Website Design - How to Make a Good First Impression

A good first impression is often a key indicator of future success. Whether it is a first date, first job interview, or the first meeting, people often form their opinions based on the first impression.

A first visit to a website is no different. The amount of time that a person spends on a website, or their decision to follow through with a call to action on the website, such as making an online purchase, is often directly correlated to the impression they have of the website as soon as they land on the website.

There are several important design elements of the website that can be taken into consideration to forming a positive and lasting good first impression. Three website design elements to ensure a good first impression are:

1. The speed by which the website loads.

In the age of information technology people tend to want to access information quickly and immediately. If your website takes more than a few seconds to load, your potential customer will move on to your competitor's website.

2. The design of the website.

Would you consider handing out your business card to your best potential client or customer if your business card was ugly and non-functional? Would you send out a proposal for new business if your company's letterhead had spelling mistakes and a wrong phone number? What if your rack cards had someone else's corporate colors on it? Would you provide that to the public?

No, you would ensure that your company's branding was well represented and you should also provide such consideration when it comes to your website.

3. The website's functionality. One thing to consider includes the ease of navigation. GPS navigation systems are becoming popular because no one wants to get lost. They want to get from point A to B without much of a hassle. While on a website visitors want to know how to access information with ease and have the ability to navigate back to the page where they came from.

Another functional thing to consider is limiting items that are trendy but does not add to the totality of the site's purpose. Historically, Flash intro pages were trendy but research has shown that Internet surfers do not want to wait for a screen to load as they want to get to information rather than wait for a screen to load and be forced to watch a presentation.

There are far too many websites with a wide variety of choices for people to visit so make sure that your website invites people to stay and to build both confidence and trust to take action, such as make a purchase or provide you with their contact information, which is essentially a business lead for your company.