BUT… Here’s the thing (and it’s the crux of the titular argument). Borrowed channels are at the mercy of their owners. You have no control over algorithms or the whims of the digital overlords, and most often, you have to pay to play in their space to have any kind of effectiveness.
Owned channels…well, it says right in its name. You own them.
Decisions? Up to you.
All the data you collect? Yours.
Want to completely redecorate with some snazzy new web design? You are the digital overseer here.
So doesn’t it just make sense to invest in your own(ed) digital channels?
That’s a pretty good argument right? Sadly for us both, 200 words does not a blog make.
So, let’s talk about the sauce of it all.
There are a few different owned channels that are worth investing in, but today, we’ll only be chatting about your website.
If you’re going to invest in web design and development, where should you put your hard-earned dollars?
Please don’t say “making it look pretty”.
What you need to worry about is what is going on under the pretty—the boring yet crucial part of the site—the stuff that will make your site worth every penny you put into it.
Again, there are many underlying aspects of your website that are worth knowing about and investing in, but we’re only going to focus on three for now because I know how much we hate it when I go off on obscure tangents.
The Recipe for Success
You may or may not be surprised to learn that when you team up with a full-service website development company, a lot of thought goes into how your audience interacts with your website. This is called user experience (UX) design. We consider everything from the copy to the colour theory to the path they will take through your website. This is a careful mix of design, user psychology and technology to create an impactful experience on your website. It’s not simply about “looking pretty” it’s about creating the space that inspires action.
There are a number of benefits to investing in solid UX design.
On the Tech Side
Google loves a good UX. Do you want to be on that first page? (The answer is always yes).
User engagement metrics like bounce rate, time on page and how users navigate your site are all considered when Google does its calculations to determine where your site will rank.
So, optimizing on-page UX elements like the site layout, easy-to-read content and thoughtfully placed call-to-action (CTAs) and behind the scenes efforts like load speeds and meta titles and descriptions are all going to impact your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts.
Incidentally, your UX efforts can also affect how your Google ads perform for many of the same reasons that Google likes to rank for. In most cases, better landing pages equal more time spent on the page, which in turn equals better ad performance.
While we’re on the topic of performance, you will likely be unsurprised to discover that UX also plays a mighty role in the conversion rate of your website (the percentage of users who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter).
Clean, streamlined user journeys, whether it’s purchasing something on an ecommerce platform or filling out a form, are imperative to optimizing the conversion rate.
On the User Side
Have you ever been to a website and felt the vibe was wrong, or things were so confusing that you just gave up and left? That’s bad UX.
I separated this from the technology side because these benefits are (in my humble opinion) the fun part—where the art and science of web design really come to life.
The moment someone leaves your site because something is not working for them, you’re losing a prospective sale or lead. Investing in UX optimization means you’re actively working to reduce the friction and frustration users can feel when they visit your site. If they find your site easy to use and enjoyable, not only are they likely to stay on the website longer, they are more likely to return. These are foundational components for building trust and loyalty for your brand.
How? It’s a fair question.
Can’t find what I’m looking for within the first couple of clicks? I’ve bailed for less.
If I always know what I’m getting when I visit a site, I begin to trust its consistency, and if it’s easy for me to use, I’ll continue to visit.
Remember, one of the key focuses of marketing is to guide people through the decision-making process and encourage them to take action at the end. The fewer obstacles in the way, the more effective the funnel. Your website is often a primary step in the funnel, so we want the journey to be smooth and easy.
Another element of UX beyond technical functionality is design.
Okay, okay. So there is a part where we make things pretty. But it’s not just for the sake of aesthetics. Web design plays a critical role in creating the emotional connection we seek to make with users who visit our site. It goes hand in hand with the user journey and copy to prompt users to feel a certain way and help guide their decisions. Colors, typography, imagery, and animations can all affect a user’s emotional state and, by extension, their perception of the brand.
A Side of Small Screens
Last week, I had the delightful opportunity to have food brought to me and got to choose something off the menu.
I went to this restaurant’s site on my phone.
I am still bothered by it a week later. It was terrible. Half the menu was buried in accordion-style dropdowns. The page had no flow. There were too many images that didn’t make sense because they didn’t respond properly to being scaled down from the desktop version.
The food was great (and free, which obviously makes it better), but I would hesitate to go to that restaurant again based solely on my first impression online. Might seem dramatic, but no trust was built that day.
This is why that story matters: approximately 95% of internet users access the web via their mobile devices.
NINETY-FIVE PERCENT.
If Your Company’s website is not mobile-friendly, that is a wildly missed opportunity. Don’t think I can hammer that point any harder without cracking my phone screen.
So, what do we do here?
Let’s pretend we’re your website development partner.
Right from the start of the project, our team looks at your website design with a mobile-first approach. This means we’re thinking about what your site looks like on a phone, even at the wireframe stage. The main benefit of this is your website is going to be awesome on any screen your user is accessing it from. From a technical perspective, it’s going to be fast to load and easy to navigate on small screens with big fingers.We also think about how mobile users engage compared to desktop users. When you’re on the phone, you’re often on the go. You’re looking for quick answers, the ability to make a call or some other quick action. So, we prioritize the content that is the most important. We think about what is most critical to getting your users where they need to be.
Of course, Google loves mobile-friendly sites because users do (see above. All the same reasoning applies here).
Here’s another fun thing about mobile-first design that maybe Your Company might be missing out on. If you have a site that is optimized for mobile you can leverage geolocation to create a whole battalion of marketing opportunities to engage with potential customers who are nearby. This means showing up high in Google searches when people are looking for recommendations in your area, or being able to show users personalized content or offers that might entice them into your store while they are walking past.
Make the Meal a Full Course
With such a heavy focus on creating a digital experience, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk a little more about design. These days, everyone expects to be enchanted. There is just too much information out there to consume, and only the most eye-catching will win in the competition of shortest attention span.
Visual storytelling has been around for a lonnnnng time, but it’s more in recent years that it has been taking the center stage again in the digital marketing world.
Marketing agencies are seeking new and innovative ways to help brands shine through the integration of images, videos, graphics, and animations into the narrative of a website, in order to help communicate the brand story, and guide users toward specific actions.
The Content Institute outlines these as the core elements for effective visual storytelling (I’m paraphrasing of course):
Tension: Keep people interested in pursuing the story.
Entertainment: Get them hooked in under 10 seconds.
Education: Teach them something.
Micro-interactions: Allow for small interactions so that viewers feel in control of their experience (people are more invested when they have the power). This might be object animation or some dynamic element on the page that the user can interact with.
Call to action: This is the starting point of the design process because it’s the ending point of the customer journey. The story needs to lead here, and every aspect of the website design needs to play into that.
Visual storytelling is all about connecting your customers with your brand through experience. Like the restaurant with the great fries but terrible online presence, it’s the details that you present to the world that solidify what people perceive about Your Company identity.
In the end, it’s all of these elements working together that really take your website from existing to really doing the heavy lifting for you. And like most things, the more you put in, the more you get out of it.
I know even a little peek into the different facets of web design and development is a lot, and we’re always happy to sit down with you and walk through it so you can truly understand the value of investing in the website you own.
Curious to learn more?
Reach a STEALTH Team Member here.
(Also, I’m still hungry, what can I say).
