You might think you know what a successful website looks like, but we would advise you to take a look at this blog post that we prepared for you, with a valuable list of characteristics you need to adopt, if you want your website to hit the top!
#1. Keep it Logical and Simple
What this means, is that you may know your business and how it works, but others don’t. This is why you will need to guide your audience through it like a 3 year old. It has to be easy and useful as hell, if you want people to prefer it and the only way to succeed in it, is by writing down its structure beforehand. This will help you avoid creating a maze that will confuse your audience and eventually drive them away from your website.
User experience is highly important nowadays, as well as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and the only way to achieve high rates in both, is by taking good care of your audience and make sure they understand where they are and what they see. A useful tip would be to test your website by having your friends and family visit it before you launch it officially. Ask them to be sincere about how easy it was for them to navigate through it, what they liked, what they didn’t like and allow them to give you recommendations. You’ll be surprised by the variety of useful comments you will get!
#2. Always put your Contact Info
No, it’s not for granted. Yes, it’s frustrating trying to find a business’ contact details. Put at least one phone number and an e-mail address at a clear, visible place in your website and make sure people can use it by clicking it. Moreover, don’t forget to put your business’ postal address, IF you are accepting visitors at your office.
Also, there’s no harm creating a pop-up contact form or just a normal contact form at the “contact us” section. Many people prefer this to calling or e-mailing, but make sure you see them and answer them in a very short time!
Lastly, we would advise you to create an e-mail address for your domain. Not only does it look more professional, but it actually is.
#3. SSL Certificate
Security is important and if you want to establish trust between your business and your customers, you must definitely invest in it. So, if you sell products online, it is essential to have an SSL Certificate in order to secure your website and your customers’ information.
To be more clear, an SSL Certificate encrypts communications between the customers and a business, as well as all the information a customer will offer to this business, such as his/her credit card numbers etc.
At our times, we can never be careful enough with online shopping and this is why you need to provide your customers with safety and security, if you want them to return. Solomon Designs can provide you with various solutions, just ask us!
#4. Hosting
Did you know that web hosting can affect your website’s performance in every possible way? Well, that’s why we’re here for you. Choosing the best hosting provider is not an easy thing, especially if you’re not familiar with the details that are important.
First of all, the cheapest is not necessarily the best. As a matter of fact, the cheapest is probably the worst, as it usually doesn’t include technical assistance – something essential for you and your business. Imagine trying to solve a very serious problem of your website without absolutely no support from your hosting provider! To put it in simple words, it’s just a nightmare.
Moreover, a hosting provider can be superslow. So slow, it can be literally ignored by the popular search engines whose algorithm includes page speed. What this means, is that people who “google” your services, will not see your website anywhere in the results, because it will be too slow to be recommended by any search engine. What a nightmare…
At the same time, IF a potential customer manages to visit your website somehow, he will most probably be frustrated by it, if it’s annoyingly slow. Statistically, this leads to visitors leaving the website and never returning.
Solomon Designs cooperates with high profile web hosting providers that are fast and reliable, so there’s no need to worry, we’ve got your back covered!
#5. Less is more
“The more, the better”, you may think. But unfortunately this does not apply to websites. If you want to impress, you have to do it with simplicity and putting automatic music at your website will definitely not make your visitors happy. Especially those who want to check out your website while at work, or who just feel utterly interrupted but this kind of “interventions”.
You can put a video in your website, but offer your visitors the liberty to choose whether they would like to watch it or not. Avoid flash if it’s not absolutely necessary for some reason and try to keep your visitors focused on your purpose, which is to engage in the content of your website.
And don’t forget that the more autoplays you put in your website, the slower it becomes!
#6. Frequently Asked Questions
…or FAQ! Of course it depends on the website, but in many cases, a FAQ section is not only helpful, but absolutely necessary for your professional website.
Depending on your website, people may have a lot of questions. Instead of answering each question individually, often answering the same questions repeatedly, you can collect all frequent questions and put the answers in your website for visitors to read.
If your website is new and you don’t know what to put in the FAQ section, just think of what you would ask if you were a visitor and start with this. You can update the section constantly, according to what people ask.
#7. Social Media
If you don’t want to be left out and miss all the fun, you should definitely integrate all your Social Media to your website. But seriously now, Social Media is not only fun, it’s also a huge help for a business, as they have the ability to connect it with people directly.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Tumblr, Pinterest, anything! Just put it there and let the visitors connect with you through their favorite Social Media Platform. After all, it is almost free promotion, so why not? Marketing has now evolved into something a lot bigger and wider than it used to be and Social Media is an essential part of it. Don’t forget that Social Media platforms will also improve your SEO critically and make your “presence” felt in more digital places.
Just remember to update your social media with content as often as possible and maintain a relationship with your connections that will make them feel that they’re gaining something out of it. Make offers, give tips, let them know that you’re there. Just make sure they can find you through your website.
#8. Information
But no, not all kinds of information. Only those that actually interest the visitors of your website. You may think that if you put EVERYTHING in there, you will have better SEO and subsequently more visitors, but this could turn into a boomerang if you’re not careful with what you put out there.
First of all, people have limited time, so they’re not going to spend their whole day surfing through your website, no matter how interesting it actually is! If you want to keep them there, keep your texts short and get to the point.
Second, consider your business and think about what is it that a visitor wants from your website. Is it a restaurant? They probably came for the contact details or the menu. Is it a consulting firm? They came to see how serious you look and maybe look for your phone number or e-mail. Is it a web development firm? They’re probably here to see if your website is impressive enough and maybe learn a couple of things from your blog 🙂 Whatever it is that they’re looking for, you have to make it accessible!
Lastly, make sure you make everything clear to your visitors. If you want to put extra info (eg. if you have a travel agency and you need to put your planned organised trips in your website), make sure you’re clear about what exactly it is that they’re looking for, so that no misunderstandings are created and nobody get disappointed.
Have Fun and enjoy your time with Solomon Designs!
