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When you meet someone for the first time, you have just 7 seconds to make a good first impression. When someone sees your website design for the first time, you have just 50 milliseconds…or 0.05 seconds, to make a good first impression.

We are far quicker at making snap judgments online, it seems, then in person.

75% of consumers admit to making judgements on a company’s credibility based on that company’s website. When you factor in that companies now have 50 milliseconds (less than a blink of an eye, literally) to impress a potential customer – the importance of web design can’t be argued.

So, what can businesses do to both convey brand credibility, and make the most out of that first moment after a potential customer arrives on your website?

1. Represent your brand

If someone lands on your website without prior knowledge of your company, your website is your brand. Web design and marketing should be an integrated process – with web designers understanding your target audience and brand as much as your company’s marketing team. Make sure your brand identity is central to your website design.

2. Keep tabs on your site and know when it’s time to revamp

The above statistic – that 75% of consumers correlate a company’s credibility with the company’s web design – should make all business owners take notice. Your website is telling your potential clients and customers how you operate.

When it comes to portraying credibility on a company website, step one is to have a modern, updated design that shows your company cares about its digital presence. This includes a clean, functional user interface (UI) implementing design factors like aspect ratio, image, font, company branding, and layout – as well as intuitive navigation and an engaging user experience (UX). Make sure the designer you choose understands how professionally and effectively showcase your company’s visual brand throughout the entire website.

Your website needs to be credible in every sense – up-to-date, reliable, and easy to use. An intelligently designed website also shows your company is both professional and current.

3. Mobile-friendly and fast

Roughly 57% of all internet traffic now comes from mobile devices. If your site takes forever to load on a phone or tablet, potential customers will quickly move on to your competitors. And, Google pushes slower site down further in ranking – mostly due to high bounce rates from visitors not sticking round long enough for the page to load, or because the page cannot be indexed properly due to it taking forever to load fully.

4. Credibility in content

Credibility is also driven through a website’s content, and content should always go hand in hand with design. A website’s content can be anything from images or videos to copy describing your services, or a large headline. The way these pieces of content are integrated with your site’s design is just as important as what they say. Good design relies on the integration of quality, informative, and credibility-boosting content into the design strategy. Often the development of design and content needs to happen together, with the content strategist and developer working closely to make sure the end result is seamless and effective.

One of the benefits of working with ThinkPod is that we aren’t just marketers, and we aren’t just designers. Our team looks at your marketing and sales goals, as well as your website functionality needs, and builds an intelligent, beautiful, lead-generating and ROI-fueled website. Contact ThinkPod’s team of web experts today to discuss revamping your company’s website.