It may be surprising, but curating and paring down your web design can be a game-changing decision for your business and for your bottom line. According to a survey by Top Design Firms, 42% of visitors leave a website due to poor functionality. Additionally, according to GoodFirms, 85% of web designers agree that creating a crowded web design is a common mistake made by small business owners. This week, I’m going to explore how reducing the features of your web design can grow your revenue and your business.

Doing Less and Earning More

Welcome to Episode 195 of The Brand It, Build It Podcast: Doing Less and Earning More. I’m your host, Kelly Zugay, and today, I’m so excited to explore 10 key ways you can pare down and simplify your web design to better connect with your prospective clients, showcase your revenue-generating services and products, and grow your business with purpose.

1. Simplify your navigation menu. Streamline your menu by reducing the number of pages showcased and by using clear, easy-to-understand labels. Your navigation menu is your visitors’ roadmap, so ensuring your navigation menu is clear and user-friendly will not only create a smooth experience for your visitors, but it will also keep visitors engaged with your content, which in turn, helps Search Engine Optimization.
2. Embrace and use white space effectively. Ensure there is enough white space — strategic blank space — between elements and sections to avoid a crowded appearance. White space gives your content room to breathe, allows your visitors space to understand and digest your website’s content with ease, and creates a more user-friendly experience.
3. Optimize your content. Keep your copywriting and content clear, concise, and to-the-point. Often, your visitors have come upon your website because they have a problem in need of solving: perhaps they’d like to hire a photographer for their wedding day, they’d like to hire a designer to create their logo, or they’d like to hire a social media manager to help them achieve their business goals. When your copywriting is clear, concise, and to-the-point, your website can help to solve the problem your prospective client, your visitor, is seeking a solution to. Clear copywriting leads and guides your visitors toward the content they are seeking — and helps your website to become a tool for your business success.
4. Remove unnecessary elements. Though we are biased as web designers, one reason we recommend hiring a professional web designer is to ensure your web design strikes a strategic balance between creativity and strategy — that your web design uses creative, innovative, textural design elements in a user-friendly and engaging way. To pare down and simplify your web design, identify and eliminate unnecessary widgets, images, or sections that don’t contribute to the user experience or overall goals.
5. Curate your color palette. Ensure your color palette is reflective of your brand, and that your brand’s colors are used strategically and tastefully within your web design. Using a more neutral color palette can allow your work and your content to shine, while using bolder colors as accents can create a branded aesthetic without being too overwhelming or busy for visitors.
6. Optimize your media. Compress and optimize your photography and videography to reduce file sizes without sacrificing quality.
7. Ensure your web design is responsive. Ensure your website is responsive to different screen sizes, so you offer the same great experience to your visitors, whether they visit via desktop, laptop, or mobile device.
8. Use consistent typography. Use a consistent and legible font throughout your web design — using script fonts sparingly. Be consistent with your brand’s font styles and limit the number of styles used within your web design. When your typography is curated and consistent, you create a user-friendly, beautifully-branded experience for your visitors.
9. Create clear calls to action. Have a clear and concise call-to-action on each page to guide users toward their next step. Whether you’d like your visitors to contact you, purchase your product, or book your service, offering clear calls-to-action throughout your web design better ensures your website is working effectively on your behalf.
10. Optimize your page loading speed. Optimize your website for fast loading times to provide a smooth and efficient user experience.

When implementing the above recommendations, remember: your web design isn’t about your unique preferences but about what resonates with and connects with your preferred clients. Your web design is like a digital storefront designed to welcome and guide your visitors toward choosing your business confidently.

We hope today’s episode encourages you to approach your web design this new year in a new, purpose-driven way. Remember, your website is a powerful tool that can help you connect with your clients seamlessly and grow your business. Thanks for tuning in!

Brand It, Build It Podcast, Hosted by Kelly Zugay

Hosted by Kelly Zugay, co-founder of With Grace and Gold, The Brand It, Build It Podcast is the best small business marketing podcast for small business owners, creatives, and founders. Weekly, brief, actionable episodes will equip you to build a successful, sustainable small business. Since 2014, With Grace and Gold has provided award-winning custom brand and Showit web design and completely customizable Showit website templates for small businesses worldwide.