Your website is your shop window to the world, it’s your space on the digital high street. When you’re building it, consider how to entice people in and give them a reason to browse for a while. The more people browse and get to know, like and trust what you do, the more likely they are to make a purchase.
In this piece of contributed content, there are some great tips to help you make the most of your website:
Things to Consider When Building a Website
If you’re building a website, for personal or business services, there’s a lot of things to take into account. You can consider the layout and design of your site for as long as you want, but you need to have realistic elements included as well. Having your own site means a lot more people will be trafficked your way, and plenty of cash flow can be made through your natural exposure. But what is it about building a website you really need to think about? What often missed facets are the most important for user experience? Use some of the tips below.
Don’t think less of your own website if it doesn’t match up to other people’s, as any of the possible fixes listed below can be done very easily. If you are building a website, consider enlisting the services of a webmaster if you have absolutely no clue where to start. Don’t get stressed because of this, and use the experience as a learning curve if you have to. We all have to start somewhere!
Do You Have The Best Domain For Your Purpose?
If you’re trying to establish a brand, then you need to immediately be upfront about what you offer in your domain name. If you have a blog, a catchy title presented in the domain is a good way to catch the reader’s eye. The URL is the first thing a person is presented with after all, so keep this short, sweet, and to the perfect point.
Deciding on the name is just the first step of buying a domain and having a host. You also need to consider your package and what kind of deals will be best suited to your needs. Some have plenty of bandwidth and others don’t due to the amount of different purposes a website can be used for. Bloggers have a bit of an advantage here. Plenty of pre established blogging platforms exist, including the hugely popular WordPress.
Is The Design Cleancut And Neat?
If a website is all over the place with ads, text and colors, then people are going to be very unlikely to stay for long. A lot of people lose readers and customers because the immediate garish display look too sketchy and rather reminiscent of early internet days.
Seeing as we’ve come a long way since then, you’ll need to keep a professional and friendly front. Your font should be at least point 11 and in a bold colour, and not blend in with the background. You can still craft the perfect aesthetic that you’ve had in your mind since day one even when there’s a few accompanying design tweaks, and it makes the whole presentation better as a result.
A neat design doesn’t have to mean boring however. There’s plenty of creative things you can do with a website layout that means it looks nice and functional. Minimalist aesthetics are very in, and are extremely accessible. Beautiful backdrops, like nature scenes, seem to mark out the websites of the future.
Does Your Site Seem Legitimate?
So you have your URL, but does it sound safe? Making a site seem more legitimate can be easily done by avoiding link stuffing. Bad or unsafe links will get you no fans and nowhere online, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a few mistakes every now and then. The person behind a website is only human after all.
You can learn how to properly link with practice and research. If you need advice on how to avoid a link penalty then read around hosting the best blog posts and articles on your personal prose section of a website, and help yourself by looking for the servers best to host you.
Is Your Site Easy To Navigate Through?
First of all, do you have a search bar? If you don’t, the next step is to get one. It can be easily inputted into the website code and makes the experience of surfing your pages a whole lot easier.
Keep plenty of inbound page links at the top for even easier searching. If you have all your areas of interest and information about you or your company within accessible reach, there’s plenty of trust established as soon as a person sees these links.
Sidebars should also be utilised properly. It’s usually best to have a photo of you or someone who’s important to your company here, and include any information that needs to go under the photo. A simple caption goes a long way, and it also can remind readers that if they need to contact you they can. So it’s also a good idea to include a direct link to a ‘submit query’ page or your email address.
Are You Going To Be Active Enough?
If you have a website, you need to be on it to use it properly. The digital world is ever evolving and always comes up with new trends and technologies in what seems like minutes. As a result, anyone not around for more than a week at a time can be left in the dust.
Even if you have something other than a blog, regular updates will keep people coming and make your efforts look less like a one time scam. You’re most likely going to be posting something once a day, as you’ll understandably have a lot to talk about, but even if you don’t, it’s not a bad thing. Having a new post out at least once a week, even if it’s something like developer notes, lets your readers or potential customers know you’re still around and at their service.
Website building needn’t be a panicked process, as it can often be done yourself even when you don’t have the necessary knowhow. Plenty of crafting platforms exist nowadays and are constantly at your service. Even if you haven’t been online for a long time, you can bring something fresh to the table. Start with the little things and build up from there.