ImagesMagUK_March_2021

www.images-magazine.com MARCH 2021 images 31 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT probably get two very different impressions from those colour and font choices alone. Before you launch your website, have a good, long think about your brand and the sort of vibe you want to be putting across. Then choose a font and colour scheme that will reflect this, without making the content of your website too difficult to read. ■ Familiarity breeds trust Doing business online requires a lot of trust, especially if you’ve never dealt with the other person or company before. Nobody wants to have their identity stolen or their computer infected with malware, so it’s only natural to prefer entities you’ve encountered before – such as trusted payment providers and well-known delivery companies. Your website will perform significantly better if you can make first- time users feel like they’re already familiar with your business. Don’t reinvent the wheel when designing your website – people will find it easier to navigate a site that’s similar to others they’ve used in the past. And if you’re taking online payments, use a recognisable payment processing service like PayPal or Sage Pay. A good website shouldn’t just be informative – it should also be welcoming and easy to navigate. If you want people to engage with your site, you need to put yourself in the shoes of a user who is completely unfamiliar with your brand: when they arrive on your homepage, what will their first impression be? Will they feel compelled to keep clicking and learn more about what you have to offer? Or will they go running back to the Google results page? Human psychology plays a huge part in determining which websites succeed and which ones turn users off. Here are a few things to consider when you’re creating a website for your business, or redesigning an existing site. ■ Toomuch information can be overwhelming Just because someone is looking for information about your business doesn’t mean you should dump everything on them at once. A cluttered web page with little empty space can result in brain overload, and that’s a good way to drive your visitors away. Give the user’s mind space to rest: use a clean, simple layout, and get your message across with as few words and images as possible. You should also think carefully about how many different options you’re offering users. Choice is a good thing, of course, but only in moderation; psychological studies have shown that too much choice can be paralysing so try to keep your website menu and product listings to an easily digestible size! ■ Colours and font – choose wisely! Colours and typefaces communicate a lot of information, albeit subtly. Imagine two websites: one that uses a sans serif font and lots of bright colours, then another that uses a serif font and darker colours. Even if these two websites happen to be identical in all other aspects, you will Using psychology to improve yourwebsite’s performance Joel Dear is from ETrader, one of the industry’s leading suppliers of websites to garment decorators across the UK. www.etraderwebsites.co.uk T he FOMO is real with this new app: Clubhouse is an invite-only, audio-only platform for people to chat. And what makes it so special is that you can be in a ‘room’ with celebrities, authors and industry experts, and ask them a question that the rest of the room can hear! You join the room (which feels like you have stepped into someone else’s Zoom call) and can either just be part of the audience or the panel might open the discussion up to everyone. You put your hand up and wait to be called upon – it is pretty scary if there are hundreds or thousands of people in the chat though – you’ll need to be eloquent. The power of the app is that you can build a following extremely quickly. I have only dipped my toe in so far, but will be focusing on it and creating rooms in the next few weeks. Over the past year, nearly every trade show and event has been cancelled because of the pandemic – now Clubhouse has created an exciting platform where people can be curious and showcase whatever they want. The biggest threat to businesses in 2021 is obscurity. We no longer hold the ‘20 years in business’ heritage badge in such high regard and anything that enables you to be part of the discussion should be capitalised on. So, if your business needs a free way in which to engage, discuss, promote and gain global influence, you need to figure out how you will get your own Clubhouse invite! Are you in the Club? Once you get in (you need to find someone who has a spare invite or join the waiting list on the app; also, it is currently iPhone only) pop over to my page and follow us for chats around screen printing @squeegeeandink. If you have a particular topic you would like to host with me or if you want to be a part of the panel, please let me know. I am certain this is going to replace a lot of podcasts and expensive courses and events – make sure you are in the Club and not left out of the after-party. Chessie Rosier-Parker is director and studio manager of Squeegee & Ink, a screen printing and embroidery studio that also provides pre-exposed screens and film to printers along with tutorial videos and resources. www.squeegeeandink.co.uk/ learn-to-screen-print