Why Good Aesthetic is Important to Your Website

Today we’ll focus on one of the two primary mediums of a website, visual elements, and why it’s important to utilize it.

Get the Look

We love to look at things that look good. We can’t help it, our eye is instinctively drawn to appealing visuals — catching colour, clean lines, simple design, interesting graphics, funky patterns or, if you’re anything like me, twinkly things like the lighting section of department stores, but I digress. The point is, we garner our first impression of a company from the appearance of its website, so it’s important to put your best face forward. While that may sound shallow, think about it this way: the optics of wearing your pajama-bottoms to a job interview aren’t good. And thankfully, the way your website turns out isn’t based on a genetic lottery system, you have plenty of control. Here are just a few examples of how you can make your website look good, and why you should.

Colour

The colours you choose for your site set a certain mood, which can be anything from warm and inviting to cool and professional. A good place to start your selection is with your logo. If you feel that your logo’s pallet doesn’t exactly work as an overall colour theme, at least try to integrate it as much as possible — you want people to associate certain colours with your company. Not only do colours have a profound impact on feeling, but some combinations can actually obscure content, for instance, red text on a black background is never a good idea.

Font

Speaking of text, if colour sets the mood, then font sets the tone. Typeface can affect the way your written material sounds to the reader. This is a similar concept to how leaving the Caps Lock on will always come across as YELLING. Because type fonts change how your message is received, it’s important to match the tone of your font with the overall tone you’d like your website to convey. But whether it’s the stately Times New Roman or ubiquitous Arial, you can rest assured that choosing the jaunty Comic Sans will get everyone’s ire up.

Layout

Page layout should also be taken into consideration. Preferences may vary but there seems to be a general consensus around white space. A decent amount of white space creates a calm atmosphere where the eye can move seamlessly from text box to image to link. Not enough white space and it’s difficult to know where to focus, your page can look cluttered and intimidating; too much white space and your site appears vacant and rudimentary. When it comes to layout, a balanced page with a less-is-more approach to written content is best.

Now that we’ve brought you back to the basics on the visual side of things, it’s time to conduct an honest assessment of your website. If you were a prospective client, would you find it enticing and respectable? Or off-putting and unprofessional? Sometimes if you are a little too close to the source to be objective, a great approach is to crowd-source for answers — ask a friend, colleague, or even client what their initial opinion was.

Your website may be full of useful information, but if it’s hard to look at, no one will stick around long enough to find out. A website that catches our attention with strong aesthetic appeal is one that we will linger on, piquing our curiosity, making us wonder what else it has to offer. It’s one that generates a favorable first impression, which is key to establishing trust.

This guest post was provided by Kellie Gibson of Advisor Websites. Originally published here. Reprinted with permission.

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Advisor Websites

At AdvisorWebsites.com our mission is to assist financial advisors in creating effective, user-friendly, customized web sites. Since 2002, we’ve been a leading provider of web site creation, support and maintenance. Our easy-to-use development process allows you to pick the design elements and information you want without worrying about technical details. That way, you can focus on successfully building and marketing your business. Our head office, located in Vancouver, British Columbia, houses a team of passionate, experienced web developers. A personalized account manager will guide you through the web development process and beyond, offering ongoing technical support and changes to your site if any concerns come up after it goes live. Our business advisory board consists of seasoned professionals from the financial services industry who understand the specifics of the field. They help with marketing material and product knowledge, and if involved, ensure your site passes compliance requirements. No matter the size of your business: from a boutique financial planning consultancy to a large company, we can help you design and maintain a web site that fits your needs. Either start small and build up your web site over time or design a full-service package and tailor it to match the needs of clients and raise your profile. Incorporate your pre-existing branding or develop a style as your business grows. Ask any one of our satisfied clients across North America: our web sites can help your business grow!

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Advisor Websites creates compliant, high quality sites for financial advisors. We also blog daily on leveraging your online marketing and social media presence.