Your website is the place where you control the message as well as the experience. And good web design leads the user through the site, gently suggesting the next page to visit or what call to action to select.
Contrast that with you Facebook page, what do you see? Ads on the right side, updates from friends, notices up top, and so forth. You are constantly being pulled in multiple directions by elements of all kinds, each vying for your attention.
On your web site, you control these elements and can use them to lead the user along the path you would like them to follow. Design plays a major role in this, which ties in to the previous discussion (see our earlier post, 3 reasons design matters – Usability and User Experience).
All of these things working together with your content will make for a more controlled and targeted user experience, which will ultimately lead to higher conversion rates.
All of this needs planning and testing. Therefore it’s important to work with a designer who knows about web design. You will also want to determine your goals and their order of importance. And you should be testing with some sort of stats tool, such as Google Analytics.
To be sure design is an integral part of your web marketing strategy and your business in general. It impacts and drives a users first impression, the user experience, the degree of control you retain and the path leading towards the goal of conversion and content promotion.
Clearly design and content go hand in hand.