand when re-designing a website or building a new one from the ground up. Your target audience can tell when a brand is inauthentic, and if your website doesn’t reflect your mission or visual identity, it’s not going to resonate with them. Connect the content you post with your brand and stay true to your brand’s aesthetics and personality, and you’ll have a high chance of making a great first impression and developing long-lasting relationships with your audience.

• Collaborate and test: Websites are rarely a one-person job. The designing and building of a website are often a group effort, involving many different professionals including developers, marketers, graphic artists, SEO strategists and more. By communicating and collaborating with all members of the team, you can creatively synthesize your ideas. The result is a high-quality site that meets your customers’ needs.

Compelling Websites Keep User Experience Top-Of-Mind

Good UI design and thoughtful UX design make all the difference in the overall usability of your website—and that says a lot about the quality of your business. When you recognize the importance of user experience and the importance of user interface together, you can optimize for better results overall.

MediaBlend is the leader in web design in Orange County and the surrounding area. Whether you need to revamp an existing website or you’re ready to build a brand-new site from scratch, we create stunning, responsive websites that put user interface and user experience first. Reach out to our helpful team today to create a high-quality site that reflects your brand and your business.