There is no doubt that you can increase your visitors online by promoting your online presence through links from partner blogs, banner ads, or by leveraging on networking features of social media. But, did you know that implementing an attractive and functional web design can give you 353% more traffic  in just two months? Switching to an appealing and functional web design plays a crucial role in gathering more visitors by dramatically improving the kind of user experience it delivers, but wrong choices on designs can also decrease your number of followers in a snap. So, if you want to drive more website traffic, read on the following tips below which you can apply when designing or re-designing your website.

Replace Banner Images With Text
Most of the websites that we’ve visited are using a .jpg or .gif image to display the site’s title. Yes, it is very appealing, especially if it’s GIF image, but often the file size is large which results to a possible slow loading time when browsing, especially on mobile devices. And, of course, pictures are not searchable in search engines and social media tags as well. David Mercer of B2C Online said it’s important to consider that search engines don’t have the ability to index images the same way as keywords do, thus utilizing on text or light file images will be highly beneficial to your traffic in the long run.

You can also utilize CSS3 gradients instead of images. It’s modern looking, lightweight, and has the ability to sport animations and delivery superb visual effects.

Add Video Element To Your Homepage
Adding a video element that automatically plays on the home page can attract more visitors to your website. Let’s Get Wise reiterated the importance of adding this multimedia element in its audio-visual presentation, wherein we found out that watching videos on platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo is one of the top activities that users do online. “90% of users watch online videos of some sort,” Wise’s video presentation said. In case your client doesn’t have any idea of its benefits, you might want to talk with them during your web planning sessions, and be prepared to be rewarded once your web design kicks in.

Mobile Responsive Design Is A Must Nowadays
With an increase in the number of mobile web browsers, it’s (without a doubt) understandable that your success online depends on whether you’ve added a responsive theme to your site. Small Biz Technology’s August 2013 statistics revealed that 17.4 percent of all web traffic originated from a mobile device. And, the figure might increase in the future, where in by 2017, five billion people are projected to be using a smartphone for accessing mobile responsive sites.

Designing Disasters To Avoid
When designing a website, its importance to focus on the user experience it delivers and its interface. These two elements combined will make your visitors come back. But, be careful of the following design mistakes that could lead to poor user experience and poor navigation:

· Use of Load-Intense Graphics

Using graphic elements like Cold Fushion or Flash is a great way to enhance the overall look and presentation of your site, but overly using them can choke on web spiders.

· Using Unnecessary Obstacles

Frames are a primary example of web obstacles that may irritate your visitors. They can visually trap the online users and inadvertently limit the special and visual capacity of a website.

· Unclear navigation

Be clear when designing the navigational feature of your online presence. Add visible arrows and or scroll bars if possible. Mobile browse hate the thought of having to scroll up and down or zoom in and out of the page just to see a content.

Design wise, these are some of the things that you need to consider to increase web traffic. Take note that these pointers may vary depending on the type of website you are building or the kind of business that your client is running. Remember that careful implementation and execution are required in this endeavor, otherwise, you’ll achieve the opposite of this goal.

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Jennifer Birch is a freelance blogger and web designer. With a degree in graphic design, she smashes up all the skills and experiences she has gathered from working for various companies and shares it on her social pages. For more tips, you can follow her on Google+ and Twitter.

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