Here’s a font/color combo that is friendly, approachable and modern. It’s perfect for a BFF brand personality. It reminds me of getting an ice cream cone on a hot summer’s day, after hitting pay dirt at a Kate Spade sample sale. Translation: My perfect day.
It’s all in the details
This color palette keeps it real! Real Simple. It is mostly neutral except for that rose color (#ad4866). It being so light and bright is what adds to the clean, high-end look. No competition here, that rose color is the star of the show.
The fonts are ITC American Typewriter and Avant Garde. American Typewriter is a bit old-school and it’s a serif font (What’s a serif font?). It’s where we get that friendly and approachable vibe. Your grandma would like this font. Unless your grandma isn’t friendly… If that’s the case, well–this is awkward. Let’s pretend it didn’t happen and keep on going. Avant Garde is a modern san-serif font. It ups the real estate value of everything around it. Yup, that font is money.
If your brand is friendly, a little whimsical and has premium pricing. This might be just the thing. A jewelry designer or lifestyle blogger could really rock out this font/color combo.
Do you want people to stay on your site longer? Of course! We are talking about lower bounce rates. In tech terms, your bounce rate is the % of visitors that leave only after a few seconds. You can find your bounce rate by installing something like google analytics on your website.
Your website is your digital home and in this house, we like visitors. We want people to get take off their shoes, get comfy and stay a while. We are NOT subscribing to the Martin Payne, “Get to steppin!” hosting method, funny as it may be.
So what should we do? Simplify! Anyone who has watched a promo for “Hoarders” knows that when clutter gets out of hand, it’s pretty freaking scary.
People over-stuff their websites, too. Why? They are afraid of missing out on an opportunity. So, they put everything they can possibly offer + the kitchen sink + a partridge and pear tree on their site. I get it. I don’t want to miss out either but when you jam-pack your website it leaves people overwhelmed and heading for the hills. But never fear, you can fix this…
1. Find your site’s purpose
Your website should have one main goal. Something like getting people to opt-in to your mailing list or getting them to read your blog posts. Think about a site like google, they want you to search. No question. No confusion about where to look or what to do.
When they land on your homepage, people want to know:
What you do
How it can help them
What to do next
If isn’t clear, then they will jump ship since the internet offers so many choices. Hook’em by giving them what they want.
Action Step: Figure out your goal and get rid of anything that doesn’t help that goal. Be ruthless. Don’t worry about missing out. If the majority of people leave your site because it’s overwhelming, you will miss out on way more than you did by removing that item. Make sure the things people want to know are front and center.
2. Get above fold
What’s the fold? It’s the area people see on your website before they need to start scrolling. All the smarty pants say if you want to increase the effectiveness of your website, get your most important content (those goals, again) above the fold. It’s where the magic happens. Boom chica boom boom!
Mail Chimp knows their purpose – To get you to sign up! The call-to-action is simple, easy to understand and above the fold. The colors are limited and the button stands out.
Action Step: Don’t bury important things in your footer. Get that content above the fold. Shorten the header height or rearrange some things on your site if you have to.
3. Don’t go color crazy
It’s easy to get carried away with color, which can once again lead to overwhelm. What you want to do is stick to a color palette. It helps with branding and it’s easy on the eyes. Choose 2 main colors and then some subtle or neutral colors. Use your bolder colors when you want your audience to do something like click a link or press a button and keep the rest simple. Derek Halpern has a great video on using colors help conversion rates. Color can help people move throughout your site. Use it wisely.
Action step: Pare down your color palette to 2 main colors and 2 subtle/neutral colors. Need help picking colors? They should go with your brand personality, see how to brand yourself for a worksheet on how to find yours.
4. Beware of the paradox of choice
It’s strange but true, the more choices you have; the harder it is to make decisions. Barry Schwartz gives you the low down in his Ted Talk, The paradox of choice(Note: This is a long video. You might want to grab some popcorn). Too many choices can led to stress and indecision. What it means for your site is that people will just leave. Instead of giving people so many choices to make up-front, give them a few options that lead to another set of choices. Make it easy for them to move through-out your site without too much soul-searching.
Banana Republic chunks their information down, with simple buttons with images, instead of overloading you a lot of text. After you click on “new arrivals” you get many more options.
Action step: Give people limited options, especially above the fold. Consolidate pages, if possible. Can your testimonials go under your “about page”? Find ways to chunk your information down, into smaller pieces that lead to more information. Creating a resource page or a “New to this site, start here” page is a good way to keep your audience from being overloaded.
So, what do you think? Have any other tips to lower bounce rates? Let me know in the comments.
Let’s get to know each other shall we? Here’s what I’m currently digging. What about you?
Listening to: My friend, Mike Rush made this awesome “Why I love Hip Hop” Playlist and it’s been in my regular rotation ever since. Tribe called quest, Jungle Bros and Black sheep? Umm…yes, please!
Graphic/Web Design Superhero. Making the world a more beautiful place, one entrepreneur at a time.
Get on the List!
Praise
Trinidad is a stellar translator, and was able to execute my vision from a simple phone conversation.
Rainell Chivonne Owens
Trinidad Pena has a keen eye for designs and layouts that grab a reader’s attention and don’t let go. She takes great pride in her work and strives to exceed expectations.
Abigail A. Lorden
Trinidad designed a terrific website and postcards for my play. She was thorough, responsive and a total pleasure to work with. I highly recommend her!
Trinidad came in on time, she stuck to the budget and she was a pleasure to work with. Any small business owner would to well to use Ms. Pena for their next project.
I believe in giving credit where credit is due, so if at any time you see an image that is improperly recognized, please send me quick note and I’ll gladly update the information or remove it.
Similarly, anything found here should be credited appropriately if reposted or redistributed.
