We all know how important it is to have a beautifully branded website; however, motivating people to actually reach out to you is another thing entirely. Over the past week, I’ve been doing some research on wedding business blogs, and have encountered some top “don’ts” when it comes to website design and usability.

Here are five tips to make sure your website visitors connect with your brand, and connect with you! To some, these changes might seem daunting, but I promise they’re relatively simple changes that can make a big difference in your site’s performance and your business’ success.

1. Use social media icons, and place them prominently. This is a must! Couples want to see that you’re active on social media, and should be able to find your icons easily, either at the top of your website or in the footer. (Also, make sure you have a presence on the main networks: Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest are absolutely a must for wedding businesses!)
2. Include your photo. A new visitor to your website wants to know who you are. This goes way beyond seeing your “rap sheet” and reviews. Give them something to connect with by featuring a friendly, authentic photo of yourself on your About page. Don’t be shy!
3. Show off your testimonials. I love sprinkling testimonials throughout a website. This allows visitors to read firsthand the experience that other couples had working with you, which in turn helps them envision having that great experience themselves. It also helps to build credibility and trust.
4. Feature quality images. Make sure your galleries include high-quality images, with the proper resolution to display on retina screens. Nothing ruins a stunning image more than a pixilated experience! There are some great responsive and retina plugins for WordPress websites to make the process even easier.
5. Link to your email. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard from our website development clients that they weren’t receiving contact form inquiries on their old site. Guess what? They weren’t alone. It’s a known problem that contact forms are often caught by spam filters, and some hosting sites block these kinds of messages altogether. To help mitigate this problem, make sure you provide a general email address on your website so clients can contact you directly if they don’t hear from you after submitting your form.

So there you have it – five easy ways to make your website more functional, and you more accessible, for better results.