When To Build An In-House Team And When To Hire A Marketing Agency
November 14, 2023
Here, we will take a look at the benefits and drawbacks of these two options and what you can do to get the best results from both.
The Best Websites Of 2022
“It takes about 50 milliseconds for the users to form an opinion about your website that determines whether they like your site or not, whether they’ll stay or leave.”
It can be challenging to choose the perfect website design, but it’s a vital element of user experience. The websites of the companies below are great examples of visually appealing designs, great UX and UI principles, straightforward navigation, colour palettes, and information architecture. Browsing these websites will certainly inspire you, and you can use this list as a quick reference to help you modify your website and attract more visitors.
An immersive experience is the best way to describe IBM’s website – IBM ensures visitor engagement by integrating both auditory and visual elements. When you first access the website, you are prompted to put on headphones in order to fully appreciate it. Even if you skip this step, the background is interesting since it reacts to your cursor. While discussing a topic as complex as AI, IBM uses visual storytelling to show how their Watson tool works in the real world. Visitors can explore three storylines and learn more about the tool using elements that are similar to those in video games.
- Apple is one of my favourite websites in terms of design. Few companies are as closely associated with modern design as Apple – they toy with the idea of minimalism but don’t entirely commit, adding a few extra design elements that aren’t technically necessary but are nevertheless attractive and entertaining, such as graphics and moving menus.
The exceptionally high-quality photographs are used alongside soft colours. Apple’s products can sometimes appear more attractive online than they do in person, which may be one of the factors contributing to their success. Therefore, if you’re selling goods online, be sure to spend some time getting some attractive photos of your goods!
As the adage goes, recreate the immersive shopping experience of your physical store with your online site. With FPP’s shopping aisle, you may virtually browse the store and search for products, resembling a genuine shopping experience.
FPP specialises in shopping marketing, and their shopping isle involves hundreds of products that tell a visual story about lost items and cart abandonment. The aisle uses a parallax effect and a limited colour scheme to make moving around the area enjoyable and easy on the eyes.
Rarely can you visit a website and immediately understand what the company stands for, but the productivity tool, Superlist, does a great job of it. You can clearly see what they stand for within just five seconds – productivity for both teams and individuals.
You can interact with office supplies like a keyboard, pen, journal, and headphones as soon as you land on the homepage. If you scroll past the first fold, you’ll find an opened journal with concise copy, and the home page manifesto makes good use of white space to help you keep your attention on the material.
Yes, I am talking about the Oscar nominated film that marked Harry Style’s debut. You can tour the trenches and complete the same tasks as the characters in the movie, 1917, by using this website, which was made to advertise it. You can examine their maps or access additional features.
This website serves as a great illustration of how to leverage content and a prewritten story to advertise a movie while also excelling at user interaction. This website received Site of the Day honours from Awwwards, a website that lets designers vote for and suggest excellent websites they see every day.
Andy Warhol was a legendary producer, director, and visual artist, and a brilliantly designed website that showcases his art in digital form has kept his work alive. Your cursor changes into a spotlight as you scroll down the page, flipping the colours of the text you’re reading or turning every image you hover over into a negative image. The bold, declarative text makes a point, and emphasises how important copy is to website design. Subtle animations on the front-page assist in setting the tone for each section.
Music is not the only thing that Spotify specialises in. Their tasteful yet fun graphics are built for their target audience – Gen Z. As the hub for all things creative and visually appealing, Spotify, a leader in music and podcasts, gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at the who, what, why, and how of what makes the app so popular.
This website’s vibrant colours, drop shadows, and flowing animations give it individuality and depth. The flat geometric designs with abstract accents almost make the record covers and musicians jump off the screen.
Do you remember how websites would react to your cursor movements in the early days of the internet? Things like glittering GIFs which followed you as you browsed the page? A more advanced version of this concept is seen on Squadeasy, a website devoted to promoting ethical and healthy behaviour.
As you browse their website, the animated head of their mascot Boogie will bounce about, feel lightheaded if you scroll too quickly, and even eat your cursor if you get too close. He is in the centre of the screen when you view their or case studies and other information, but he doesn’t cover up any important text.
There is more to a website than its design. Design is crucial, but you have to build a comprehensive website that is able to rank well. Below are some tips on how to achieve that.
- Keep it Simple: Don’t complicate the customer journey – keep it simple so that people can focus on the CTA. The use of fonts, colours, and GIFs should be kept to a minimum because these elements can draw attention away from the website’s main focus. Additionally, brevity and bullet points increase readability and make it easier for visitors to take in the information. Display text in short, concise paragraphs.
- Branding: You should reconsider your website branding efforts in light of key findings from a 2020 McKinsey study on global customer behaviour that included data from 45 countries. Consumers like brands they consider “trusted” and are switching brands at previously unheard-of rates. Make sure your branding reflects your trustworthiness.
- Sprinkle Calls to Action Everywhere: You need to tell people what they have to do on the website. What is your end goal for visitors? Direct them so that they don’t get lost or click off the page. Your landing pages must convince visitors to take any action, such as contacting your business, signing up for a service, purchasing something, downloading a brochure, or taking another action that furthers your business’ goals. Provide a clear call to action that they can’t miss.
- Don’t Do it Yourself: With endless tools like Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress, it might seem we can handle every part of building our websites ourselves. In addition, it’s the cheapest option – you just pick a template, and you’re ready to go. Unfortunately, it’s not like that in reality. In the long run, template-based websites can hinder your website’s growth – for example, customisation is limited in terms of functionality. Cutting costs initially will harm your progress in the long run, so get help in building a strong foundation for your website.
- SEO: To reach your audience, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a crucial marketing technique. All internet-related actions are supported by SEO, which has the primary purpose of promoting your online presence. It’s critical to stay up to date on the most recent changes and tactics because SEO is a field that is continuously changing and developing.
I teach a specialised course with a strong emphasis on SEO tactics. We cover everything from the principles of SEO to crucial measures you can implement that improve performance in less than two hours. The training also covers technical code improvements, local SEO, outreach and PR strategies, and many other topics. - Mobile First Approach: Don’t expect people to switch their devices just to get the best experience of your website. A business’s online store may receive more than half of its traffic from mobile devices (55% of page views come from mobile devices). Businesses risk losing out on sales if they don’t design their online stores with mobile users in mind. If the mobile experience of your website is poor, you could lose about 25% of your potential visitors and revenue. In addition, a poor mobile user experience lowers your website’s search engine rankings and makes it more challenging for users to locate through a Google search.
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The third edition of my international best-seller, Digital Marketing Strategy is out now. Including updates on cookies, covid, TikTok and much more with new case studies and supporting guides. Pick up a copy now.
Digital Marketing Handbook
The Digital Marketing Handbook is out now and includes over 250 pages of practical tips and advice on running all areas of your marketing campaigns from paid search and SEO to web design and email marketing.
When it comes to websites, the first impression is the last impression. An underwhelming or poorly designed website can easily turn away potential customers and harm your reputation.
Take inspiration from the websites mentioned above and put the tips into practice to build a sustainable website that receives high levels of organic traffic. Need help with this? My team and I can do so – click here to find out how.
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