A website can be a great way of promoting products or services, telling people about yourself or just showcasing your talent online. Nowadays most companies and a lot of individuals own a website. Given the fact that most people are permanently connected to the online world, a website especially allows companies and businesses to get more exposure for their brand. That’s one of the reasons why many companies decide to keep their business just online. Even though maintaining a website takes a lot of dedication and hard work, the effort pays off in time. After all, managing a physical shop can be just as exhausting. With the right marketing strategy, there is a high chance of success.
Although everyone can create a website, not everyone can create a successful website and enjoy a large audience. There are a lot of well-kept “secrets” that one has to keep in mind when launching a website. Every single detail plays a fundamental role in this case. While some consider that the most important element is the design and the visual appeal of their website, they need to concentrate on creating a good user experience as well. Besides that, the content does matter a lot! Providing regular and high-quality content has a big influence on the future of a certain website. However, that’s not all.
Where to Start?
Before creating a website, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to create and how you’d like to create it. Usually, there is a bigger chance of succeeding if one comes up with an original, never-seen-before idea. No matter how overwhelming that might sound, it is not impossible. Try to think outside of the box and brainstorm different ideas on a piece of paper. Put some thought into it and let your creativity inspire you. Study the competition because it can dictate the future of your online business.
If you’re on a tight budget, you might need to start saving some money for launching your website. Don’t go for the cheapest website designer out there. Try to find a combination of professionalism and talent. Keep in mind the client’s comfort and opt for simplicity instead of complicated visuals.
Make Pages Load Fast
The 21st century is fast-paced. People don’t have a lot of time to waste, especially when it comes to a website that takes a few minutes to load. Therefore, you need to concentrate on improving your pages and finding ways of making them load almost at the speed of sound. Internet connections may have gotten faster, but no matter how fast those are, there are always plenty of images and data that takes time to download. Fortunately, there are quite a lot of ways of making the average website page load faster. Some of these include implementing new image formats in order to reduce the size of the images, browser caching to quicken page speed, resource compression to lower the number of bytes a page send to the network and eliminating duplicate scripts.
On the other hand, it is vital to consider mobile visitors and their network speeds. Most users only notice speed when it’s absent. Thus, creating fast-loading pages is essential even if it might feel unappreciated.
The Design
This element is often the most creative part of a website because it gives the opportunity of expressing ideas through visuals. Choosing a web designer is a crucial decision for any platform. A good website can bring more visitors, while a bad one might “scare” prospects away. Therefore, one has to keep up-to-date with design trends, even though they are temporary. Good website design is centered on user’s needs. Websites that are not intuitive or aesthetically pleasing have a big chance of becoming redundant.
In other words, great quality content deserves great quality visuals. Nonetheless, a good quality website relies on more than just a nice mix of colors and pretty fonts. First impressions count in the online world just as much as they do offline. First-time visitors don’t appreciate being bombarded with ads or not being able to find the content they are looking for. That’s all it takes to lose them forever.
Keep Pages Short
Probably one of the most important reasons why people decide to start a website is so that they can share their knowledge and get more exposure to the large public. Therefore, the content that they post on their website can be a great impact on the future of a company. Besides the fact that it is important to create high-quality and original content, it is important to post regularly. Once you get an audience, you need to offer them new subjects to read constantly. Otherwise, they might end up picking your competitors instead.
Keep pages short and sweet. Remember to use simple terminology that is easy to understand. A lot of college websites are dealing with a loss of audience due to the fact that they cannot write content in plain English. Therefore, no matter what kind of website you own, keep in mind the fact that not all of your audience is composed of professionals. Writing content for the web is a lot different to writing content for print. Write content that provides enough detail but keep it clear and easy to read.
Increase Website Traffic
Building an audience takes a lot of dedication and hard work. Even the most beautifully designed website can be a complete failure if you’re the only person browsing through it. For that matter, it is vital to start by posting regular content, have a long-term plan and keep focused. You might not succeed the first time you post an article, but you need to carry on no matter what. A lot of people spend a lot of their time on social media. Thus, it can be a great resource for promoting your brand new website. Tell your friends and family about it but don’t be too insistent. Behind a successful website that keeps readers coming back, there is a good strategy but also a lot of solid content. Plagiarism is not tolerated in today’s world. Most of the time it is obvious, and it usually leads to failure. Visitors don’t have time to read the same content a million times.
Use Small Images
Another secret that not many people know or they don’t pay much attention to is the fact that smaller images take a lot less time to download. This aspect increases the load speed of a page. Images are a critical element to any website. They complement the rest of the design and enhance the appearance of a web page. However, there are some areas where images are not that important. Images are most of the time fundamental because they help visitors feel comfortable on your website and relate to the images.
Considering that about 65% of people claim to be visual learners, the visual element, be it an image or a video, is good to keep in mind when tackling a website design project. Generic pictures are not the best option for any website because they need to represent your business. As most websites are a great storyteller, graphics are a big part of website marketing.
Make Sure Links Work
There is nothing more disappointing than scrolling through a website and finding a link that does not work. Making sure links are up and running is proof of dedication, diligence, and professionalism. Broken links are a sign that a website is not maintained as it should be. No one wants to stick around on a website that is not looked after not even by the owner. Details make a major difference in this case. People notice the smallest problems. That’s why website testers play an important role in this equation. At the same time, you could use a link checker and check older pages on a regular basis. Links might need to be updated every once a while to ensure they are still valid.
Measure Your Traffic
Lastly, in order to make sure that your visitors have good user experience and are content with what they see on your page, you could use web analytics tools to track their habits. By doing that you can get a clear picture of the aspects that are working on your website and of the aspects that are not that appreciated. Once you find out the topics that drive visitors to your website you can focus on giving users what they want and providing them with more content in that field. On the other hand, you can later decide if you want to alter or eliminate the content that is ignored. These useful tools are a great way of making sure a website is successful. They work for newbies and professionals alike.
Last but not least, remember to include a contact option on your website. If you’re not comfortable with having contact information on your website, you need to include at least an email address where your visitors can contact you. Be professional, and the effort will pay off in the long run.