Although graphic designing is important to the success of a website, it is the website design that is critical. Each has its part to play, and while a great graphic never made a dime if it takes 5 clicks to buy a product, the first click might not have been made if the graphics were poor.
It’s like a book and its cover – if the cover is dreadful, the book won’t be opened, but even if the cover is great there has to be something inside for the package to work. This is the major benefit of combining good graphic designing with equally good website design. So what’s the difference?
Graphic Designing
The look of a website is very important, because people generally purchase with their eyes. If the package looks poor then they assume the product will be poor. That does not apply universally in the world of internet marketing, because some horrible-looking websites have made a lot of money, but in such cases it is generally the name that has sold the product and not the website.
An internet guru can sell ice to an Inuit if their name is big enough, but for us ordinary folks our websites have to look good. That means a high standard of graphic designing. That includes the main heading of the web page, whether it is a regular website or a blog. Many people use WordPress blogs rather than websites as such, and what they lose in functionality and flexibility they gain in ease of refreshing their content.
However, the graphic design of a website also includes the look of ‘Buy Now’ buttons, logos and other aspects of internet marketing such as the design of contact and list-building forms, footers and on-page graphics that vary between pages.
Design and Brand Recognition
An important aspect of graphics is branding: your website must promote your brand, whether that is a name or a logo. Some will claim that brand recognition is the most important aspect of graphics, although it is probably secondary to keeping visitors on your web page.
Nevertheless, if you are using your website to market a business, then branding could be an extremely important part of your online marketing strategy. Your brand logo or slogan should appear on every page on your site, and the graphic could even be a clickable link to another page on your website, or even to another website if you so choose. Brand recognition is a marriage of graphic and web design elements.
Website Design
Many people confuse the concept of website design with graphic design. In fact, the design of a website has nothing to do with graphics, but with the way the site interacts with visitors. This interaction can occur in a number of ways. Including:
- Navigation from one page to another
- Convenience in making an online purchase
- Automated invoicing and receipts
- Payment processing
- List building and gathering of contact details
- Contact forms for visitors
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Internal and external linking strategy
- Offline optimization
- Integration with social networking sites
- Audio and video presentations
And a great deal more. None of those listed above have a direct connection with graphic design. In fact, a website could operate without graphics but not with only graphics. Hence the initial statement: the first 19 words of the text on this page.
However, it is more than just the analogy of the book and its cover – web designing has more influence than just that. The two can combine to produce a very powerful online tool that can be used to sell just about anything. Forget selling ice to an Inuit, think selling a live cat to a mouse!
To do that you need great graphics to catch the eye, so that your visitor stops a moment before clicking away. Then you have to make them an offer to make them think, so do one of two things:
- Offer an irresistible heading to your page to persuade the visitor to read your content, or
- Provide an irresistible link to click on for more information or
- Make them an offer they can’t refuse!
The whole idea is that, once your graphics have caught the eye of the visitors who you have got to your site through your good marketing skills, you must keep them here one way or another. That is the beginning of your website design.
The rest of it involves making it as easy as possible for your visitor to find more information to let you keep in contact with them or to actually make a purchase. Once on your page nobody should have to make more than three clicks to purchase your product – preferably two!
Your Choice
It is your choice how you achieve all of this. Many try themselves and fail – there are several reasons why 99% of everybody who tries to make money online fails to do so. The main one is a lack of knowledge followed closely by a lack of persistence.
You can overcome the knowledge problem by using a freelance graphical and website designer. It becomes very easy to overcome the persistence problem when you have a beautifully designed and perfectly functional website that is attracting all the traffic you need to convert to sales – and one that is updated free twice every year!
