Top 7 Reasons to Design Minimalistic Websites
Web design has a direct impact on your customer’s perception of your brand.
75% of internet users admit judging a company’s credibility based on their business website.
It’s because of this that companies need to create a sophisticated business website.
One way of creating a site that catches your audience’s attention is through minimalistic websites.
It’s common for many designers to add as many features to the websites as possible.
For them, it’s one way of improving user engagement .
But research suggests that the complexity of a web design affects a user’s perception for every 50 milliseconds of exposure.
This means a website with many features and complex designs can create a negative effect on the user.
When it comes to website design , it’s essential to be as simple and straightforward as possible.
Here are some of the reasons why minimalistic websites work well for business:
1 – There’s Less to Maintain
Ease of maintenance is one of the reasons why many prefer minimalistic websites.
When you attempt to stuff many things in your web pages, there’s a handful of things to look after.
You’d have to make sure that all the features are working so your website can deliver the best user experience.
With a minimalist website design, there would be lesser upkeep to deal with.
Since there are only a few elements in a webpage, updating the website would be easier for the developers.
With that, entrepreneurs won’t have to spend as much on maintenance and updates.
2 – Scanning Becomes Easier
Let’s be honest.
Not all of us go through every single word on a website. Instead, we scroll and scan.
Adobe supports this claim by showing that 58% of the users tend to skim a website.
This is true, especially when searchers are in a time crunch.
It’s one more reason why you should stick to displaying only the bare essentials.
In short, make your website minimalistic.
By doing this, it’s easier for you to shift your audience’s focus on what matters most on your website.
The lesser the words are on your site, the easier it is for your audience.
This also lets them understand what your website is about within seconds of being in it.
Following the less is more model, the gaming platform Solitaired removed above the fold text from their homepage and improved image quality and dramatically improved their engagement.
3 – Faster Loading Time
Loading time remains to be one of the most crucial SEO ranking factors.
Any business that wants to rank higher on SERPs should focus on improving their website’s speed.
No matter how good your web design is, your visitors will leave your website if it’s not loading fast enough.
One of the factors that affect the loading speed of your website is images and videos.
When you have a lot of these, it drags your site’s loading speed.
With minimalistic websites, you don’t have many design elements.
This makes your website lighter, and thus, faster.
4 – Drives More Traffic
Driving traffic to your website is one of the goals of creating a website in the first place.
Because when there is traffic, there are sales.
But if your web design is loud and overwhelming, visitors will leave immediately.
The more people that do this, the lesser traffic you’ll get.
And this could be damaging to your website.
Business owners must understand that the only way they can convert sales is to get traffic.
Having a clean and simple design helps in conveying messages without unnecessary interference.
It redirects your audience’s focus on what’s essential – your products.
If you do it right, this could lead to an increase in traffic and conversion rates.
5 – Minimalistic Websites are More Responsive
If you’re aiming for user interface flexibility, a minimalistic web design will give you just that.
Research shows that 52% of internet traffic comes from mobile phones.
In a world where people use their phones to buy things, a responsive business website is necessary.
If you’re limiting your website to cater to desktop users, you’re likely to lose sales and customers in the process.
Minimalistic web pages limit the clutter on the screen because there are a few elements.
This makes it easier for developers to create responsive mobile pages.
Besides that, having a few essentials on a webpage also decreases the chance of it running into problems.
Another critical factor that affects the quality of the website is navigation.
This refers to how easy it is for your visitors to go from one page to the next.
Your users need to be able to navigate your website quickly.
This is true, especially for visitors who are in a hurry.
Organising and decluttering your website usually does the job.
This is then where a minimalist website design comes in.
With fewer things on the page, you can make your website options more visible to the users.
For instance, a website that uses large photos with lesser texts makes it easier to draw their customer’s attention to their calls to action.
Since there are a few options to choose from, navigation becomes easier for them.
7 – Minimalistic Designs Lasts
One challenge of running a website is to keep its design up to date with the latest trend .
Other designs become outdated fast.
This calls the need for web designers to change the business’ web design now and then.
However, as an entrepreneur, this investment can be costly.
Customers also tend to develop trust in business websites that are familiar to them.
With that, changing your design frequently could affect the way your customers perceive your brand.
On the other hand, minimalistic websites aren’t quickly outdated and don’t need much updating.
It keeps your webpages as simple as possible.
So if there’s a need to update, it won’t create a significant change in your website’s appearance and preserve your brand’s trustworthiness.
The Simpler, The Better
Minimalistic web designs are popular these days because of their sophistication and elegance.
You can also enjoy the perks that come with having less content within your domain.
With a few critical elements on your page, you can make your website easier to use for your visitors.
With that, you’ll stand a better chance of attracting more customers to your business .
But designing minimalistic websites require high-level web design skills.
The best way to make sure that you do it right is to work with a web designer who specialises in minimalistic web designs.
Although you may need to invest more money in it, it will generate a more significant ROI in the long run.
This is what makes it a worthy business investment.
Great article. As someone who prefers minimalism I’d love to hear your thoughts on how it stacks up with SEO, by which I mean minimum word counts etc. How can an unknown brand drive traffic with very little text and only one H1 shot per page?