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We all know the struggle of trying to find a good website that stands out. This article outlines 19 ways to make your site and brand more memorable, interesting, and recognizable than your competitors.
A good website is one that generates traffic and provides a great user experience by providing visitors with the information they came to view. There are a few things you can do to be sure it does. Here are 19 easy ways to improve your design, optimize your content, and improve the general structure of your site—all of which have a big effect.
Here are 19 things that go unnoticed when it comes to creating a successful website:
1. Have a specific aim in mind.
Be clear about what you want to do and how you’ll accomplish it even before you create a website. From top to bottom, know your audience and your business: what do they like? What are their pet peeves? What exactly do they require? What, above all, can you give them that distinguishes you from every other company doing the same thing?
You can plainly figure out the finer elements, such as the sort of design and text your audience wants to hear, by creating a strong foundation for your site.
2. Consider how you’d want to portray your brand.
Branding encompasses everything about your company, not just your logo. Your copy’s tone of voice, how you communicate with consumers, and even the structure of your website should all reflect how you want your company to be seen. Your brand will be strengthened if you maintain consistency in your branding. Your branding should tell your consumers all they need to know about your company’s history, beliefs, and what sets you apart from the competition right away.
3. Choose the right colors, fonts & images
Spend some time developing your website once you’ve narrowed down your aims and your branding. The theme, photos, fonts, and colors on your website should all work together to reinforce your identity across all platforms. Know that excellent design has an impact on consumers and that typeface and color have an impact on the purchasing process.
4. Keep your site uncluttered & easy to navigate
There’s more to a successful user experience than simply looks. Making ensuring that anybody, even total internet virgins, can browse your website without assistance is part of offering a good user experience (UX). With UX, you’re not only appealing to people; it’s also a key aspect of SEO and may help you rank higher in search engines.
5. Use powerful language in addition to design.
Consider how your text is written in addition to your tone of voice. Most people don’t want to read a book until they’ve gotten to the crucial parts—in other words, until they’ve gotten to the core of it. Create text that is confident, authoritative, and concise. You want your audience to recognize you as an authority in the area in which your small company operates.
6. Make your call to action as obvious as possible, particularly on the site.
Effective calls to action bridge the gap between arriving on your site and taking action (such as buying a product, learning more about a service, or contacting your company) (CTAs). Create clear, simple, and appealing CTAs since your audience wants to be informed about what to do next.
Don’t leave your viewers guessing—include these phrases prominently on your site since they convey a powerful message.
7. Make your stuff simple to understand.
It’s usually a good idea to keep your words brief and simple, but you should also consider how they’re presented. Is there a correct font hierarchy in your text? Do the colors in it stand out against your background? Making it easier for your readers to discover the information they’re searching for by correctly arranging and structuring your words contributes to a positive user experience.
8. Provide useful information to your readers
You may have attracted an audience with eye-catching graphics and SEO, but what are you doing to keep them on your site? Providing comprehensive information about your business or product, which you should subsequently share with your audience, is one way to differentiate yourself apart from the competitors.
Don’t be scared to create articles that are longer and more informative. These are not only helpful for UX, but they also help you rank higher in search engines. Create a blog using one of these great blogging systems to keep everything organized.
9. Perform keyword research & optimize your pages
Although a strong user experience is one of the most crucial aspects of developing a company website, it won’t mean anything if no one is using it. Attract visitors to your website with search engine marketing or a website traffic-building plan. Grow your site naturally via search engine optimization before moving on to more complex strategies like sponsored marketing (SEO).
The most basic step is to do keyword research using one of the various tools available online, and then naturally include those keywords into your writing. Other optimization considerations exist as well. The majority of all-in-one website builders provide SEO tutorials or walkthroughs that assess your site and tell you what you’re missing. You may use Yoast, a WordPress plugin, to help you optimize your site.
10. Add pertinent information (e.g., maps & contact information)
According to a 2015 survey, 44 percent of consumers would abandon a website if it lacks sufficient contact information. When you leave crucial information off your website, it makes your company seem untrustworthy or as if you’re concealing something.
Go above and above to ensure that your website has all of the information that might be requested. Include a pricing list if you’re selling services. Don’t wait for consumers to contact you; instead, respond to any simple queries they may have.
11. Make use of additional platforms
Where else can your company be discovered outside your website? Don’t skip out on building a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and other platforms where you can showcase your company and interact with your audience.
Include social media links in the form of social symbol widgets or tiny images that connect to your other accounts on your website. Make sure to add these—along with your basic information—in your site’s footer to keep everything in one location.
12. Maintain a uniform look across all platforms.
When it comes to developing a website, you already have your hands full with concerns about style and language. In reality, this information may be discovered on your social media profiles rather than on your website. It’s not enough to connect your audience to your social media platforms; you also need to maintain them consistent with your brand. Your branding will be even stronger if you include your tone of voice, colors, typeface, and visuals in your social media postings.
13. Show your reviews & good publicity
Did you know that 93% of buyers use online reviews to influence their purchasing decisions? Prospective clients like hearing from previous purchasers and seeing positive news from more established businesses.
Customers will trust you more if you have positive evaluations and excellent advertising on your website. This may be accomplished by integrating reviews from other platforms on your website and creating a press page where you can put all of your good media references.
14. Make use of the resources at your disposal.
There are a bevy of connectors you should be getting to assist enhance the UX of your website, no matter what sector you’re in. Integrations like Mailchimp and Constant Contact, for example, may aid you with email marketing. Make it simple for your clients to book tables at your restaurant with OpenTable. Use live chat connections to provide timely responses to your consumers.
Investigate the finest third-party software for your company and include it on your website.
15. Ensure that your website loads rapidly.
A typical user expects a website to load in two seconds or less. Anything longer than that, particularly on mobile, raises the bounce rate significantly.
Compress huge file sizes, tidy up your site’s code, and debug your site’s back-end to keep your loading times low and your visitors pleased. You may also use a site builder like Squarespace or a web hosting provider like Bluehost to create your site, both of which are noted for their fast page loading rates.
16. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
People are increasingly browsing and shopping on their mobile devices. As a result, make sure you’re not forgetting about your mobile audience by mobile-optimizing your site. In fact, you should construct your site with a mobile-first design in mind, starting with how your layout looks on a mobile device and working your way up to the desktop. A better alternative is to use an all-in-one website builder like Squarespace, which has mobile-optimized layouts.
17. Create a sitemap for your website
There are two sorts of sitemaps: XML sitemaps, which are designed to assist search engines to scan your site successfully, and HTML sitemaps, which are designed to help people browse your site via internal links. Both are crucial for SEO since the former helps Google’s bots determine whether or not your material is worthwhile, while the latter improves user experience.
18. Make sure your site is safe & secure
Hacking is becoming a big concern for organizations of all kinds, with so many websites handling sensitive information. You may believe your company is too tiny to attract a hacker. If you handle any type of personal information or financial information, however, you should take cybersecurity extremely seriously. A single mistake that results in a data breach may cost your company thousands of dollars, not to mention the loss of confidence from your consumers.
Other security precautions, such as WordPress security plugins, should be used in addition to an SSL certificate (which should be standard for your website). Sucuri, iThemes Security, and Jetpack are three highly-rated plugins for safeguarding your sensitive data.
19. Set up & learn how to use Google Analytics
Finally, remember that creating a visually appealing, well-optimized website isn’t enough. You must also maintain it. Website upkeep is an important aspect of having a decent website. Check and resolve your bottlenecks on a regular basis, do A/B testing, and keep an eye on your website to see where you can improve.
Integrate Google Analytics into your site to determine which pages attract your audience’s attention and which need to be tweaked to improve user experience. You’ll be able to make more informed judgments and site upgrades this way.
Conclusion
When it comes to determining what constitutes a good website, there are several aspects to consider. Overall, a strong website not only captures your target audience’s interest but also turns them into consumers. You need to offer your audience what they want—a terrific user experience that will keep them coming back for more—whether it’s by developing a gorgeous site or by optimizing your site’s loading times.
