7 Tips for Great Airline Website Design
Welcome to the first installment of Creating Great Airline Websites series.
Albeit a little bit delayed, we’re ready to begin with Design & Implementation as promised. Instead of just seven tips on overall design, I have seven tips each for the two main aspects of design for a total of fourteen tips.
Photo credit grainedit.com
Design
The design of your website should be easy, visually pleasing and guiding. At the end of the day, it should have generated more sales to you. This is of great importance for LCCs.
The overall design of your website can be divided into two parts
2. Site Appearance
1. WRITING
Writing plays an important part in a business website because it is your crafting of words that turns visits into sales. Following with regular marketing tactics of showing benefits you have to provide a clear path to the call of action. In short, you need to create a compelling copy that sells. So how to write in a way that sells ?
1. Use Short Sentences
Nobody likes to keep reading for long. Write as minimalistically as possible, and get straight to the point.
2. Be crystal clear and short
People always get turned down at long copy and too much adjectives. Following the first rule, always say it clearly and in short.
3. Use Short Paragraphs
Short paragraphs are a good way to tell a long story in a short way. So if you must break the 2nd rule, use this.
4. Write in the second person
You and Your. Not we and ours. Noone wants to hear how you think, but how it benefits them. Be passenger focused – write for them.
5. Be Positive
Everyone likes to cheer and everyone likes cheery people. So let them. Try to say what something IS, rather than what it IS NOT.
See the difference between these words
painful = discomfort
They both mean the same. But which one would you like ? Definitely the one on the right. People hate it when you focus on the word “pain”.
This is one great writing tip of Ernest Hemingway.
6. Keep your most important points at the beginning and at the end
Most readers skim through the copy and focus only on the beginning and the end.
Sometimes it is the same for words too.
Eg: Smoethnig is wrnog here.
7. Provide a clear call to action
Tell your visitors what to do. Do not let them guess.
However, never use more than two calls to actions on the same page.
Photo Credit grainedit.com
2. SITE APPEARANCE
The design of your website has to be easy to navigate, visually pleasing and provide relevant calls to action. Here are the seven tips that will make your airline website scoring high for a great design.
1. Keep it Simple
People do not like too much clutter. But apart from that, it can also hide your best products. Reduce clutter and make the design simple.
2. Speed up the loading
There are still many people using dial-up connections and they will quit loading your website if it takes longer. Strip out irrelevant graphics and follow the design rule No.1 . Target a loading time of less than 10 seconds.
3. Simplify the page structure
Make your website addresses easy to remember and recognize.
Consider the following web address
http://product.yourwebsite.com/product2/abcd=1234567&jkl/xyz.htm
How likely are you to remember it ? Very unlikely.
What about the following
http://www.yourwebsite.com/p
It is good, but still not excellent. It lacks recognizability.
How about this ?
yourwebsite.com/product
It can be easily recognized and remembered. Excellent.
4. Keep your message in the middle
Always focus on the message you have to deliver and make it easy to be found.
5. Use standard conventions and add a search
Make your design clear and abide by the common sense. Do not let people to wander about looking for what they need. Also add a search function.
6. Use web standards and SEO
Make your website code compliant.
So it..
Ranks high for your particular keyword(s)
7. Provide a Clear Call to Action
Providing a call to action just in the copy is insufficient, it’s best potential could be achieved through implementing it in the design too.
your website is absolutely gorgeous and your style is awesome. Thanks again!