Design: Web Site Design

Are you struggling to create a landing page that converts visitors into customers? You’re not alone. Having a Web site with precisely crafted landing pages is essential for any business. In fact, according to recent studies, businesses with more than 40 landing pages generate twelve times more leads than those with just one to five pages. So, whether a business is selling a product or service or simply looking to capture leads, it is crucial to create landing pages that convert. Let’s explore the key elements that make up a perfect landing page. Then, I’ll give you some tips to help you create your own perfect landing page.

What Is the Anatomy of a Landing Page?

A landing page is a Web page whose design can persuade visitors to take a particular action. The anatomy of a landing page refers to the structural and functional components that make up a landing page. The anatomy of a landing page includes elements such as the headline, subheadline, hero image, value proposition, call to action, form fields, social proofs, navigation, page speed, and mobile optimization. Understanding the anatomy of a landing page is essential to optimizing its effectiveness and increasing its ability to convert visitors into customers. Businesses can create a powerful tool for achieving their marketing goals and driving business growth by designing and optimizing each element of a landing page. Read More

Recently, Office Depot redesigned their search user interface, adding attribute-based filtering and creating a more dynamic, interactive user experience. Unfortunately, Office Depot’s interaction design misses some key points, making their new search user interface less usable and, therefore, less effective. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the Office Depot site presents us with an excellent case study for demonstrating some of the important best practices for designing filters for faceted search results, as follows:

1. Decide on your filter value-selection paradigm—either drill-down or parallel selection.
2. Provide an obvious and consistent way to undo filter selection.
3. Always make all filters easily available.
4. At every step in the search workflow, display only filter values that correspond to the available items, or inventory.
5. Provide filter values that encompass all items, or the complete inventory.

By following the attribute-based filtering design best practices this article describes, you can ensure your customers can take care of business without having to spend time struggling with your search user interface. Read More

I dedicated my last Designing for Children column to exploring the effective use of color and graphics in interactive applications for toddlers and preschoolers. In this installment, I’ll continue my exploration of the use of color and graphics, but this time, in applications directed toward older children. Read More