Driving targeted traffic to your website is important, but traffic is useless if they don’t stay. You also need to design your website so that visitors actually take time to look at what you’re offering and eventually click on the ‘buy’ button. In this article, we’ll teach you important web design tips that can motivate people to linger—and give you a chance to present your offer. These tips should help improve your site’s attractiveness while increasing conversions.

1. Avoid clutter

Is your site is filled with text, images, and flashing things? Does it have a serious lack of white space? Then you are putting off a majority of your visitors. The proper use of white space will actually draw more attention to your main messages and can help easily draw attention of your visitors and also provide them with sensible information.

2. Write a call-to-action

Make it very clear—do you want your customers to read, buy, or sell something or just click on a certain button? Developing a call-to-action that encourages people to respond should be your key focus when developing your website. If you have an incentive or discount, make it the centre of attention.

3. Make it easy to navigate

Think of navigation as the steering wheel of your website. Present it in a simple, logical order with clear-cut indications of what each of the pages feature so that your visitors can find their way around your website. The navigation bar should ideally appear on each page and should be highly visible. There should also bean ‘about us’ page and a ‘contact’ page on every website. Some experts also recommend that pages on your website should be no more than 5 pages away from the home page.

Titles are very important because not everyone enters your site from the home page. You want people to always know where they are at. You likewise need clear link texts. The main key is to make it easy for users to find what they want.

4. Make it fast-loading

Test your site. Does is take more than 10 seconds to load? That’s too long—practically a lifetime in internet terms. Users typically don’t have the patience (nor the time) to wait that long. Also, don’t assume that all visitors have fast connections. Some internet users are still using 36.6 kbps dial-up modems.

To make your website fast-loading, use fewer graphics or at least reduce their sizes. Animations in particular are ‘traffic killers’ so avoid them unless you really need them.

5. Use the right font and colours

Nothing is easier to read than clear, black texton a crisp white background. This classic combination makes it easier to read your copy. The use of inappropriate colours and overly decorative fonts can make your message ineffective. How do you expect to sell when people can’t even read your copy?

6. Limit the use of pop-ups

Are you annoyed by those little windows that open when you click on a link? Your visitors find them annoying, too. These pop-ups can make your website look spammy and cause you to possible lose potential customers forever. We’re not saying that you should never use pop-ups, because if done right, they can be very effective in driving up the response rates to your offers. But don’t over use them. Pop-ups should be reserved for high value offers that you’re sure your visitors can’t resist.

7. Remember your purpose

Before you even sit down with a web designer, answer these questions: What is your goal for creating your website? Are you looking to sell products and services? What do you expect visitors to do? Deciding on your purpose prior to starting the design process is very important. Each aspect of your website—all the links, title, graphics, and the colours—should lead to your goal.

Some online business owners make the mistake of designing a ‘beautiful’ website instead of designing one that is efficient, clear, and sales-oriented. Beauty alone won’t sell. Don’t let your visitors get so distracted by your flash animations that they don’t notice your sales pitch at the bottom of the page.

Work with a great web design firm will talk to you about your goals and keep it in mind while laying out the design of your website. If your goal is to sell, they will design your site in a way that makes visitors interested in your offers and ultimately motivates them to click the ‘buy’ button.