Users will make their minds up in a matter of seconds when landing on a web page, and this will be whether to stay on the website, or hit the return button and go elsewhere. If potential clients make that decision to go onto your competitors' website, it is likely that your website looks out-dated, unprofessional, cluttered and uninspiring with a lack of information. If your website is any or all of these, your chances of a visitor becoming a customer are very slim. To ensure that your new website isn't like this, consider the following points.

Web design is crucial, and is the first thing that people will see when they visit your website. If this is their first time of seeing or knowing about your company, then it will be their first impression of your business, so it must be picture-perfect. The design should be fresh, clean, clear and informative. It needs to be eye-catching, and grab the users' attention, so that they don't go elsewhere. This can be done by web design companies, who are able to incorporate their design skills and creativity with website and coding knowledge. Designing a website isn't the same as building one, neither does building a website mean that users are going to appreciate the design, so being able to collaborate the two will ensure you have a functional, good-looking website.

There are options to build a website yourself for free, but this can be a very bad idea, particularly if you do not have much of a creative flare, nor are able to create your website logically. Creating websites for free could also mean that you may have adverts on your website which are out of your control, something that will definitely put off your customers.

Web design also refers to the content that you use on your website. Content refers to the text on the website, and also any images, videos or graphics that you want to display on the website. Content must be relevant to what your company does, and the pages that it is on. This is for two reasons. Firstly, the user will not want to be reading irrelevant information that doesn't mean anything to the business. Users will come onto your website for a reason, to find an answer, or a product or service. The second reason is for SEO purposes. If Google sees that you are putting irrelevant content on pages, then it will black list your website from being found on future Google searches.

Users do not want to come to a website to find pages and pages of text, which they have to hunt through to find information. Similarly, you do not want your users to be left looking for answers that they cannot find. Images and videos need to be eye-catching, yet they also need to load quickly too; people are very impatient!

Functionality is another important aspect of web design, as pages should be laid out simply, meaning that information is easy for users to find. Combining attractive web design, with great content and ease of use will ensure that potential customers will find their experience on your website a pleasant one, increasing the chances of a visit resulting in a sale.

For more information on web design, or for a web design company who can help you with all of the important aspects of web design, visit http://www.urbanmedia.co.uk/web-design-uk.