10 Tips For Creating A Successful Website
For many businesses, the need for a website is certainly needed. With the way, the industries are changing and adapting to the use of technology, any company that doesn't make use of what’s available online and in the digital world would be missing out. Whether you’ve been running your company for several years it’s a fresh start-up, having a website redesign plan can often be the key to creating new leads, bringing in a bigger customer base and much more. So if you’re looking at making a website soon, here are ten tips for creating a successful website.
Plan It All Out
Before you start going on a tangent, you want to think about planning out what it is you want from your website, what it needs to look like and what’s being achieved on a daily basis with this live website. Firstly you want to have a budget in mind to allocate to the building and maintaining of your website. You’ll need a designer and ideally someone who can set up a website for you unless you are able to do this yourself. The website design is probably the part that’s going to cost you the most money, but you want someone to help with maintaining the website from an IT perspective and to be able to troubleshoot any issues that you may have along the way. Plan everything accordingly and set some goals or objectives that you want to achieve from your site for the next six months. This will help with giving you some much-needed direction, and so you can continue to build it.
Detail Your Design
You get what you pay for and although sometimes you may be lucky with what you do get on the cheap, but it’s a rarity that would happen. Designing a website can take some time and it something that you don’t want to rush anyway because there’s a lot of thought that can go into a website in terms of its appearance. Something you like right now, might not be what you actually want, and it may take some time to mull it over too. You also want to find the designer that suits your vision, and that has plenty of experience with website designing. There can be a lot of companies and individuals out there that are capable of designing the basics but you ideally want someone who has had a lot of work before or at least a portfolio to help you imagine what it is you’re after and whether it’s something that they can offer you as an artist.
When giving your ideas, make sure you’re clear on what you want and that this is relayed back to the designer in detail. That way, there’s less back and forth between you and the designer in mistakes that might have been miscommunicated or not specific enough to what you had in mind.
Include A Blog
A website is telling whoever goes on it about your business, perhaps who is on your team and any other relevant information on what services or products you provide as a company. One thing that’s definitely worth including on your website though is a blog. A blog is essentially like an online diary or journal. A lot of individuals and brands have made successful blogs that gain huge readerships. These readers then have the possibility of turning into paying customers. So depending on your business, you may want a page to some blog posts or articles that are related to what it is you are selling. It could also be anything that’s relevant within the industry you are in, and if you are well versed and have engaging content, you could become an expert in your field. It’s definitely something that’s worth doing, and if you have the funds to create a team of staff who write posts on a daily or weekly basis, it’s going to improve your level of traffic and raise your profile on the Google search engine.
Add Your Contact Details
Contact details are important to have proudly on display for all your customers to see. There’s nothing more infuriating than having a company with no forms of communication, other than an automated phone service. Displaying your contact details on your website does open up your methods of communication to get flooded with messages, but if that’s the case, then something certainly needs doing. Always include a phone number and if you don’t have one for the business, then it could always be worth having a work phone or getting a virtual receptionist. Addresses are also useful for those who still stick with post to communicate. Email is also standard, and if it’s possible to incorporate a live chat option, that’s something that may definitely be of use.
Make It Easily Navigatable
When you stumble on a website for the first time, it doesn’t take long for you to figure out whether you’re intrigued and that the website is something that you are enjoying when browsing. Most website discoveries are a positive one, but there are some that can be a little confusing. You want to have your customers and anyone who comes on to your website, to be able to navigate easily. This is certainly easier said than done, and if your colleagues are having issues, it may be worth it to get a website audit done. This can help flag up what it is that’s wrong and then work on attempting to fix the problems.
Get Someone For SEO
SEO is hard to understand and difficult to do yourself when you have no clue as to what it is. In basic terms, it’s what you need to work on in order to rise through the ranks and to show up on search engines. This will show that you have a certain amount of influence over your readers if you have plenty of them. If you don’t have a clue about SEO, then there are plenty that does, and there seems to be more of these companies opening up every day because they have extensive knowledge of how it all works and how to make it work best in your favor. You can have them on a retainer or a certain fixed contract. Some may offer packages and maybe a few one-off’s if that’s your preference.
Call To Actions Are Beneficial
A call to action is just what it says on the tin. It’s something that gets you to do something. Call to actions are great on websites because they can appear as a pop-up and the user can choose to either follow through with what’s being suggested or click off it. Either way, it’s not really doing anything or is particularly distracting for those who are trying to look into your website. A call to action can point to a specific webpage of yours or to help highlight a new opportunity. One way that you could utilize it is to grow your email list. Tell them to subscribe and you’ll find that even more of will hop on board. Especially if you offer them incentives and it’s free to sign up.
Cater For All Platforms
There are so many people now accessing the internet and online through a variety of channels, whether that’s their desktop computer, tablet, and even televisions. However, one method of going online or streaming your favorite shows is on a mobile device. If your website isn’t yet mobile-friendly, then you could be missing out on a big audience. By doing this and adjusting your website to fit a smaller screen, you’ll still get that much-needed engagement.
Connect Your Social Media
With lots of social media platforms available, if you have any currently then connect them to your website. Those who browse your website may not know your social following and vice versa. By connecting all these forms of communication and social media together, it’s much more effective in helping you build your audience.
Always Look To Improve It
And finally, when it comes to everything in life, there’s always a way to improve what you already have. Don’t let your website just become something that’s ignored and remains the same for years to come. Instead, use it as an opportunity to improve what you have so that it will continue to develop and grow into something really special. Make a list of amendments and work your way through each one, doing a review every so often to see it’s progress.
Designing a great website and that’s also successful will take some work, but you will definitely get there. It’s all about assigning some time towards it like you would any project and continuing to support it with the same passion that goes into your other work. Always look to improve it, keep everything connected and keep communication clear at all times. Plan and set a budget and as soon as that’s done, find those who will help you create that vision or dream you have.
Post a Comment