It is no question that in today’s day and age, a website is essential in reaching new customers. In the grand scheme of things, your website is simply one piece of the marketing puzzle. To have an effective marketing strategy, you need to be everywhere your potential customers are. A great website opens so many doors for a business. Let’s look at some things you should consider when designing a website.
Who is your audience?
Before even starting the website design process, you need to consider who your ideal clients are. What are their major pain points? What is it that you do that will solve their problems so effectively? What sets you apart from your competitors? Determining who you are, what you do, and what to say to the people who are looking for you is essential for driving actual leads to your business.
Search Engines
There is no question that your copy needs to be on point. Your text and messaging have reached your ideal customer and convince them to take action. While this is important, it is also important to optimize your copy for search engines. Work industry keywords in your copy, while also considering what it is that your ideal customers will be searching for.
A good way to do this is to start typing in Google, and Google will start making suggestions for you. Pay attention to this because it isn’t happening by accident. The suggestions that are popping up are some of the most searched for topics related to your main keyword. Take a look at these suggestions and work them into your content. If they are in the form of a question, add them to a frequently asked questions section on that page.
Your Webhost
Your website’s speed makes a huge difference in its success. A slow website will kill all of your efforts, period. You want to use a Webhosting service that is fast and reliable. You can’t crank more performance out of a platform that is already slow. You’ll also want a Webhosting service with great customer service. They will be there to help when something goes wrong. They will be fast and friendly and resolve the issue quickly.
Contact Forms
So many times, I see a business website with a contact form that does not work. This should be one of the biggest priorities! Imagine being a law firm or a construction company and your contact form isn’t working. Can you imagine missing out on a fifty thousand dollar case or a half a million dollar construction project because your website’s contact form isn’t working? Most of the time, people will give up if they can’t reach you, which means your business will miss out on vital revenue.
Mobile First!
Most people who are searching online are doing so on a mobile phone. This makes it more important than ever for your website to be mobile-friendly. You want your website to look great on mobiles devices. There should be no loss in functionality on a mobile device. Elements should not overlap or be difficult to use. Make sure your website looks great and works smoothly on smartphones and tablets.
The Contrast Makes all the Difference
I am not sure where this trend came from but lately, I have seen where websites are making entire paragraphs a light or medium grey, which makes it tough to reach. No one is going to struggle to read your text. They may not read it anyway if it is too long or you don’t break it up into manageable chunks.
People are lazy. When they load a page and they see paragraphs and paragraphs of text, they look at it and think to themselves “yeah, no thanks” or they might skim over most of it. Make sure you break up long text with images, graphics, videos and other visuals to keep the viewer interested.
Give Elements Some Breathing Room
Have you ever heard the expression that less is more? I like the famous graphic designer, Milton Glasier’s saying that “Just enough is more”. You do not need to cram everything close together. There are some business owners that say that they don’t like having to scroll down the page. The issue is that you can’t always fit all of the important content above the fold.
It is important to give the different elements of the page plenty of breathing room. This is especially important on mobile because google will ding you for having elements too close together. Any sort of button needs to be easily clickable, and you don’t want clickable elements to be too close together.
There is a Lot to be Considered
Designing a website is no simple task. A design and structure that works for one business may not be suitable for another. Along with the copy, the colors and the contrast of elements, all of these things combine to create a streamlined marketing machine for your business. That is why many businesses hire a website design and marketing company to handle this for them. They can focus on their business and what they do best, while a company like ours helps them to put their best foot forward and increase and enhance their online presence.