In this second installment of the “6 Key Elements to Launching a Successful Partner Web Marketing Program” series, we’ll go over what needs to be taken care of for your partner sites’ design to be successful.
As you may be aware, design is one of the most important elements in a site because it’s the first impression a visitor gets of your business. Visitors make up their mind about your business within the first few seconds of entering your site, so every element that could affect its look and feel should be on point. The design in partner sites needs to convey a trustworthy business!
Here are a few reasons why design plays such a prominent role in a partner site:
- Creates an Identity
- Highlights the Important Elements
- Illustrates Your Sites’ Flow
- It Anticipates Your Visitors’ Needs
- It Brands the Partner Sites
That’s why it’s imperative that the colors used aren’t obnoxious or dull or that the typography for your texts, buttons and links is readable.
What Partner Site Design Entails
Colors
Again, colors should tell a story. A visitor entering a site can distinguish a children-themed site from a medicine-related business just with the use of colors! Either way, you must remember not to blind your visitors with a color palette that’s not user friendly!
Not only does color represent your brand, it can also accent those elements (like a CTA button) that are most important in a site. Links, keywords, buttons and other elements can be highlighted with pop colors on your sites. Still, keep in mind that when you make everything stand out, nothing does.
Typography
The font you pick will affect the overall look and feel of your site! This may be an overlooked element but don’t neglect it! A simple font can separate a playful site from a serious one.
At the same time, typography can affect legibility so be careful what font you use and where you place it!
Layout
With layout, I’m referring to the way everything is organized in every page in your site. For instance, you may have your navigation bar on the left side and a contact form on the right.
Be mindful that where you place things also affects the hierarchy of each element. For example, a CTA placed in the header of the page has a higher chance of being seen, which means it’s more important than one placed on the footer.
Another thing to remember is that visitors need white space to rest their eyes, or else they could get stressed because everything in the site is too crammed up. Plus, you should keep the layout within a site more or less consistent so visitors don’t have to relearn where everything is once they turn the page.
Navigation
Navigation refers to how visitors move from place to place within a partner site. It should be logically put together so that any user can navigate the site intuitively. Again, there needs to be some consistency in the names assigned to each page and the place where the navigation menu is located. Remember that visitors should be able to find all the pages in your site so, if there’s too many to include in a navigation menu, you can always include a search bar so that users can move through large pieces of information.
User Experience
Thinking about how the visitors will interact with the site is also part of design. From the way they’ll interact with the site through their mobile devices, to how the information is displayed are all part of making a site user friendly!
How Empowerkit Can Help
Designing a site can be hard for the inexperienced. Plus, it can consume your partners’ time since they won’t be able to get away from their regular responsibilities to put together an intuitive and user friendly design.
If you need a new page designed or you made some changes and need someone to clean them up for you, make sure to call Empowerkit! You’ll get 1 hour worth of free design services per month that you can use on your site! This way, you’ll rest assured that the design in your partner sites is compliant, locally targeted and well-designed; while your partners will feel a pressure lifted off their shoulders!
Conclusion
Just like in every day life, you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, but who’s going to stay and learn what your business has to say when your site is using vibrating colors that make your visitors’ eyes burn?! Design is what attracts or repels visitors to your site. With it, you tell others who you are in a blink so don’t let this window of opportunity go to waste! Make sure you have everything you’ll need to engage customers with design and with what your business has to offer!
To see what the other 5 key elements of a successful partner web marketing program are, click on the links: Setup, Content Marketing, Social Media, Off Site SEO, Analytics.
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