Building a business website can easily turn into a huge, time-consuming project. There are so many factors to consider: brand and design, content, product and service presentation, user-friendliness, features and functionality, speed, visual impact, budgets, timescales, and much more.
What makes a good website?
We may have different opinions on what makes for great websites, Following are the steps to help you make your website memorable and engaging:
1. Strong and clear message
Your website is your best chance to make a lasting impression to your customers. What is the first thing visitors see when they come to your website? Do they understand your site’s purpose?
In order to have a successful and engaging website, it should have a simple and clear message that all visitors can understand. The best way to communicate your website’s purpose is through a clear message on your homepage. This will also help search engines categorize your website for appropriate keywords and phrases.
Think about what your website does or what you want it to do. What products or services do you offer? Then, on your homepage clearly display that message in your content.
2. Easy navigation
Another important feature of a good website is navigation. Many website owners fail to include well-structured pages or clear navigation tabs that lead visitors to relevant sections of their website.
Organize the information on your website in a simple and structured way. Think of the general path you would like a site visitor to take. In many cases, adding sub-pages to the top navigation will be the best option for organizing your information into specific categories.
Think through your web pages’ structure so that it all makes sense in a logical flow. That way, when customers visit your website, they will have an easier time navigating to the information on your website that is most relevant to them.
3. Content and more content
The main function of your website is to convey relevant content to your visitors and help them understand the problems that your products and/or services solve. Your content is the single most important element in increasing customers. Make sure that the content you add to your site is displayed in a simple and clear manner.
Use clear and error-free language that will encourage your visitors to dig deeper for more information about your business. You’ll want to include keywords that relevant to your business and industry in your page titles, meta tags, headings and in your website’s content so that your potential customers can find your business online. This tactic is called search engine optimization (SEO).
4. Community
Building a community for your business is one of the best investments you can make. It’s crucial to establish an online presence. Start with the networks you know and are active on – the most common being Facebook and Twitter. Include Facebook “Like” from your business Facebook page or a Twitter follow button will allow visitors to connect with you through other media.
In addition to your social networking profiles, creating and maintaining a blog is one of the most effective ways to build community and a great way to increase content. Blogs are a great way to have a conversation with your visitors and customers on a regular basis and improve the level of trust website visitors and customers have for your business over time.
Three keys to a successful website delivery
There are many approaches to building a website, and your project may not look the same as that of another business. However, these are our three top tips for making sure your next website is an online hit:
- Don’t aim for perfection.
You may want the perfect website, but the best approach is often to work in iterations. - Treat it as a company-wide project.
Don’t let the marketing team shoulder the website work alone. Set up a cross-departmental project team that works together to define the content, the interface and the features. - Don’t work blinkered.
When was the last time you involved your clients in building your business website? Clients can often offer an incredibly useful perspective. Allow some trusted external people to give early feedback and input into the website; that way you’ll make sure it resonates with them.