It is just as essential to create a user-friendly and visually attractive website, as it is to have a social media presence. The sad part is that some companies these days tend to ignore either of the two.
Because people are now aware of the fact that Internet connection is not always to be blamed if a website is not loading, the business owners should be extra cautious. I was fortunate to have a best friend who was also a website designer. So I knew better than to blame my Spectrum Internet only. My friend taught me so much and in just a month both my website and business were doing great.
Let’s get you acquainted with the essentials of having a well-functioning website for your business.
Identify Goals
You being the owner of the company will be well aware of your business’s goals. What is it that you wish to achieve through your business. Earning profits is definitely on the list. But what else? These goals will help you decide what you want from your website as well. The following for your website will depend on your goals:
- Niche
- Name
- Logo
- Title
- Tagline
Easy Site Navigation
Visitors pay close attention to their experience after visiting your website. If they have any difficulty in navigating through the website, your website will not be amongst their favorites. Therefore, the design of your website should be such that it allows the users to find whatever they are looking for with the utmost ease.
A good website is the one whose important pages are linked to the home page. Thus, making it easy for visitors to navigate to these pages. And learn about the important details of a business, product or service offered.
Perfect Home Page
Before you move on to the other pages, you should pay attention to the home page of your website. Because that is the first page that the visitors will get to see when they log into your website. A fun fact: Your website should impress the visitor within the first 10 seconds of his visit. Otherwise, the viewer will navigate away from your site.
Pay attention to elements including the logo, tagline, the first paragraph on the home page and the promo message on the home page to create an impressive first impression.
Visible Call to Action
Whatever action you want your visitors to take on your website should be clear on it as well. You cannot leave the viewers guessing and confusing them further. For example, include a ‘buy now’ button if you wish your viewers to make a purchase. Other examples of call to action include requesting a quote or displaying the contact numbers.
A call to action plays a vital role if you wish to convert your website visitor. Therefore, the call to action should have such a design that the visitors also learn more about your product or service while reaching for the action.
Mobile-Friendly Version
Most people these days visit websites through their mobile phones. Therefore, you should make sure that not only the desktop version but also the mobile version of your website is user-friendly as well. Because if the viewers accessing the website through their mobiles are not well-entertained, you will be losing a majority of your potential customers.
If your website does not have a mobile-version already, create one. Otherwise, you will remain far behind your competitors.
About Us
Many companies do not consider the ‘about us’ section as that essential a part of their website. However, they fail to understand that this section is a way of communicating about your strengths to your clients. Because people are always willing to learn more about a company whose products or services they are about to invest in. Therefore, work hard on creating this section. However, this does not imply that you start lying to the visitors.
Content
The content of your website is as important as the ease of navigation and design. You should aim to add original content only. Moreover, the quality of the content added should be high as well. Use your content as a means to deliver a message to your viewers and potential clients. Your content is also your key to engage the visitors. Thus, increasing your chances of converting the visitor into a customer.
Visual Design
The visual design of the website should be appealing as well. Interesting visuals and aesthetic design are what makes for an attractive website. You can hire web developers and graphic designers to make your website look compelling.
Tracking Conversions
The website developers often overlook the conversion tracking. You should link your website to an analytics account so that you can track the conversion rate as well.
Poised
Never allow your website to become slow because of the sloppy broken links to the images that it includes. This will only irritate the visitor. Keep auditing your website from time to time in order to eliminate any dead links. Hence, improving the speed of your website.
You might also come across some other errors that will need to get fixed so that users can navigate through your website smoothly. Errors are quite common with Internet services as well. Being a Spectrum user, I am familiar with the Spectrum error hl1000. It occurs during online streaming when suddenly this message, ‘currently unavailable. Please try again later’, appears on the screen. However, it gets resolved shortly as well.