Website

Planning a new website design for your business can be daunting. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, but there are a few basic functions and content areas you should include to make it an effective marketing tool. Careful planning can go a long way to avoid disappointment or having to start all over again and invest more money.

 

Make your site mobile responsive.

Mobile responsiveness is critical for a website to be effective. Australian adults spend more than five hours on their mobile phones every day, while more than one-third do all of their shopping online via mobile device. Your business’ mobile website must offer a positive user experience.

If potential customers land on your site but find it difficult to read or navigate on a mobile device, they may simply abandon you in favor of a competitor. Furthermore, a negative mobile user experience affects your website in search engine rankings, making it harder for users to find through a Google search – which brings us to our next point.

 

Make it easy to find.

You need a domain name that either matches your company name or describes your business in some way. You can even have multiple domains that point to the same website. This means incorporating technical Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices, keyword research, content marketing and paid advertisement campaigns to drive traffic to your website.

 

Make it easy to navigate.

You should also offer a clear way to get back to the homepage no matter where your readers land. Very often, a Google search may take your reader to a page on your website other than the homepage.

 

Keep your pages uncluttered.

Readers need to be able to put information in context. If a site has too much information, it overloads the mind, making it unable to retain the new information. Be sure to use a good balance of text and graphics that present a clean page.

One way to keep it simple is to cut the social widgets, such as a Twitter feed on your site. Ask yourself if you are adding information your reader cares about. If your widget content does not support the purpose of the page, remove it.

 

Respect the need for speed.

The time it takes to load a webpage affects the purchase decisions of nearly 70% of online shoppers.

Make sure your website runs smoothly by keeping the software up to date, optimizing videos and images for quicker downloads, and using a website host that can handle your bandwidth demands.

 

Have a call to action.

Each page on your website should entice the reader to do something. In other words, you need to give them a call to action. These landing pages should encourage users to take a certain action, such as to call your company, sign up for a service, buy a product, download a whitepaper, or do something else that benefits your business goals. Give them a noticeable invitation to take the action: a button or link. Keep it above the fold if possible so that readers do not have to scroll before finding the call to action.

 

Keep your design simple.

Limit the use of fonts, colors, and GIFs, which can distract and pull the eyes away from the focus of the webpage. Short paragraphs and bullet points also make the information more scannable and likely to be read.

 

Make sure your website copy is customer oriented.

When you are planning the content on your website, try to think about it from the customer’s point of view. What information would be helpful to you? What level of knowledge or expertise would you have already, and what would you need explained in more detail? By focusing on your content from the customer’s perspective, you can keep them on your site longer and are more likely to create a long-term relationship with them that results in a sale.

 

Sell online.

If you wish to sell your product via your website, then it requires further planning as following areas should be considered:

  • Integration with your accounting system.
  • Stock / Inventory management and integration.
  • Ability to accept online payments via credit cards, Paypal and other such payment methods.
  • Ability to add and modify your listing.

 

Create your technical SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy.

Take some time to ensure that your website has been given a solid foundation for SEO success. From site architecture and content hierarchy to metadata and XML sitemaps, do not leave any stone unturned.

  • Perform keyword research and decide what you want to rank for.
  • Create a content strategy that satisfies those keywords.
  • Understand how your existing pages (if applicable) can be adjusted and which pages will need to be created new.
  • Figure out which pages are no longer necessary.
  • Map out where unnecessary pages can be redirected to.

 

Creating your new website is easy with Provide Technology, as we offer careful planning and checklists to ensure that your website meets its goals.