Is an attractive website an effective website?

Answering this question is much harder than you might think. It would depend on a number of factors, starting with your definition of effective. Would you say your website is effective if it looks terrible but gets thousands of visitors a month? What about if your website is so well designed that visitors click and spend time on every one of your pages, but hardly any of them buy your e-commerce products? The simple answer is that attractive websites might be effective at catching the online browser’s eye, but there are other things to consider when assessing the site’s overall effectiveness as a lead generating asset.

Colour Theory & Psychology

The word harmony is loosely defined as a pleasing arrangements of parts, whether they be music progressions, painting strokes, or the colours used on a website. Some colours just go together, while other combinations are rather low on the pleasant scale. Visitors to a website should be treated to an attractive visual experience, combining complimentary colours with other on-page elements.

Colours play a big role in how we perceiving things. It’s a well-known fact that male Peacocks are more attractive than their female counterparts. Could it have something to do with the fact that the male’s plumage is colourful? Our eyes are amazed by the blues and greens and shimmers of purple, and the sight invokes emotional responses. We want website visitors to get that warm fuzzy feeling when browsing our web pages.

Verywellmind.com shares a range of colours and the notions they convey to most of us:

• White: purity, innocence
• Red: love, excitement
• Blue: calmness, sadness
• Green: envy, action
• Yellow: warmth, energy
• Purple: wealth, wisdom
• Black: evil, unhappiness
• Brown: reliability, strength
• Orange: enthusiasm, attention
• Pink: romance, kindness

Images & Text

Studies have been done on the way in which people read website content and other texts online. The results conclude that a large percentage of us read texts from left to right and descending down, as if one was reading the page of a book. While there are other patterns in which internet browsers read website content, having out-there text layouts scattered across the page (or right aligned) will make it difficult for readers to process, thereby reducing the efficacy of the website.

The most attractive websites have images on every page, and for good reason. People process images much faster than texts, which means consumers can start to build an understanding of your business and what benefits your products or services can offer them. Images are also loaded with emotions, and the right images used with the right text can help a website browser relate to the brand.

Other Factors

• Website speed: Studies have been done on the conversion rates of websites that load quickly versus those that don’t. The bad news is that internet users want fast websites that load pages instantly, and one second can be the difference between a bounce and a conversion.
• SEO: Your website might look like the best thing since spliced genes, but what good does that do your business if nobody can find it? Search engine optimisation (SEO) is critical for a successful website, and is the only way people looking for your products and services online will find it.

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