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Website footers are an intricate part of website design and user experience. Footers act as a traffic control center. They help to keep users on the site and prompt them to take action, shuffling them through the site.
Your footer should cater to your audience and reflect your brand. There are common elements typically included in a footer to give users a sense of stability while navigating throughout the web.
Any website design should include a focus on a website footer. A footer provides visitors with a sense of consistency knowing additional information and navigation can be found there.
Users expect to find a footer on any website. Your footer should receive as much attention to design and upkeep as your main header navigation. Users do not want to reach 404 errors from unkempt footer links.
The footer leaves users with one last impression that can make the difference whether they will navigate further through the site or follow through with a call-to-action.
A footer gives users a second way to globally navigate the site. Our St. Louis website design team worked with Anders CPA in a WordPress website redesign and created a footer that allows users to quickly engage with the important pages of the site no matter where they are within the website.
A footer can also be a secondary navigation tool. Depending on your primary audience, a footer is a great place to add links to secondary content or pages like career information. These pages require further exposure and easy access but may not need to live in the main navigation.
A website footer is also a great place to put important information that is necessary for the page but potentially doesn’t carry enough weight to be positioned higher on the website. For instance, users may not be over-excited to read copyright information or privacy policies.
If you’re collecting personal information like email addresses, there is information you must include that is required by law. Embedding it within your footer allows users to quickly note you respect a user’s legal rights and privacy.
Your footer may be necessary for helping your user feel confident in navigating your website and establishing credibility, but there is so much more. Several common elements should be included in footers. Ensure you check all the boxes for these standard features to optimize your footer and establish an impactful brand impression and user experience.
First impressions matter, but last impressions leave an impact. A logo is the main image of a brand. Pages within your website should begin with a logo, branding your page. It’s a great way to give users a way back to the homepage.
Ending your pages with your logo is a great way to reinforce your brand as well as provide users a way to navigate back to the homepage if they are at the bottom of an internal page.
A great way to encourage users to get in touch is to include contact information like:
Or, include an icon or quick link to a contact page or email pop-up window that helps customers easily contact you, so you don’t miss out on an opportunity. There is nothing more frustrating than having a question and not knowing how to easily contact a company.
Vice versa, having a newsletter sign-up form in your footer gives users access to the sign-up on every page. A global sign-up form for an email newsletter subscription will give users easy access to enroll as they feel compelled to do, so you optimize sign-ups.
Having a way to communicate frequently allows you to build a relationship with your users and raises the potential in creating life-long customer value.
Another great way to establish a relationship with your customer is through social media. Including links to your social media pages within your footer allows customers to easily find and follow you. Easy access to social media (or other external links) allows users to connect deeper and explore your brand further. But, they should always open in a new tab, so users can easily navigate back to your site.
Social media links in your footer also show users you have a social presence, which is incredibly important these days. It shows credibility and allows users to engage further with your brand and overarching message or content. If you optimize your content marketing strategy within your website and follow through on social media, you leave a lasting impression on the user.
Your footer is essential to your website’s performance and your user’s experience. While footers are often neglected or deemed the last thought, your website footer is a gateway to content on your site and your external links and resources. It should be catered to your brand, your design, your goals and your audience.
It can be a struggle to balance how much and how little information to include in your website footer in personalizing it to your brand and users. At Integrity, we can help you identify these factors and strategically create a sitemap that focuses on optimizing your navigation.
If you’re looking to optimize your website’s user experience, Integrity’s website design team uses data-driven solutions to ensure every element of your website enhances how your user travels through the website. We design each element to focus on your audience’s and brand’s needs. Our goal is to give your users an optimal experience to increase your website’s performance.
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If you’re looking to optimize your footer design or user experience, contact Integrity’s St. Louis web design experts.
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