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Looking Good

When we think about web design, we typically think about art and imagery: logos, layouts, photos, and graphics. These cover the basics, but they leave out the most important factor – the human element. Great web design is about much more than making things look good. It’s about creating engaging experiences and inspiring action. It’s about interactivity.

Interactive design features like animation, moving elements, and things that change and react as you view, scroll, hover and click can draw your users in and make their experience on your website more enjoyable.

What Is Interactive Web Design?

Interactive combines graphic design and web development techniques to engage visitors with a more relevant user experience. It’s sort of like the difference between making a speech and having a conversation. Nobody likes to be talked at or thrown into the weeds. Website users want to participate in their own experience and be supported along their journey. You can fill this need with interactive design.

Common Interactive Web Design Elements

  • Hover states
  • Sliders & scrolling
  • Menus & navigation tools
  • Motion, audio & animation
  • Forms, quizzes, surveys & polls
  • Walkthroughs, virtual tours & tutorials
  • Builders, configurators & customization tools
  • Media players
  • Gamification
  • Personalization
  • UI/UX enhancements
  • HTML5 programming

Interactive design can be used to signal the user that there is more to explore and encourage them to keep going. It can make dry or boring content feel fun and interesting. Interactive design can also reward your users for completing a desired action and condition them for further engagement. It can even help you learn about your users and tailor your content and experiences to their needs.

See Interactive Design in Action

Interactive web design can be simple and subtle, such as links and icons that change color when you hover over them. It can also be bold and complex, like content that animates or slides into place as the user scrolls down the page. Just don’t go too far, or you might turn your site into a distracting digital fidget spinner with lots of fun features but few meaningful conversions. The amount and types of interactivity on your site should be consistent with your brand and marketing strategies.

Check out these examples of interactive web experiences created by Blayzer Digital in St. Louis, MO. Our web design and development experts can add a wide range of interactive features to enhance your online user experience.

Why Use Interactive Design?

If adding something to their shopping cart is the first interaction your website provides, then you’re likely missing a chance to use basic behavioral psychology to your advantage. It probably isn’t doing your SEO rankings any favors, either.

An interactive website design builds trust and interest without asking for too much, too soon. You can start small — with a click here and a scroll there — and let each positive interaction get them a little more invested in your brand until the next logical step is to buy. By enticing visitors to take minor, rewarding actions within the website experience, you are effectively breaking down communication barriers, building a sense of comfort and control, and priming them for a frictionless transition from Web Visitor to Happy Customer.

Want Even More Interaction? Add Functionality!

If you’re really looking to pump up your website’s interactivity, the best solution might be adding true functionality with a custom application or solution integration. We can do some very cool things with design, but functional features like calculators, custom product configurators, lookup and locator tools, online learning, and more often require some deeper programming.

In the world of interactive, the possibilities are nearly limitless. Figuring out which interactions can be accomplished with interactive design and which ones require more extensive development is something Blayzer can help you with. Contact us for a free consultation about what interactive design features will be best for your solution.

Interactive Design Helps SEO

Interactive design is great for search engine optimization, too. It keeps users on the site for longer, lowers pages’ bounce rate, gets users to click around, and raises engagement. This sends positive signals to search engines about the quality of your site and content, which encourages higher rankings in search engine results. People may also be more inclined to share or link back to a site that is interesting, engaging, and fun to use. High quality shares and backlinks also give your SEO a boost.

One of the most powerful interactive elements for boosting SEO value is video. Learn more about Blayzer’s Video Services

Measuring Website Interaction

Website interactions are not only engaging. They are also measurable. Using tools like Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, heat-mapping, and other solutions can provide valuable insight into how visitors explore your site, experience your brand, and make decisions. Every action tells a story. What are your users telling you?

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