Designing website buttons

The visual equivalent of a call to action, buttons are becoming increasingly popular on websites as the quickest and easiest way to convert potential clients’ interest. Whether it’s subscribe, buy, follow or friend, there are buttons for all actions and they provide a clear, simple visual indicator of how your visitor can achieve their (and your) aim.

If you are designing in a custom button which allows visitors to subscribe to a blog or newsletter, or allows them to buy outright, then you need to design this button near the centre/middle of the page. These types of actions should be one of the first things the client sees when they arrive on your page, allowing them to identify and utilise it quickly and easily.

The other types of buttons are ones from external platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and social bookmarking sites. It is important that these are easily visible, but perhaps not as prominent as ‘target actions’. To this end, many web designers choose to group these buttons together in at the footer of the page, separated from the main body of the page and highly visible, but not designed to draw the eye instantly.

Many social bookmarking sites now provide a series of ‘widgets’ that will enable you to install these buttons quickly and easily. Facebook in particular has an entire stream, including ‘Like’ and ‘Become a Fan’. These widgets can all be accessed via the host site and installed via a series of simple instructions using elements of basic code from your own website.

Designed well, custom and social networking buttons can have a substantial impact on your conversion rate.