How Good Web Design Can Help Brands Survive Digital Darwinism

As industries across the globe become increasingly digitized, small businesses and startups need to stay one step ahead of their competitors. If you think about it, there are millions of websites that consumers might be browsing through when searching for products or services.

How can your online platform make an impact and catch their attention? Good web design plays a key role in attracting high organic traffic and keeping visitors on the page for minutes as well.

In this highly competitive digital age, web designers and business owners must collaborate on creating an eCommerce store or online platform that is responsive and looks appealing too.

In the end, you want to get a professional website that engages visitors immediately and converts as well. With a mobile-friendly and well-designed online store, you can easily establish a strong digital presence and compete with established brands in your industry too.

How to Fight Digital Darwinism with Web Design

Today, technological growth is moving forward at a very fast pace. While many brands and businesses might be able to adapt to the changes quickly, some might be left behind.

This is known as digital Darwinism where businesses that struggle to keep up have to face heavy losses. To avoid such a situation and survive in your industry, you need to consider some major factors that can help your brand last for a long time.

Firstly, it is important to create a customer-centric website that can adapt to technological progress. Take a look at the key factors highlighted by author Peter Morville in his UX Honeycomb. It’s a good idea to keep them in mind when designing web pages.

Image Source: nicepng.com

If you think about it, the website is at the center of an online branding strategy. It can make people familiar with elements of your visual brand identity like the logo design, colors, typography, and brand voice.

Before working on the website design, make sure that you get an adaptable and relevant logo that requires minimal upgrades over the years. This way, potential customers that access the website via their smartphones or on smaller screens will be able to recognize the brand symbol easily.

This is just the first step towards fighting digital Darwinism with web design. You need to focus on including interactive elements that hook visitors in immediately. Animations, GIFs, sliders, bright CTAs, and immersive scrolling are some of the features that can bring your website to life.

By creating an immersive experience for visitors, you can tell a story to visitors and convey your brand message effectively too.

How A Good Web Design Can Help Brands Survive in the Digital Age

Just consider this for a moment here. When potential customers are searching for websites, products, or services, they expect to find the desired items easily and checkout within minutes.

Those businesses that have designed their website with a mobile-first approach and keep them updated find it easier to attract visitors quickly. People will be likely to return to such websites or eCommerce stores in the future as well.

This is just one way that good web design can help you achieve business growth and boost visibility in search engine result pages (SERP) too.

It can make it easier for companies to gain an edge over their competitors and survive in the digital age for a long time. Let’s take a look at some of the ways that a well-designed website can help you fight digital Darwinism.

Helps Businesses Adapt to Newer Technology

Today, you can find many tools and technology that can be integrated with websites easily. In a way, this makes it easier for businesses to survive in the digital age and keep up with technology too.

Consider this as an example here. When Siri was introduced in 2011, the idea of an AI-powered chatbot was still fairly new. Today, voice assistants are widely used by consumers across the globe. You probably cannot even imagine your life without Alexa or Google Assistant now!

Technology also influences how we search for websites, products, or services in this day and age. Businesses across the globe have integrated voice search into their eCommerce stores or apps. Voice search optimization is now a key element of web design.

Image Source: assistant.google.com

When creating a website, you will find many ways to add disruptive technologies to the web design. Many new-age features can simplify the process of business growth. To improve the web design, businesses can add:

• Augmented and Virtual Reality
• Gamification
• Shoppable live streams
• Blockchain technology

You can also create PWAs or progressive web apps to grab the attention of Gen Z and engage a wider audience with mobile commerce. These are applications or software that work with any type of browser and can be easily accessed on mobile devices and tablets.

PWAs have an interface that is similar to a developed application. Oliver Bonas is one example of a PWAs that focuses on UX and allows potential customers to checkout smoothly.

Image Source: oliverbonas.com

How Does it Help: Websites can be updated or redesigned to include new features and elements for higher engagement and conversions. You can simply add a live chat option or a one-click checkout form to convince visitors to purchase an item.

Maintains Relevance with Gen Z Customers

Most businesses aim to target millennials and Gen Z consumers across the globe. As technology has made it easier for people to shop online and from different devices, businesses also look for ways to be more accessible to potential customers.

According to research, around 58.99 percent of all traffic on the internet came through mobile devices. This can also mean that visitors are being directed to websites or eCommerce stores via social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and even TikTok, or getting redirected from other websites, which means that your platform needs to load fast and be comfortable to use, that’s why you need to make your website mobile-friendly by hiring a frontend development team that will implement your mobile version.

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So, while a responsive website should be one of the first things to focus on, you also need to consider the importance of such channels. Incorporate links to all the social media pages on your website to make it easier for people to get a better idea of your brand.

Similarly, it’s also a good idea to add a link to the eCommerce store in your Instagram Bio and Facebook page as well. You can find quite a few websites that have the option of SSO (Single Sign-On) for existing and potential customers.

This means that people can just access their information and cart with a Google, Apple, Amazon, or social media account. ASOS is a good example of a website that allows visitors to log in with their Facebook credentials.

Image Source: asos.com

How Does It Help: You can create a user-friendly website that does not require visitors to sign in and add their information or details. Responsive web design with less clutter is easily accessible on smaller screens and mobile devices.

Gives A Competitive Edge With Improved UX

This is one of the best ways that good web design can help brands survive in the digital age. Without a strong digital presence, it can be challenging for small to mid-range businesses or brands to compete with big ones.

Good web design makes it simpler for many businesses to gain a competitive edge over established brands by improving UX or user experience.

Interactive websites that have a clean layout, bold headlines, and seamless navigation can make a strong impact on visitors. For small businesses and startups, this can result in higher conversions and visibility.

A smooth user experience makes it easier for such brands to compete on a global scale with bigger companies. Take the example of one of the biggest sportswear companies in the world, Nike.

Image Source: nike.com

Now, you would think that it’s difficult for smaller businesses in a similar niche to reach out to their audience. This is where an appealing website with eye-catching visuals and a minimalist layout can make a huge difference.

Brands like Cariuma can compete with other sportswear businesses and build a customer base as well. Take a look at their website which instantly draws the attention of the visitor with the hero image of the product and their USP.

Image Source: cariuma.com

The user-friendly web design allows people to get an insight into the different sneakers and complete their customer journey too. When you are working on your online platform, consider the role of UX in eCommerce conversion and focus on elements that lead consumers to the end of their journeys.

How It Helps: An attractive website with powerful visuals, valuable information, and multiple payment options can make it easier for businesses to compete with bigger brands. It also makes a good first impression on visitors that can convert later on.

Increases Rank in Search Engine Result Pages

For search engine optimization, designers and business owners need to pay close attention to web design. Google, for instance, updates its SEO guidelines for content and website rankings regularly. Here’s one on making all the web pages ‘crawlable’.

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“To help Google fully understand your site’s contents, allow all site assets that would significantly affect page rendering to be crawled: for example, CSS and JavaScript files that affect the understanding of the pages.”
Google’s Webmaster Guidelines

Image Source: statista.com

If you are looking to boost visibility in SERP and get a better position in the rankings, you need to incorporate some of the key factors in the design.

• Visual Hierarchy across all pages
• Image and Video Optimization
• Unique and Keyword-Rich Content
• Optimized Loading Speed
• Contact form with Business details

These are a few of the elements that can increase the rank of your website in search engine results. If you focus on Google, you will find their guidelines quite detailed and easy to understand.

In the end, you want to create a website that is discovered quickly, showcases your product in the best way, and has valuable information to offer to visitors.

Image Source: wayfair.com

How It Helps: With good web design, businesses can rank among the top ten search engine results. Features such as voice search, responsiveness, and a clutter-free layout improve the user experience which plays an important role in optimization.

Establish Brand Credibility in Niche with Social Proof

There are billions of people looking for websites online at any given time. They are more likely to trust a business or brand that has a well-designed, updated website with social proof than one that does not have an online presence.

Now, you might think that simply having a website is enough for your brand’s success. It is essential to have an online platform that tells people about your product or service and how it can help solve a problem for them.

Image Source: zilliondesigns.com/testimonials

If you think about the latest digital marketing trends for your brand strategy, you will find that the website plays an important role in their success. Good web design that draws attention to customer testimonials, reviews, trust badges or awards, and valuable data can help establish brand credibility in a short time.

Take a look at how Casper has slowly created recognition for their products by establishing credibility with social proof. Visitors can browse the home page and find industry awards and customer reviews when they scroll down.

Image Source: casper.com

How It Helps: Websites that have reviews and testimonials from real customers can instantly grab the attention of potential customers. They can make it easier for people to trust a business and make it appear credible.

Drives Customers Acquisition in Growth Hacking

Before anything else, let’s talk about the very popular term, growth hacking. It is used to define the marketing strategies that are followed by marketers, product designers, or business owners to achieve growth quickly.

Content marketing, video advertising, and email campaigns are just a few examples of such strategies. Lush leverages its online platform for growth by sharing unique insights and how-to guides in their ‘Articles Hub’ category and promotes different products with valuable content.

Image Source: lush.com

Since the website is crucial for attracting traffic and converting leads, it can be considered one of the pillars of growth hacking. Without a well-designed web page, you may find it difficult to connect with potential customers and drive acquisition online. Here are a few ways that businesses can drive customer acquisition in growth hacking with their websites:

• Referral Programs
• Upselling on Product Pages
• Sales and Discount offers
• Embedded Live Streams
• Informative Blogs

The website works as a tool for generating leads and reaching out to quality ones. You can announce the latest sales on your social media pages and online platform to attract a wider audience and convince people to check out at the end.

Take the example of the website of Zutano. They have a B2B referral program for customers and have highlighted the information at the top of their page. People can register with their email to avail of a discount later on.

This is a good growth hacking strategy that drives customer acquisition and makes it easier for the business to reach out to potential customers quickly.

Image Source: zutano.com

How It Helps: Good web design drives customer acquisition through growth hacking by engaging visitors. You can add pop-ups, a blog with unique insights, and embed shoppable live streams to convert potential customers quickly.

Boosts Organic Lead Generation

Last but not the least, good web design can help brands survive in the digital age with higher lead generation. With an interactive layout that has animations, immersive scrolling, and 3D imagery, you can keep the visitors engage and convince them to sign up for more information.

Lead magnets like how-to guides or brochures, pop-up forms for discounts, and surveys for personalization can boost conversion rates and bring back customers too. You can easily generate organic leads and grow your email list by finding new email addresses for marketing campaigns as well.

Image Source: lysbeauty.com

Check out the Care/of the website below. You can see how it is designed to engage visitors immediately and encourage them to give their contact information too.

Most people will likely take the personalized quiz to get an idea of what the business has to offer. It is also a great way to help potential customers make well-informed decisions. This feature can also work as a lead magnet for the business and boost the conversion rate on the website.

Image Source: takecareof.com

How It Helps: Web design plays an important part in generating higher-quality leads. People can sign up for the latest information and deals on specific products and download resources or engage with the community via email as well.

Wrapping Up

These are just a few ways that good web design can help brands survive digital Darwinism and last for a long time. If you are looking to create a website for your business, then it’s a good time to get started!