This article is contributed by Jason Dirkham.
Owning a website is hard work, but turning it into a successful business seems near impossible. With so many different aspects to running a website, it can be hard to know what to prioritise in order to ensure you have website success.
Luckily, I’ve had years of experience in creating websites that thrive in business, and because of that, I can give you great advice on what it takes to ensure your website is the best it can be.
With that in mind, here are 12 things every website needs to be successful:
A Cohesive Aesthetic
First and foremost, your website should have a cohesive aesthetic. It’s still possible to have a beautifully designed website that is easy to understand, so when planning how your site will look, bear in mind what the whole user experience will be like.
Will people be able to read your fonts? Are the colors too bright or do they clash? Have you used high-quality imagery and graphics? All of these things will ensure your website looks professional at the same time as being easy to use.
An Easy To Use Structure And Set Up
Now that you have a great design in mind, you need to think about how your website will be structured. Websites should be easy to navigate, so think about websites you have used that you have had really good experiences with, then take that into account when you putting your potential sitemap together.
Try to keep the page numbers down (not including product pages), make your navigation bar easy to find and avoid lots of flashing images and gimmicks. For more tips, you can visit this handy guide here.
A Clear Purpose
For most people, your website’s purpose will be clear from the get-go. Whilst it may be easy to understand for you personally, you need to make sure that visitors to your website feel the same. A great way to do this is by having a featured graphic or image that details exactly what you do at the top of your homepage.
A Strong CRM To Help Build Strong Customer Relationships Behind The Scenes
Building a website wouldn’t be possible without a CRM – otherwise known as a Customer Relationship Management system.
These systems allow you to keep track of what your customers are doing on your website, you can then use that information to market your products better and focus on your relationship with your customers. Whilst not everyone has one on their site, for some, it is vital to ensuring they have the best possible understanding of what their customers really want.
For more information on these systems, trying talking a professional or to CRM consultants.
A Responsive Layout
Now that most people are viewing websites and their smartphones and tablets, it’s incredibly important you have a website that supports this. When you speak to your website designers or purchase your layout online, make sure it is labelled as ‘responsive’ – meaning it will adapt to fit onto whichever device it’s being viewed on, regardless of its size.
Great Security And An SSL
Google’s new guidelines state that an SSL certificate is vital when it comes to ensuring your site is viewed as safe, ultimately affecting how high it ranks in their search engine. Whether you’re building a new site from scratch or updating your current one, an SSL certificate should be the top of your list.
To find out more about site security and SSL’s, you can visit this handy guide here.
SEO Optimised Content Throughout
Whilst owning a website is all well and good, one of the key things you need to do is ensure that traffic is directed to it. One of the main ways to do this is to make sure it is optimised for search engines.
To put it simply, this means you have to create content that Google will be able to find easily – meaning it will then show up at the top of their search results when anyone searches for something in your line of work. Although it may be time-consuming, Search Engine Optimization is vital in a world where everyone is trying to stand out online.
A Contact Page That Is Easy To Find (And Use)
When people visit your site, it will often be to find out if you have what they’re looking for. If they have trouble finding this information, or they want to contact you for further details – they’ll look for a contact page. Making this both easy to find and easy to use, means you will receive every single enquiry you possibly can in an simple to manage way.
A Blog Where You Can Share Regular Content
Having a blog on your website is a great way to ensure new content is being added to your site regularly, something that can help when it comes to optimising your website for search engines.
Setting up a blog is simple and once done, you can share content that is relevant to your business. Whether it’s regular updates on your small business, or tips and tricks for people in the same line as business as you, having a good quality blog ensures you’re getting regular visitors to your site – you never know, they could even become potential customers if they like what they see!
Great Social Media Channels Directing People To Your Site
Once you have written your incredible blog content, it will need to be promoted somewhere. Social media is a great way to not only share this content but also the ideal place to direct potential customers to your site by sharing your products and services with people online. Find out which social media platforms are the best for you, then work towards creating a solid social media strategy that will promote your business and your products in a conversational way.
For help and advice when it comes to putting together a social media strategy, you can visit this detailed guide here.
A Place For People To Sign Up To Your Email List
If you’re planning on starting an email list alongside your website, you need to make this clear to people who visit it. Often, people will use freebies and offers as a way to get people to sign up to email notifications, but if this is not part of your plan it needs to be clear elsewhere.
Whether you use a pop-up service that prompts people to sign up before they leave or you banners and advertisements that encourage people to leave their email – this could be a vital aspect of finding customers that will return to your site over and over. Especially if you have a great email marketing plan in place.
Google Analytics Running In The Background
To be able to analyse how many people are visiting your site, Google Analytics is absolutely vital. Installing this in the background of your site is a great way to understand your audience in detail. Once you have this important information you can plan how to get more visitors to your site, how to target your audience better and how to retain valuable customers.
There are so many different elements and strategies that make up a successful website, so hopefully the above allows you to make a start on making your site the best it can be.
Do you run a successful website or blog? Did I miss anything important off the list? Let me know in the comment section below.
This article is contributed by Jason Dirkham.
