When you're looking at designing a website one of the most commonly overlooked design elements is your website footer. We do understand there are other areas you would like to place priority in but a well-designed footer can be a factor to drive potential customers.
Through this guide, we'll cover the basics and essential things you need to include in the footer section of the website.
A website footer is key for extra info and navigation. A good footer design can make your site more user-friendly and visible. When designing a footer, think about its role in engaging users. Adding social media icons, contact info, and more can increase engagement and sales.
Website Footer Basics: Where are they?
A website footer is a section found at the bottom of a page. It is one of the essential components as it helps share sitemaps for navigation needs and for web crawling which is vital for SEO.
Additionally, it offers extra info and ways to navigate, like links and content. It's often ignored but is key to a good user experience and sharing important details.
Research shows people spend more time at the footer than at the top. It's where you find contact information such as phone numbers, customer service links, and social media buttons. A good footer can also boost engagement and local SEO by adding direct contact details.
What Are the Benefits of Website Footers?
Website footers are an important component in the web designing process and provide site owners with the following benefits:
Enhanced Navigation
A structured footer of a website helps users easily navigate your website. How? Well, your website's footer provides links to important pages such as Contact Us, About, Services, and more.
Your site's footer acts as a guide for website visitors who scroll to the bottom, therefore, improving user experience and reducing bounce rates.
Boosts Search Engine Optimization
The website footer is the section where you can include internal links with keywords, helping search engines better understand your website’s structure and content. It also makes the website more crawlable ensuring faster rankings.
Provides Contact Information
Including your contact details, address, or business hours in the footer ensures visitors can quickly find ways to reach you. This builds trust and makes your website more functional for potential customers.
Improves Credibility
Footers include trust signals like certifications, privacy policies, copyright symbols, and terms of service. These reassure visitors about your website's security and professionalism, encouraging them to interact with your website.
Encourages Social Media Engagement
Including social media links at the bottom of the page helps direct users to your brand/personal profiles. This further boosts your online presence and creates opportunities for further interaction with your brand.
See, if a user wants to learn more about your brand or company, they can go to your social media handles with just a click of a button.
Highlights Call-to-Action (CTA)
You can include CTAs like newsletter sign-ups, download options, or promotions in the footer, allowing users multiple opportunities to engage, even at the end of their visit.
Legal and Compliance Information
Footers are the ideal place to display mandatory disclaimers, copyright notices, and GDPR compliance information. This keeps your website legally compliant while maintaining a clean website design.
Creates a Consistent Brand Identity
By incorporating your logo, tagline, or brand colors in the footer, you reinforce your brand identity. It provides a subtle reminder of your brand and leaves a lasting impression on users.
10 Essential Things to Include in Your Footer Content
Research shows that a well-designed website footer can lead to a 23% increase in website conversion and a 15% increase in revenue. This highlights the importance of including footers when designing your website. Let's look at what to include in your footer:
1. Sitemap
Sitemap is the blueprint of a website. HTML sitemap includes links to different web pages of your website. Now there are two ways why sitemap footers can be utilized.
Firstly, it helps with navigation which, therefore, improves user experience. Secondly, sitemaps help with SEO. It provides web crawlers with precise website structure, making it easier for search engines to index your website efficiently. Finally, you can also make a single link to the HTML sitemap
2. Social Media Links
Social media is another way through which users can interact with your brand or firm. It also serves as a contact medium as prospective customers can reach out to you for more answers or service inquiries. Finally, website footers serve as an effective way to build your online following by directing users to your social media channels.
3. E-Mail Sign Up Forms
When designing your footer, having an email sign-up form is vital. Why? Well, if a user wants to learn more about your content or offering this is where they fill in their details.
A user who has scrolled to the bottom of a webpage means that there is interest and hence, website footers are an essential element for brands to grow their audience.
4. Privacy Policy
Privacy policy is normally linked to a web page that explains the kind of information the website collects, how the data is stored, and in what ways the data can be used. Usually for websites, data is normally utilized to track, analyze, and market.
The best way to highlight your privacy policy is to place it at the footer this way you'll be legally compliant.
5. Contact Details
Providing your contact information is a no-brainer. You want your prospective clients/customers to reach you easily. This is why you come across websites that include contact details such as email, phone number, location, and more. A contact form is also a great way for users to get in touch with you and also allows you to create a mailing list.
Here’s a brilliant example of how to include contact details in a website footer by Bhatti.
6. Company or Brand Logo
Incorporating your company logo into your page footer is a brilliant method to strengthen your brand identity. Now, there are various ways you can go about it.
You can use the primary version which contains the complete logo or opt for the second version which is the symbol or monogram version. There is also an opportunity to include a slogan or mission statement to remind users what your company or brand stands for.
Poketto includes their logo along with their tagline to reinforce their brand identity.
7. Awards or Certifications
Want to instill your expertise in the minds of site visitors? Including awards or certifications is the perfect way to increase social proof among users. Include logos of awards or certifications you've completed to boost credibility in the eyes of potential leads.
8. Mission Statement and Values
Not a must if that's what you're wondering, but it would be good for those companies or brands that want to inform potential customers why you're in this line of business and what you stand for.
Our advice would be not to copy and paste a huge block of text but to create a sentence that explains your mission or values. To be noticed by users, the text needs to be readable and unique.
9. Copyright
An important element you just cannot neglect when designing your website footer is the copyright symbol.
The purpose as we all know is to discourage anyone from copying your animation, content, images, and more. All you have to do is add the symbol '©' or use the word 'copyright' along with the website publishing year and name of the copyright owner.
Now, the copyright needs to be placed on the homepage, this is mandatory and it can be repeated on other web pages as well. In terms of placement, it is normally found in the footer section, however it can be placed anywhere.
Take a look at the copyright footer by do not fret citizen which shows the inclusion of copyright along with social media links on their website footer.
10. Log In
These are specifically for employees, affiliates, or partners to log in to the website. The footer is a great area to place a login area.
Why?
These users know where to come back to find the login area so you don't need to waste valuable real estate in the header section to add a login button.
Creating a User-Friendly Footer Navigation Structure
When designing a website, the footer navigation is key. A well-organized footer keeps visitors interested and makes finding information easy. It's all about organizing menu items, using multi-column layouts, and making sure it works on mobile.
Organizing Footer Menu Items
It's important to organize footer menu items to achieve peak user experience. Group links into clear sections like "About Us," "Contact," and "Resources." This makes it easy for visitors to find what they need, and help reduce bounce rates.
Implementing Multi-Column Layouts
Using multi-column layouts in the footer can also make your site better. It lets you showcase more information without overwhelming visitors. A mix of footer links and multi-column layouts makes your site both useful and nice to look at.
A good footer navigation is crucial for any website. Think about what your users need and use smart design. Keep it simple, intuitive, and include necessary details such as contact and legal information. This builds trust and keeps users coming back.
Optimizing Your Footer for SEO and Visibility
Many businesses don't see the value in optimizing their website footers for search engines. But, a well-optimized footer can boost your website's visibility and attract more visitors.
By adding keywords like "website footer design" and "footer optimization," you can enhance your SEO and climb higher in search rankings.
Footer link strategy is key to optimization. Use specific and keyword-rich text for your links instead of generic terms. This makes your internal linking more relevant and boosts your SEO efforts. Also, adding local SEO elements like your business's details (Location, contact info) can draw in more local customers.
Footer Link Strategy and Local Search Engine Optimization Elements
Adding social proof to your footer is another smart move. Customer testimonials, reviews, and ratings build trust and encourage visitors to become customers. A clear call-to-action in your footer can also prompt visitors to engage with your business. By focusing on SEO and visibility, you can drive more traffic and sales.
Social Proof Integration and SEO Benefits
By including these elements in your footer, you create a powerful tool for growth. Keep your footer content short, readable, and SEO-friendly. A well-optimized footer can propel your business to new heights and achieve online success.
Legal Requirements in Website Footers
When making a website footer, it's key to think about the legal rules you must follow. You need to include important content like a privacy policy, terms of use, and copyright info.
A privacy policy helps protect your site from legal issues with data handling. The terms of use should make it clear that your site's info isn't legal advice.
Essential Legal Disclaimers
Your website footer should also have important legal disclaimers. This includes saying your site follows laws and rules, like the GDPR and FTC Act. This is vital for sites that collect personal info, as it builds trust and openness.
Privacy Policy Placement and Copyright Information
Putting your privacy policy in the footer makes it easy for users to find. It's a legal must in many places. Also, adding copyright info in the footer protects your creative work and meets legal standards. By adding these key parts to your footer, your site will be legal and user-friendly.
Common Website Footer Mistakes to Avoid
When designing a website footer, it's key to steer clear of common errors. These mistakes can harm user experience and search rankings. A good footer improves navigation, shares important info, and boosts credibility.
However, a poorly designed footer can also harm your website. Here are a few common website footer mistakes you need to avoid:
Overcrowding Issues
Footers shouldn't have too much information. Cluttered footers might make users who come into the website feel lost. People's attention spans are declining year on year and hence, you're required to provide a clear path for the user if you want them to convert.
Plus, avoiding high bounce rates has to be set as a priority. Therefore, to fix overcrowding, focus on including only necessary details in an easily understandable language.
Navigation Problems
Navigation issues in footers can stop users from exploring more. Footers that show all main navigation links can frustrate users. It's important to make a footer that's easy to use without showing too much.
Avoiding Mobile Responsiveness
A footer that looks great on a desktop but is hard to read or interact with on a mobile device is a missed opportunity. Ensure your footer is optimized for various screen sizes, with easily tappable elements for mobile users. I repeat DO NOT AVOID MOBILE USERS!
Not Including Call-to-Action (CTA)
If your footer doesn’t encourage users to take action, such as subscribing to a newsletter or contacting you, you're failing to convert users into potential customers or leads. Have a simple and clear CTA for users to interact.
Ignoring Search Engine Optimization Efforts
The footer of your website is the perfect place to include relevant keywords and strategically increase your website's online presence in the search engine result pages. Make sure you include keywords, alt text, and necessary internal links to boost your SEO efforts.
Further, conduct regular check-through SEO audits to ensure there are no broken links and outdated content. Using these measures will help maintain your online presence in SERPs.
Ready to Create Your Website Footer Design?
An effective footer design can greatly improve your website's performance. It makes the user experience better and boosts your site's overall performance. By adding organized navigation, engaging content, and SEO optimization, you can make a footer that looks good and works well.
Research shows that a good footer can cut bounce rates. It can also increase email subscriptions and pages visited. Plus, optimizing footer links and keywords can raise your search engine ranking by up to 5 spots. A mobile-responsive footer can even boost conversions further.
The footer is a key part of your website. With the right strategy, it can improve user engagement, increase brand recognition, and drive more conversions. By following the best practices in this article, you'll create a better footer. This will enhance your website's user experience and boost your digital success.
Key Takeaways
A well-designed website footer can enhance user experience and improve website visibility.
The majority of websites utilize footers for enhanced navigation and usability.
Including social media icons in footers to increase social media followers.
Websites that display contact information in footers may see a boost in visitor trust and credibility.
A good footer design can increase user engagement and conversion rates.
Users prefer websites with detailed footer information, such as privacy policies and contact details.
A clear sitemap in the footer can improve the overall user experience on a website.
FAQ
What is a website footer?
A website footer is the bottom part of a web page. It has extra info, links, and other stuff not in the main content.
What are the key functions of a website footer?
Footers give extra info, help with navigation, and make the site better for users. They also help organize the site.
Why are website footers important for user experience?
Footers make it easy to find important stuff. They offer more ways to navigate and make the site easy to use.
What are the essential elements of an effective footer design?
Good footers have a simple layout, easy navigation, and useful content. They meet the user's needs.
How can you create a user-friendly footer navigation structure?
Organize your menu items well. Use multi-column layouts and make sure it works on mobile devices.
What website footer components can drive engagement?
Links to social media, email newsletters, and contact info can engage users.
How can you optimize your footer for SEO and visibility?
Focus on your link strategy and local SEO. Add social proof to boost your site's visibility.
What are the legal requirements for website footers?
You need to include legal disclaimers, privacy policies, and copyright info in your footer.
Are there different footer design best practices for different industries?
Yes, different industries have their own footer design tips. For example, e-commerce, healthcare, and finance have specific needs.
What are the common website footer mistakes to avoid?
Avoid making your footer too crowded, having navigation issues, and not optimizing for mobile.
