In this age of WordPress, everybody and their brother are trying their hands at setting up their own websites. Unfortunately, what most people don’t understand is that the design of a site has a significant impact on the overall performance. Whether your site is simply informative or an ecommerce site, the layout and design can improve or hinder the user experience. Here are a few tips on how to design a website if you are in an odd industry niche.

What Is the Purpose of Your Website?

The first thing you need to do is determine the ultimate goal of your site. Most businesses want a website that will bring in traffic that is easy to convert. However, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all design so it is important to look at your niche within an industry before choosing a design. Although absurd, think about a mortician’s website. It would be totally inappropriate to have a design that is comprised of bright rainbow colours as anyone visiting your site would most often be grieving a departed loved one. Subdued shades of grey or black and white would be more appropriate so bear in mind that your design should reflect the overall purpose of your industry.

Examples of Websites that ‘Work’

Actually, the best thing you can do is find a web development and design company that has ample experience designing sites for a broad array of industries. However, one thing you can do is surf the web to see what the competition has done with their designs. Take a good, long look at their sites to see what you like and what turns you off. Find examples of websites that work for you and bring these to your consultation with your web design company. For example, let’s say your industry is in parking enforcement. It’s an odd industry niche and one that isn’t called for on a regular basis in web design. If you are in the business of enforcing parking tickets, your site should be conservative and highly professional.

Content Really Is King

Good web design also takes into consideration the type of content on the site. Informative sites should be comprised highly of the written word and perhaps an occasional infographic. Sites that promote arts and crafts should have a ton of graphics and sites that are selling products should be a mix of the two, descriptions (copy) and pictures of products (graphics). If you are in an odd industry nice, the content must be relevant to your line of work if you want your site to convert. That’s a simple statement of fact. Users arrive at your page by searching and if your design doesn’t ‘slap them in the face’ with relevance the moment they arrive, they are likely to bounce right off.

Just because you are in an odd niche doesn’t mean you can’t have a website designed specifically to work for your industry. It may take professional development but the key is to design a site that works within the context of your niche. Not all types of designs will work, but when you find one that does, that’s a good part of the road to conversion. That’s a fact!