Customers have always judged companies by their appearance.  Patrons at a restaurant will just the cleanliness of the kitchen by how clean the serving area is.  Clients will judge the competency of a lawyer by his dress.  The internet has not changed people’s basic notion: A business’s appearance is indicative of its service or product.

For many customers, the only aspect of a business they will see is the company’s website.  In some cases, people will never see any other part of the business; in other cases, people will only see the website before deciding whether to hire a company or not.

A company’s website is its main store front.  For many business’s, their fate rides on their website’s design.  A good website design can increase sales, while a poor on will decrease sales.  Here are four strategies that companies used to design sites well and increase their sales.

A website’s code must be written as efficiently as possible.  The coding behind a site is its foundation.  Upon this, everything else is built.  The structure and writing of the code determines how quickly a site will load.  Often, the difference between a well-written website and a poor one is only a fraction of a second, per mistake.  But, these fractions add up to longer load times, and people have almost no patience for a website to load.

Redesigning a website for faster load times will keep internet surfers satisfied.  Any page that loads slowly may cause a potential customer to lose interest and close their browser.  This could be a lost sale.

There are many internet browsers people use, and a website should be designed to load in all of these browsers.  Some of the more common internet browsers are Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Safari, but there are others as well.   A site that cannot load properly in all of these browsers will not reach everyone that uses the internet.  To reach the broadest customer base possible, a website should be designed to function properly in all browsers.

As Smartphones and IPhones increase in popularity, people are using small, mobile devices more often to browse the internet.  A website should be designed not only to look normal in traditional browsers, but it also must have a .mobi site.  These are mobile-formatted versions that people can use one their portable devices.

Websites should be designed to be as user-friendly as possible.  Navigating them should be intuitive and natural.  Any confusing links or dead ends will frustrate customers and possibly cause them to close the window.  A simple navigational system provides people with digital customer service.

When they are on the computer, most people do not read in depth.  They internet is primarily a visual mode of communication.  Images and videos are important.  Even the text that is read should be made attractive.  The font’s size, color and style should be considered during the design process.  A website should be designed to be attractive.  This will attract customers and create a professional impression, which can increase sales.

A website’s design is a company’s key to success.  There are no perfect websites; every site can be improved.  During redesigning, developers should consider the site’s load time, viability in various browsers, navigation and attractiveness.  When these are all considered, a redesigned website can increase sales.