DOES A website NEED A FOOTER?
We are always getting questioned because website design Swansea standards evolve constantly. So in this blog post, we will zero in and answer the question ‘does a website need a footer?’ But before that we want you to know there are always three components that should be present:
- The header, or top portion of a website, is typically where you’ll find important information such as the name of the business, links to the various sections of the site, and contact details for the business.
- The body of a web page is where the majority of the page’s content is shown.
- The footer is the section of a web page that appears at the bottom and typically contains legal and other disclaimers.
What is so important with the footer?
Some may think the footer of a website is less significant than the header or main body of text when they are getting their website design Swansea ideas together. This relates to the outmoded idea that the most crucial details must be presented before the user even scrolls down the page.
The average website visitor, according to a study, spends more time than you might think perusing the site’s content. Sometimes looking at items as far down as 1200 pixels!
In addition, some companies saw a 50% improvement in conversions simply by improving the design of their website footers.
Still need convincing?
Not persuaded yet that you need to plan out and experiment with different elements of your website’s footer design?
When Smart Insights improved the footer’s navigation, they saw a 16% increase in revenue per customer.
Some of the most compelling arguments for giving careful consideration to website footer design are as follows:
Website legal and technical information
The footer is a prime location for the mandatory disclaimers and other legal notices that all sites must display.
Website navigation
To aid visitors who have scrolled down to the site’s footer, some webmasters include a duplicate of the main menu. Some also include forms designed to persuade visitors to sign up for a newsletter as a call to action. Your website’s footer should be designed in such a way that it encourages visitors to continue exploring your site.
Website's security and credibility
Displaying awards, certificates and badges in the footer is a great way to gain the trust of your site’s visitors.
A little SEO
Though some may argue otherwise, search engine optimisation can still benefit from using keywords in both the header and footer.
Features to look out for when creating a website footer:
There are three main factors our website design Swansea staff advise you to think about when designing the footer of your website.
- The Content – This is up to the company and its objectives.
- The Structure – How content is organised is crucial to the site’s usability and user engagement.
- The Aesthetics – How well your website’s footer fits in with the rest of the web design.
In light of this, here are a few of the most frequently considered factors for your website’s footer design:
Copyright
Your copyright information is essential to include in a footer. Including this will help prevent plagiarism on your website (although some people will still ignore this distinction and steal your content anyways). To avoid the hassle of updating the copyright year to the current year, you can do so with a few lines of code.
Sitemap
Sitemaps are lists of your site’s pages that can be read by search engines and used to index otherwise unnoticed content. Sitemaps in HTML are typically located in the footer of a website. Like the XML sitemap, including navigation information in your footer can help a search engine to index all of the pages on your website, even if visitors don’t end up using it.
Statement of terms of service, disclaimer, privacy policy
The inclusion of a link to the site’s privacy policies is another standard footer feature. Details regarding the website’s information policy, including but not limited to:
- What is collected
- Where it is kept
- How it could be used
A privacy statement may be necessary for some websites because of legal or third-party requirements. A similar page, titled “Terms of Use,” explains to visitors what they are agreeing to by using the site. To give an example, if you go to the website of a business that sells alcoholic beverages, you’ll have to verify your age or confirm that you’re over 21 before you can access any of the site’s services.
Contact form
According to user experience guidelines for web design, contact information should be placed in the top right of the header, and again in the bottom right or centre of the footer.
A contact form, ideally embedded directly, is the best way for people to get in touch with you. It’s not advised to include a link to your email in the text, as:
- Links in emails attract unwanted messages.
- Goal completions from form submissions can be easily monitored using Google Analytics.
- A customer relationship management system (CRM) is just one example of a third-party app that can be integrated with a
- Using a form, you can send specific inquiries to selected recipients.
Details for contacting the business
Website footers typically include company contact details such as:
- The location of the company or how to get there
- A map or a reference to one
- A contact number
Local search engine optimisation (SEO) is greatly aided by including an address, map, and phone number. When creating content for mobile devices, a link to a map is also useful. When it comes to mobile optimisation, make sure your phone number can be clicked on and used to make calls.
Navigation menu
If a customer has scrolled down to the bottom of your website without finding what they were looking for, adding navigation links in the footer can help them find it. The term “fat footer” describes the current trend in website design of including a large amount of information at the bottom of the page, sometimes even in the form of a mega menu that contains the same links and other content as the main navigation bar located at the top of the page. Website footer designs that feature alternate versions of the navigation links can be A/B tested to determine which one is more effective for your business.
Social media icons
72% of sites include social media links in their footer and our website design Swansea crew did exactly the same when building this site. This could be because introducing social media icons before the content can be a major distraction. You should capitalise on this trend, in any case. In case your business is very active on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, you may want to add a widget that shows off your most recent updates.
If you’re working with a WordPress site, you’ll find that all of the available themes come with a set of standard, predefined Widgets. Most paid themes also include a wide variety of widgets for you to use.
Typical mistakes in website footer design:
There are many things to think about when designing a website’s footer but resist the urge to include them all. You shouldn’t treat the footer like an unorganised filing cabinet just because it’s a prominent location for site visitors.
- Cut out the fat and concentrate on what matters by eliminating all the extra links. You should probably ignore anything that doesn’t fit neatly into one of the predefined sections or menus. In the same vein, you shouldn’t be afraid of outer space. Having too many things too close together is what clutter is trying to tell you.
- Never assume that readers will ignore information that you’ve placed “hidden” in the footer. You can include crucial information in your footer in the same way that you would anywhere else on your website because it is a reflection of the content that appears elsewhere on your site.
- Finally, We don’t want to sound like a broken record, but it’s not wise to over-optimise your website’s footer for search engines. Black hat SEO techniques are nothing new, and Google has promised to crack down on spammy websites.
Advice on creating a professional website footer:
You have probably begun visualising the layout and content of the footer of your website. A few more things to keep in mind when designing a website footer.
- Mobile friendly website design. Everything on your website, including the way it is written, should be created with Google’s mobile-first policy in mind. When using a mobile device, users often skip down to the site’s footer, which is why this is an important section to design well. Since mobile site visitors spend more time in the footer than any other section, it’s crucial to tailor its appearance to mobile devices.
- Create headings for each section and arrange columns of relevant links. It makes the site more pleasant to use and simpler to navigate.
- Space needs to be maximised to prevent clutter.
- Use just the right amount of menus and submenus. Place priority on the user’s journey (UX) rather than any other aspect. Add foldable sub-footers if the content becomes too lengthy. Correctly organising data is crucial.
- Make sure the footer text is legible by using appropriate colour contrast and choose a colour for the footer that complements the site’s theme as a whole.
Conclusion on the website footer design
The footer’s location at the bottom of a webpage doesn’t make it any less important. Before Google started penalising sites for keyword stuffing, that’s where you’d find it: in the footer.
In today’s web design climate, the website footer has become a valuable real estate for displaying and reiterating information that would otherwise be redundant throughout the body of the site. This is why our website design Swansea team doesn’t ignore the footer of your website so you can maximise conversions and revenue.
