6 Keys For Creating A Great Website

Introduction

In this modern world it is essential for your business or organisation to have a website presence. The website has essentially become the new "shop window' of the modern age. Where in the past consumers would visit shops and look in the shop windows they now turn to their computer, tablet and increasingly mobile phone as a first port of call when searching or shopping. This means your business needs an up to date, fully functional website. 

So what makes a great website?

The question of what makes a good website is a very broad one as there are many factors that contribute to it but there are some basic guidelines that apply to most websites. I implement these in any new websites I create. 

1. Design

The first and maybe most obvious is that your website looks good and has an attractive modern design. It is easy to spot outdated designs from decades ago. What kind of image is that portraying to your potential customers? A modern, engaging, clean design will pull customers in just like a good shop window would on the High Street. Conversely, a badly designed, outdated website will cause customers to move on quickly, otherwise known as "bounce rate". 

2. Speed

Simply put, if your website takes a long time to load people will move on quickly. Customers don't have the patience to wait and you will lose them. All sorts of factors can affect website speed from hosting platforms to badly optimized images. We check all of these factors when creating a website for you. 

3. Functionality

How easy is it for customers to navigate their way around your website? How user friendly is it? If customers find it hard to get to where they want to go they will give up and quickly leave the website. They say the average is 3 clicks; customers need to find what they are looking for in ideally 3 clicks from anywhere on the website. Make sure all of your links work. 

4. Content 

The content on your website needs to be informative and useful for your visitors. If your content has no relevance to the keywords that brought them to the website they will quickly move on and it won't be good for your ranking. Google look for informative, relevant content when ranking websites so the more useful your website is the better it will rank. It also goes without saying that your contact details need to be up to date with at least two ways of getting in touch with you available on the website.

5. Mobile friendly

With the introduction of smart phones it has never been easier to search the internet on a mobile phone. It has become absolutely essential to make sure your website looks good on a mobile phone and is fully optimized for mobile search. Mobile searches now account for up to 63% of all organic searches online which is well over half of all searches.

6. Search engine optimization

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. There are a number of factors that affect your websites organic ranking on Google. Initially we will perform a number of checks on the website to make sure it is fully optimized for search which will include things like keywords, alt tags, meta tags, backlinks, content etc. Search engine optimization is an ongoing process and requires a consistent approach to keep your website ranking high. Check out this article for more information about the basics of SEO.

Whether you already have a website that needs redesigning or developing or you require a new website, if you are looking for a Squarespace designer I can help, just get in touch.