You save your company from answering basic questions when you provide the information on your site. A website stops you from answering questions like, “What time do you close?” or “What specials do you have today?” dozens of times a day. When you invest in building a website, you create an opportunity to provide all the essential information in one place. You post information like: Hours of operation Specials Products/services Prices Location Company background Contact information Take a second to think: How many people call your business related to the information above? If you find most inquiries surround these topics, you need a website for your business. A website lets you provide essential information to your audience fast, which creates more time for you to focus your energy on running your business and answering more complex questions.
People use your website to engage with your business If you’re still asking the question, “Do I need a website for my business?” here’s another excellent reason to invest in building a website: Engagement. Engagement plays a critical role in turning leads into life-long customers. Over 63% of consumers use a company’s website to engage with the brand. In this digitally-run world, you must create a robust online presence to engage prospects and get them to become customers. Without a website, you’re missing these critical moments where you can turn leads into conversions. An informative and visually-appealing website goes a long way in helping your business attract prospects, delight them, and turn them into clients for your company.
People want to do more than buy products online Many business owners ask themselves, “Do I need a website for my business?” and respond with “I don’t sell my products online, so there’s no point.” We’re here to squash that myth. A website isn’t just for ecommerce businesses — it’s for everyone. You don’t need to sell products online to have a website. Even if you sell products that are too big to plop into a virtual shopping cart, like construction equipment or building materials, a site still benefits your business. A website will attract prospects to your company. Why? People want to do more than buy products online. There are three main types of search queries on Google: Informational: Users conducting searches to learn about specific subjects or topics. Navigational: Users looking for a specific page or website. Transactional: Users searching with the intent to purchase products. Want to guess which type of search query is most popular on Google? It’s informational.People conduct dozens of searches every day, looking for information.
Whether it’s asking a simple question like “How old is Betty White?” or something more in-depth like “How to build my credit score,” people conduct queries looking for information. Even if you don’t provide products online, you provide information. Whether it’s information about your business or content on topics in your industry, you have an excellent opportunity to educate your audience. When people feel informed, they’re more likely to convert. Since you provided the helpful information they needed, they’re more likely to choose your business when it comes time to convert because they trust you. Again, you don’t need to be an ecommerce business to have a website online. When created properly, a site will benefit any company by providing prospects with helpful information, which can grow brand awareness, trust, and more. People see you with your competition Do you know who isn’t asking the question, “Do I need a website for my business?” Your competitors — because they already have one. If you want to remain competitive, you need a website. Your competition is one of the most important reasons to have a site.
Without a website for your business, people who search online will find and visit your competitor’s company instead. Did you know that 50% of users visit a store within a day of conducting a local search? That means, if you don’t have a website, these users are visiting your competitors instead. You’re missing an opportunity to attract new leads and drive them to your business. If you want to remain in competition with your competitors, you must invest in building a website for your business. It will help you establish an online presence among competing companies and drive more leads to your organization instead of the competition. How to make a website for your small-to-midsize business If you’re asking, “Do I need a website for my business?” and now answering “Yes,” it’s time to get started on building your business’s dream website. Check out these three quick tips for creating your dream website:
Choose who’s going to develop it First, decide who will make your website. You have three options: Do it yourself Hire a freelancer Partner with a web design company So, which option is best for your business? That’s up to you to decide! If you’re looking to save money, you can build your website yourself. If you don’t have experience with web design, don’t put the pressure on yourself to try and create a website. It will cause you more stress trying to find the right design and add the correct elements to your site than if you hire a web design company. In the case that you don’t do it yourself, you can hire a freelance web designer.
The biggest problem with freelancers is that you typically hire them for one-time needs, like building your design or updating your design. That means you still need someone to monitor your site for errors after the design is up, which comes at an extra cost to your business. If you want ongoing help with your website, a web design agency may fit your needs best. A web design agency will help you build a custom website unique to your business and help you monitor your design to ensure everything operates correctly. A potential downside of web design companies, however, is overpaying for services. If you hire a web design agency, you need to be proactive by researching web design costs and creating a realistic budget for your company. By setting a budget, you’ll know which web design companies will work well with your business. Additionally, a good web design company will offer transparent pricing and only provide you with the services you need, like . The right web design company will also respect your budget and deliver a website unique to your business.
Pick your web design style One of the best reasons to have a website is that it creates an opportunity for you to showcase your unique brand. When you’re designing your website, you’ll want to choose your website’s design style. Establish your web design style by creating a brand style guide. Your style guide helps you stay consistent with web design and implement your brand’s unique style into your website. Stick to colors that reflect your brand. If you have a color scheme already, like on traditional marketing pieces, carry that style over to your website. Establish colors and styles for every aspect of your site, including: Website colors Font colors
Font styles Image/video styles Copywriting style Whether you want a rustic or elegant brand identity, establish a brand look that works for your business. Use search engine optimization (SEO) Great web design goes beyond the visual aspects. You need a website that appears in search results and drives traffic to your page. With search engine optimization (SEO), you’ll help your beautifully designed site appear in more relevant search results. SEO helps people find you when they search online. From keyword integration to page speed optimization, SEO enables you to create a discoverable website that’s easy for your audience to browse. This strategy helps you compete with competitors too.
If you’re using SEO, you’ll achieve better rankings in search results, which will allow you to outrank your competitors. You’ll drive more traffic to your website and earn more leads for your business. If you choose to outsource your website design, partner with an SEO web design agency. An SEO web design agency will know how to build a beautifully designed site and optimize it for search engines. To learn more about SEO, check out our guide, SEO From Start to Finish! We don’t want to tell you about the work we do, we want to SHOW you. View Our Portfolio WE’VE BUILT OVER 1,100 WEBSITES in a variety of industries.
Do I need a website for my business? Yes! Your website is the heart of your online presence and all your digital marketing efforts. If you want to drive traffic and earn valuable leads, you must build a website that reflects your business and focuses on delivering an excellent experience for your audience. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with building your website, let take that weight off your shoulders. We’ve won dozens of web design awards and have a team of over 450 experts that will help you build your dream website. If your business has gotten this far without a website, you might be wondering: do I need a website for my business? What’s the point if my business is already successful without one? The short answer is that there has never been a better or more important time to invest in a website for your business. A website offers a wide variety of benefits for small businesses, and most of these benefits increase in value exponentially year over year, just like the Internet itself.
Does your small #business need a #website? 10 reasons the answer is a resounding yes 🙌 CLICK TO TWEET Not convinced? We’ve collected ten of the biggest benefits your small business can receive from even a simple website. Ten reasons why you need a website for your small business A website makes you look professional 84% of today’s consumers think a website makes your business more credible than companies who only have social media profiles. Your website is also the perfect place to show off any professional certifications or awards your business has.
Beyond that, having your own website lets you create a branded email address (e.g. dianna@yoursite.com) which adds a level of professionalism to all of your correspondence, especially if you’ve used a personal email address to conduct business up until now. In addition, some email marketing tools no longer allow users to send emails from personal addresses. This means that if you want to take advantage of the power of email marketing, you’ll need a business email account. Your website can attract new customers through Google You may be happy with the current size of your business, but every company experiences customer turnover. To encourage continued success, you need to attract new customers, and one of the best ways to do it is by making yourself more visible on Google. Social media networks are indexed on Google, and social media posts can be found with the search engine, but a website gives you access to many more tools and strategies for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). And SEO is the key to making your business appear on the front page of Google.
The phrase “search engine optimization” might be intimidating, but in practice, it’s fairly simple. You enter words and phrases related to your business into a keyword research tool, figure out which ones are getting the most traffic on Google, then build your content around those phrases. As a rule, each piece of content should be focused on a different keyword, so that as your list of content grows, your site is able to rank for more keywords. There are some excellent SEO plugins for WordPress that make it easy to do this, no previous training required. You can clearly showcase your products and services You can show potential customers what they’ll get when they work with you by displaying high-quality photography on your website. Take a look at how the UK restaurant Blackhouse has accomplished this on their website: The Blockhouse business needs a website to show pictures of its food You can also use your website design, along with the featured images, to give people a sense of what it feels like to enter your physical location. This works particularly well if your brand is closely tied to the “feel” of your location, like the Canadian restaurant Stormcrow Manor.
The Stormcrown Manner need a website to give a feel for its decor Another thing you can do is publish important information about your products and services on your website to make sure you’re attracting the right customers. For example, if you run a restaurant, you might want to mark any items on your menu that are gluten-free so people with Celiac or other conditions that make gluten dangerous know they can eat in your establishment. You can display your best reviews and testimonials prominently on your website Displaying your best reviews and/or testimonials prominently on your website is a great way to establish social proof. This might come in the form of personal customer testimonials, like this review on the website of the non-profit organization STEAMLabs: Testimonials at the Steamlabs website If your business has appeared in articles from newspapers or popular local blogs, you can also feature those, as Stormcrow Manor has done below: Storm Crow manner publication list Publishing your best reviews on your website also serves the secondary purpose of creating a permanent archive. This means that even if third-party review sites close at some point in the future, you’ll still have access to your best reviews. A website can encourage customers to contact you
A website is a great place to make your contact information easily available to potential customers. You can even publish your contact information in a header or footer so it appears on every single page. Snakes and Lattes, a small chain of board game cafes, has placed phone numbers for all four of their locations in their website footer: Snakes and Lattes displaying its various locations Modern website builders (more on those in a bit) also make it easy to create a contact form, which can protect your business email from spam. You can integrate your website with Google Maps so people can find you more easily A website lets you embed maps directly into your content. Some businesses, like STEAMLabs, have a map embedded directly onto their home page: Steamlabs embeds a Google Maps map An embedded map makes it easy for people who don’t spend a lot of time in your area to find your business. This is particularly great if you host events, as they might attract people who wouldn’t otherwise spend time in the neighborhood your business is in.
Your website establishes your place in your industry As of 2021, 71% of small businesses have websites and 81% of customers research things online before they buy them. In other words, if your competitors are online and you’re not, those competitors get the first interactions with customers. Creating a website gives you a space to share what your business is about, establish your role in the industry, and connect with the customers who need you. A website is no longer intimidating to create and manage Modern website builders like Squarespace and Wix make it easy for you to build an attractive, mobile-friendly site without any knowledge of code. Even WordPress, the most popular way to make a website, has transitioned to a block editor: The WordPress block editor makes it easy to create a website for your small business In other words, it has never been simpler to create a functional, aesthetically pleasing website.
How to make a website with WordPress 👈 A website ensures your success over the long term As of January 2021, almost 66 billion people (55% of the global population) used the Internet. In many countries, that number is much higher. In the US, for example, over 90% of people are online. Without a website, your business is invisible to these people. As we progress further into the digital era, your business will become invisible to everyone unless you invest in a website. So to stay competitive in this increasingly digital world, your business needs to get online. You can get all of these benefits without spending a fortune Building a website isn’t just easier than it used to be; it’s also more affordable. If you’re willing to follow a simple, non-technical DIY approach, you can build a website for under $100/year.
WordPress, which again is the most popular way to build a website, is 100% free for the core software. If you add a free WordPress theme like Neve or Hestia and cheap website hosting, you can be up and running at a very low cost. Learn more about how much a website costs 👈 So, do I need a website for my business? The final verdict Hopefully, by now you’ve realized that the question isn’t “do I need a website for my business”, but “can I afford to not have a website in the digital era”. And the answer, if you want to continue thriving in the long term, is no. More and more, even staying afloat without a business website is impossible. Your customers are online, your competitors are online, and if you’re not there to intervene, your competitors and your customers will connect, leaving you in the lurch. Does your small #business need a #website? 10 reasons the answer is a resounding yes 🙌 CLICK TO TWEET If you’re ready to get started, check out our recommendation of great website builders for small businesses, or our simple, step-by-step tutorial on how to make a website with WordPress. Again, WordPress is the most popular way to build a website – it powers over one-third of all the websites on the Internet. It’s also affordable and accessible to non-technical users, which is a big part of why it’s so popular.
Website Design ExeterYour small business needs a website. Here's how to build one. Building a small business website is important to inform your audience, explain your value proposition, boost brand recognition and drive sales. To build a business website, you first need to choose a domain name and secure web hosting. Then, optimize your website to improve your search engine rankings and drive traffic. Keep your website up to date and optimized for mobile devices. Also, ensure your site speed is adequate to improve your search engine rankings. This article is for small business owners looking to build a website or improve upon their existing website. It’s no longer feasible to run a business, even a brick-and-mortar one, without a web presence. Consumers turn to the internet for everything from product research to location and operating hours. Even just a simple, well-designed website can give you an edge in your field, and if you have products to sell, your site can open up new markets and expand your business cheaply and easily.
Website design software has evolved to be easy for anyone to use. You don’t need to know coding to develop an attractive and functional site. No matter what program you use, you just need to follow some basic rules and tips to give your website a professional look, make it easy to find, and show your company in the best light. Here’s our step-by-step guide to creating a successful business website. Determine the primary purpose of your website. A business website generally serves as a space to provide general information about your company or a direct platform for e-commerce. Whether you create a simple website that tells a little about your company or a more complex e-commerce site, the most important thing you must do is say what your company does – on the homepage in plain terms. Don’t make customers root around to discover if your company can do what they need, warned Erin Pheil of website design company Followbright.
Editor’s note: Looking for the right website design service for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs. “Think about your specific user experience and the journey the user will go through as they navigate your site,” added Gabriel Shaoolian, CEO of website design and digital marketing agency Blue Fountain Media. “Whatever the fundamental goal of your website is or whatever the focus may be, users should be easily able to achieve it, and the goal itself should be reinforced as users navigate throughout your site.” If you don’t plan to accept payments (like Apple Pay) through your website, you won’t have as much work to do in setting it up. If you are a retailer or service provider and want to offer customers the option to pay online, you’ll need to use an external service to receive your payments, which we’ll discuss later in this article.
What do you want people to think when they see your site? Edgy, modern, satirical, professional, something else? You can convey those things through your design. Just take a look at the psychology of color – different colors convey different emotions. In fact, a study titled “Impact of color on marketing” found that up to 90% of snap judgments made about products can be based on color alone, depending on the product. Beyond color, you also have font choice. And yes, there is a psychology behind font choice as well. Ted Hunt from Crazy Egg made this cool infographic about it: Psychology behind font choice Regardless of the font you choose for your logo and branding efforts, you should always choose readability over emotional feel for your main body font. Typically that means sans serif fonts, as they read the best on the web. One last tip on font choice: Don’t use more than two fonts in your design. Pick two that compliment each other and stick with those for your entire brand.
Key Takeaway: Choose no more than three colors and two fonts to represent your brand. Write down the fonts and color codes and use them consistently across your entire site and marketing efforts. Finding, Designing, and Using Images Imagery is a major part of website design. And yet so many people do it wrong. Great images add value to the visitor. They help explain a key point and give the eyes a break. They even help sell your products and services. For example, if you’re an eCommerce site, you want your product photos to be high-quality and show tons of different angles.
Which of these flowers would you rather buy? Website imagery (Source) If you even saw the image on the right, you’d probably leave and never come back. The middle image is better, but still not great. The one on the left makes you trust the website. Just be careful, because bad images actually reduce readership. Remember design principle #1: Great design has a purpose in mind. Any image that doesn’t have a purpose is a bad image. Period. If you needed more incentive, page load speed (which I discuss in section two), is extremely important to SEO and usability. Having too many big images slows your site down.
So, how do you find, design, and use images on your website? We wrote about some tools to make great images in this post. Go check it out. But to give you some inspiration, here are a few examples of good images you can use: Charts and graphs of data points Screenshots High-quality stock photography (choose wisely) Custom designs and vector graphics Professional (or at least well-done) photography Key Takeaway: Use images, but do so with a purpose in mind. 3 Examples of Beautiful Websites Knowing what makes a good website is easier when you see real-life examples.
Here are a few I love: KlientBoost is completely devoted to amazing website design. Their site oozes beautiful visuals. Klientboost Website Design CoSchedule is a site I look up to as well. Their whole site is based on great formatting and consistent branding. CoSchedule design example Expedia: Visit Britain received a developer award for its design. expedia-great-britain You can also see more examples that actually won awards for great design at Awwwards and Webby Awards. (Note: I also give a list of website templates with great visuals in the next section on responsive design, in case you’re like me and can’t code.) Enough about visuals. Let’s get a little geekier.
Technical Website Design (AKA “Geeky Stuff”) Technical web design includes things like: Responsive design and mobile-friendliness Fast load speeds Search engine optimization (SEO) SSL encryption Site architecture & navigation If any of these things made you say “What?”, don’t worry. I’ll explain them all in laymen’s terms. Responsive Design and Mobile-Friendliness
According to Smashing Magazine’s post Responsive Web Design: What It Is And How To Use It: “Responsive Web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation.” Responsive Web Design In other words, a responsive site is one that plays well on all screens and devices. It’s mobile-friendly and caters to the device you’re viewing it on. If you think that sounds complicated… it is. But it’s important. In fact, smartphones now account for over 51% of all online traffic, and tablets came in at just over 12%. And that number is growing. Also, Google cares a lot about mobile-friendliness. In fact, they now place a priority on ranking mobile-friendly sites (an update called “Mobilegeddon“).
Finally, mobile-friendly makes for a better user experience. And ultimately, it’s all about the user. They’re the ones opening their wallets to keep your business afloat. So what’s a non-designer to do? First, see if your site is considered mobile-friendly by Google with their mobile-friendly test. It’s also a good idea to check it yourself by going to your site on your phone. If it doesn’t score well or look good, you have some work to do. Mobile-friendly test Yay, we’re mobile-friendly! Besides hiring a designer, your best bet is to change your site’s template. This is the easiest and most affordable way to make your site mobile-friendly and responsive.
Here are some mobile-friendly templates for popular site builders: Mobile-friendly WordPress templates Mobile-friendly Shopify templates Mobile-friendly BigCommerce templates Mobile-friendly Magento templates Template Monster for multiple platforms Fast Website Load Speed According to surveys done by Akamai and Gomez.com, nearly half of web users expect a site to load in 2 seconds or less, and they tend to abandon a site that isn’t loaded in 3 seconds! That doesn’t give you much wiggle room. But if you’re still not convinced, get this: Roughly 79% of online shoppers who have trouble with website performance say they won’t return to the site to buy again, and around 44% of them would tell a friend if they had a poor experience shopping online. In other words, if your site speed sucks, you lose. Big Time. So how do you ensure a fast load speed? Try this: Like the mobile-friendly test, Google also has a page speed test. However, some believe it’s not very accurate, so it can’t hurt to also try Pingdom and GT Metrix.
All three will give you an idea of what’s hurting your load speeds, with suggestions to improve. Page speed test As you can see, there are a lot of ways to improve your site load speed, like browser caching and making above-the-fold content load first (the content you see without scrolling down the page). However, one of the easiest ways is optimizing and compressing your images. As I said in the visual section, images take up a lot of bandwidth. Which is why it’s important to only use images that are highly valuable. You can use a tool like Gimp to compress your images for free. (Here is a tutorial to do just that.) Pre- and post-Gimp image file sizes Search Engine Optimization (SEO) SEO means optimizing your site to show up in search engines like Google. It’s the bread and butter of what makes a good website.
Done right, it can drive thousands in traffic to your site every month without any extra effort. Done poorly, not a soul will find you on Google. According to Jon Rognerud, there are four steps to SEO. Here are some of Jon’s actionable takeaways: Know who you’re targeting and perform keyword research. Optimize your site pages with on-page SEO targeting those keywords. Create a strong sitemap for Google and Bing to index your site. This is highly simplified and there are a lot of other SEO factors, but these three tactics will get you well on your way to showing up in search results. This next piece of web design advice helps with both SEO and building trust with your visitors. Securing Your Site with SSL Encryption
You’ve probably seen the little green lock in your address bar next to a website. SSL Encryption This is called SSL encryption. Google gives encrypted sites a small SEO boost. But perhaps more important than that is the trust factor it gives your visitors. This is especially true if you sell anything on your website. People want to know their information is safe before they open their wallet. Migrating to SSL is a delicate process. Here’s a guide to migrate your site to SSL without hurting your search rankings. Site Architecture & Navigation Remember design principle #4: Have a clear site navigation. Navigation is important for two main reasons: Better SEO (because it makes it easier for Google to index your site). Better usability (because it’s easier for visitors to find their way around). Remember to use the “three click rule”: Every page on your site should be within three clicks of any other page on your site. To help you with this, consider mapping out your website. You can do it with a tool like Slickplan or just use pen and paper. They look like this:
Site Architecture Map Example Creating a physical map helps you see where you’re missing out on linking pages together, and keeps things organized. You should also keep your most important calls-to-action at the top of the page. This is where the most people see, so it’s a great place for a “shop now” button, a “contact us” tab, or a “learn more” button. Website Tools (AKA “Useful Stuff to Make Your Website Better”) Website tools are mentioned last because they can’t fix a broken website, but they can enhance an already good website. Here are a few of our favorite tools: Live Chat live-chat-widget Live chat is an essential part of a business website. Or at least, we like to think it is. We do offer it as a service, after all. 😊
But in all seriousness, live chat can help you provide excellent customer service, close customers who are on the edge and learn more about your target market. In fact, in this post, we detail how to use live chat to survey your customers so you can improve your marketing. You can also receive notifications when visitors arrive on your site even before a chat conversation! Conversio Cart Abandonment Recovery Cart Abandonment Recovery Email If we wrote “What makes a good eCommerce website”, Conversio would top our list. It automatically sends emails like the one above to try to recover abandoned carts. (Side Note: The advice in this article does apply to eCommerce sites as well. So if you have an online shop, rest assured you’re not wasting your time by reading this.)
Anyway, with 69% of people abandoning their carts on average, you’ll be taking full advantage of this tool. They also offer services like newsletter sending, product recommendations, and a stronger site search bar. MailChimp Email Opt-in Forms Have you ever seen an in line opt-in form like the one below, and wondered how to get one on your site? Free Bonus: Enter your email to get a free website redesign checklist, along with a PDF version of this post. Enter your email address SEND ME THE CHECKLIST Well, we use MailChimp and a premium MailChimp WordPress plugin to do it. Here’s a 60-second explainer video:
AddThis Social Sharing Buttons See the sharing buttons to the left of the screen? They’re from a plugin called AddThis. AddThis also has a few other features like a follow button and a related posts widget. Yoast SEO We talked about how SEO is important for a modern website. Yoast SEO makes on-page SEO super easy. It gives you a checklist to show you what you need to add/edit to optimize your page for the keyword you choose: Yoast SEO WordPress PluginW3 Total Cache Load speed is critical for SEO and usability. One of the ways to increase site load speed is with browser caching. W3 Total Cache makes caching super easy.
Here’s a guide to help you set it up. Google Analytics What’s free, easy to install, and highly beneficial? Google analytics. Google analytics can give you SO much insight on where your traffic is coming from, going, and stopping. And since it’s free, there’s no excuse not to use it. Here’s a guide to installing and using Google analytics. Real-time Visitor Monitoring: Frequently Asked Questions Conclusion We’ve come to the end of our journey. Give yourself a pat on the back. So what did we learn? Basically, your website is your business card. It’s the thing everyone – your customers, shareholders, friends, family, and cat – sees when they think of doing business with you.
By keeping your website looking sharp, you ensure everyone who visits it views you as trustworthy, professional, and worthy of doing business with. Plus, a strong website pulls in traffic through Google, gets links from authoritative sites, and is shared more often. We’re in 2020. A great website is no longer a “nice to have”. It’s an absolute must. Did you redesign or launch your site after reading this guide? Please share it with us in the comments below! And, as always, feel free to ask questions. In today’s digitally connected world, it’s not enough to just provide a service well—you also have to market. No matter what type of business you’re in, having a strong online presence can help increase the weight of your brand.
A strong online presence can grow your audience, engage existing customers and help you sell more easily. All of this begins with having a website that speaks to your business’s unique offerings and message. Creating a website can seem daunting, but you don’t have to do it alone! has hundreds of skilled independent professionals with extensive experience in web development that can partner with you in building your website. If you decide that building a website is something you want to do on your own, there are many tools at your disposal to make this process easier. This step-by-step guide will show you how to: Define your vision for your website Purchase a domain name Choose a hosting provider Pick a website builder Select a website theme Plan and produce page content
Digital Marketing ExeterAdd functionality for your business Start measuring key metrics Test for bugs and compatibility issues Adapt to keep up with customers Build your website with the world’s best Define your vision for your website Before you can dive into website building, you’ll need to do a little bit of homework. You’ll want to begin planning what you want your site to accomplish. Is your goal to drive more readers to your blog? Do you want visitors to make a purchase? Once users hit your site, what do you want them to do? Asking yourself these key questions will help you define your website’s purpose. From there, you’ll also need to consider the website’s function, design and content. Function
Here, you’ll decide the main objective of your website. Maybe you provide a service, like consulting, and want to encourage users to reach out via a contact form. Perhaps you plan to sell products in an online store and need an e-commerce platform that allows users to view specific product pages. Or maybe your objective is to educate and create readership. Take some time to think about how your website can best serve your business and keep this function in mind as you begin to build. For example, suppose you’re a photographer and need to showcase your skill set. In this case, the main function of your website would be to display your work. On the other hand, if you run a communications agency, the main objective of your website would be the specific services you provide (public relations, content development and marketing, etc.). Join the world's work marketplace Find Talent
Design It’s important to have an idea about what you want your website to look like. Perhaps you’re looking to create conversations by showing users a portfolio of work. In that case, you might want a grid-like layout with templates that are easily repeatable to showcase new work. You might decide on-brand colors, logos, and specific imagery that ties into the overall look you’re hoping to achieve. Whatever web design you choose, make sure it’s flexible enough to serve your function and simple enough to maintain. It should also align with your brand’s personality. Content What type of content will you need to live on your new website? Creating a quick sitemap of the pages that you’re hoping to create and what needs to be on each is a great way to get organized. You can easily do this in Google Sheets or Excel. Once you’ve chosen your pages (for example, “Home,” “Blog,” “Testimonials,” “Portfolio,” and “Contact”), decide what information you want to put on each page. If it needs to be created, make that a priority. If you already have content, start compiling it.
Key Takeaway: Choose no more than three colors and two fonts to represent your brand. Write down the fonts and color codes and use them consistently across your entire site and marketing efforts. Finding, Designing, and Using Images Imagery is a major part of website design. And yet so many people do it wrong. Great images add value to the visitor. They help explain a key point and give the eyes a break. They even help sell your products and services. For example, if you’re an eCommerce site, you want your product photos to be high-quality and show tons of different angles.
Which of these flowers would you rather buy? Website imagery (Source) If you even saw the image on the right, you’d probably leave and never come back. The middle image is better, but still not great. The one on the left makes you trust the website. Just be careful, because bad images actually reduce readership. Remember design principle #1: Great design has a purpose in mind. Any image that doesn’t have a purpose is a bad image. Period. If you needed more incentive, page load speed (which I discuss in section two), is extremely important to SEO and usability. Having too many big images slows your site down.
So, how do you find, design, and use images on your website? We wrote about some tools to make great images in this post. Go check it out. But to give you some inspiration, here are a few examples of good images you can use: Charts and graphs of data points Screenshots High-quality stock photography (choose wisely) Custom designs and vector graphics Professional (or at least well-done) photography Key Takeaway: Use images, but do so with a purpose in mind. 3 Examples of Beautiful Websites Knowing what makes a good website is easier when you see real-life examples.
Here are a few I love: KlientBoost is completely devoted to amazing website design. Their site oozes beautiful visuals. Klientboost Website Design CoSchedule is a site I look up to as well. Their whole site is based on great formatting and consistent branding. CoSchedule design example Expedia: Visit Britain received a developer award for its design. expedia-great-britain You can also see more examples that actually won awards for great design at Awwwards and Webby Awards. (Note: I also give a list of website templates with great visuals in the next section on responsive design, in case you’re like me and can’t code.) Enough about visuals. Let’s get a little geekier.
Technical Website Design (AKA “Geeky Stuff”) Technical web design includes things like: Responsive design and mobile-friendliness Fast load speeds Search engine optimization (SEO) SSL encryption Site architecture & navigation If any of these things made you say “What?”, don’t worry. I’ll explain them all in laymen’s terms. Responsive Design and Mobile-Friendliness
According to Smashing Magazine’s post Responsive Web Design: What It Is And How To Use It: “Responsive Web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation.” Responsive Web Design In other words, a responsive site is one that plays well on all screens and devices. It’s mobile-friendly and caters to the device you’re viewing it on. If you think that sounds complicated… it is. But it’s important. In fact, smartphones now account for over 51% of all online traffic, and tablets came in at just over 12%. And that number is growing. Also, Google cares a lot about mobile-friendliness. In fact, they now place a priority on ranking mobile-friendly sites (an update called “Mobilegeddon“).
Finally, mobile-friendly makes for a better user experience. And ultimately, it’s all about the user. They’re the ones opening their wallets to keep your business afloat. So what’s a non-designer to do? First, see if your site is considered mobile-friendly by Google with their mobile-friendly test. It’s also a good idea to check it yourself by going to your site on your phone. If it doesn’t score well or look good, you have some work to do. Mobile-friendly test Yay, we’re mobile-friendly! Besides hiring a designer, your best bet is to change your site’s template. This is the easiest and most affordable way to make your site mobile-friendly and responsive.
Here are some mobile-friendly templates for popular site builders: Mobile-friendly WordPress templates Mobile-friendly Shopify templates Mobile-friendly BigCommerce templates Mobile-friendly Magento templates Template Monster for multiple platforms Fast Website Load Speed According to surveys done by Akamai and Gomez.com, nearly half of web users expect a site to load in 2 seconds or less, and they tend to abandon a site that isn’t loaded in 3 seconds! That doesn’t give you much wiggle room. But if you’re still not convinced, get this: Roughly 79% of online shoppers who have trouble with website performance say they won’t return to the site to buy again, and around 44% of them would tell a friend if they had a poor experience shopping online. In other words, if your site speed sucks, you lose. Big Time. So how do you ensure a fast load speed? Try this: Like the mobile-friendly test, Google also has a page speed test. However, some believe it’s not very accurate, so it can’t hurt to also try Pingdom and GT Metrix.
All three will give you an idea of what’s hurting your load speeds, with suggestions to improve. Page speed test As you can see, there are a lot of ways to improve your site load speed, like browser caching and making above-the-fold content load first (the content you see without scrolling down the page). However, one of the easiest ways is optimizing and compressing your images. As I said in the visual section, images take up a lot of bandwidth. Which is why it’s important to only use images that are highly valuable. You can use a tool like Gimp to compress your images for free. (Here is a tutorial to do just that.) Pre- and post-Gimp image file sizes Search Engine Optimization (SEO) SEO means optimizing your site to show up in search engines like Google. It’s the bread and butter of what makes a good website.
Done right, it can drive thousands in traffic to your site every month without any extra effort. Done poorly, not a soul will find you on Google. According to Jon Rognerud, there are four steps to SEO. Here are some of Jon’s actionable takeaways: Know who you’re targeting and perform keyword research. Optimize your site pages with on-page SEO targeting those keywords. Create a strong sitemap for Google and Bing to index your site. This is highly simplified and there are a lot of other SEO factors, but these three tactics will get you well on your way to showing up in search results. This next piece of web design advice helps with both SEO and building trust with your visitors. Securing Your Site with SSL Encryption
You’ve probably seen the little green lock in your address bar next to a website. SSL Encryption This is called SSL encryption. Google gives encrypted sites a small SEO boost. But perhaps more important than that is the trust factor it gives your visitors. This is especially true if you sell anything on your website. People want to know their information is safe before they open their wallet. Migrating to SSL is a delicate process. Here’s a guide to migrate your site to SSL without hurting your search rankings. Site Architecture & Navigation Remember design principle #4: Have a clear site navigation. Navigation is important for two main reasons: Better SEO (because it makes it easier for Google to index your site). Better usability (because it’s easier for visitors to find their way around). Remember to use the “three click rule”: Every page on your site should be within three clicks of any other page on your site. To help you with this, consider mapping out your website. You can do it with a tool like Slickplan or just use pen and paper. They look like this:
Site Architecture Map Example Creating a physical map helps you see where you’re missing out on linking pages together, and keeps things organized. You should also keep your most important calls-to-action at the top of the page. This is where the most people see, so it’s a great place for a “shop now” button, a “contact us” tab, or a “learn more” button. Website Tools (AKA “Useful Stuff to Make Your Website Better”) Website tools are mentioned last because they can’t fix a broken website, but they can enhance an already good website. Here are a few of our favorite tools: Live Chat live-chat-widget Live chat is an essential part of a business website. Or at least, we like to think it is. We do offer it as a service, after all. 😊
But in all seriousness, live chat can help you provide excellent customer service, close customers who are on the edge and learn more about your target market. In fact, in this post, we detail how to use live chat to survey your customers so you can improve your marketing. You can also receive notifications when visitors arrive on your site even before a chat conversation! Conversio Cart Abandonment Recovery Cart Abandonment Recovery Email If we wrote “What makes a good eCommerce website”, Conversio would top our list. It automatically sends emails like the one above to try to recover abandoned carts. (Side Note: The advice in this article does apply to eCommerce sites as well. So if you have an online shop, rest assured you’re not wasting your time by reading this.)
Anyway, with 69% of people abandoning their carts on average, you’ll be taking full advantage of this tool. They also offer services like newsletter sending, product recommendations, and a stronger site search bar. MailChimp Email Opt-in Forms Have you ever seen an in line opt-in form like the one below, and wondered how to get one on your site? Free Bonus: Enter your email to get a free website redesign checklist, along with a PDF version of this post. Enter your email address SEND ME THE CHECKLIST Well, we use MailChimp and a premium MailChimp WordPress plugin to do it. Here’s a 60-second explainer video:
AddThis Social Sharing Buttons See the sharing buttons to the left of the screen? They’re from a plugin called AddThis. AddThis also has a few other features like a follow button and a related posts widget. Yoast SEO We talked about how SEO is important for a modern website. Yoast SEO makes on-page SEO super easy. It gives you a checklist to show you what you need to add/edit to optimize your page for the keyword you choose: Yoast SEO WordPress PluginW3 Total Cache Load speed is critical for SEO and usability. One of the ways to increase site load speed is with browser caching. W3 Total Cache makes caching super easy.
Here’s a guide to help you set it up. Google Analytics What’s free, easy to install, and highly beneficial? Google analytics. Google analytics can give you SO much insight on where your traffic is coming from, going, and stopping. And since it’s free, there’s no excuse not to use it. Here’s a guide to installing and using Google analytics. Real-time Visitor Monitoring: Frequently Asked Questions Conclusion We’ve come to the end of our journey. Give yourself a pat on the back. So what did we learn? Basically, your website is your business card. It’s the thing everyone – your customers, shareholders, friends, family, and cat – sees when they think of doing business with you.
By keeping your website looking sharp, you ensure everyone who visits it views you as trustworthy, professional, and worthy of doing business with. Plus, a strong website pulls in traffic through Google, gets links from authoritative sites, and is shared more often. We’re in 2020. A great website is no longer a “nice to have”. It’s an absolute must. Did you redesign or launch your site after reading this guide? Please share it with us in the comments below! And, as always, feel free to ask questions. In today’s digitally connected world, it’s not enough to just provide a service well—you also have to market. No matter what type of business you’re in, having a strong online presence can help increase the weight of your brand.
A strong online presence can grow your audience, engage existing customers and help you sell more easily. All of this begins with having a website that speaks to your business’s unique offerings and message. Creating a website can seem daunting, but you don’t have to do it alone! has hundreds of skilled independent professionals with extensive experience in web development that can partner with you in building your website. If you decide that building a website is something you want to do on your own, there are many tools at your disposal to make this process easier. This step-by-step guide will show you how to: Define your vision for your website Purchase a domain name Choose a hosting provider Pick a website builder Select a website theme Plan and produce page content
Add functionality for your business Start measuring key metrics Test for bugs and compatibility issues Adapt to keep up with customers Build your website with the world’s best Define your vision for your website Before you can dive into website building, you’ll need to do a little bit of homework. You’ll want to begin planning what you want your site to accomplish. Is your goal to drive more readers to your blog? Do you want visitors to make a purchase? Once users hit your site, what do you want them to do? Asking yourself these key questions will help you define your website’s purpose. From there, you’ll also need to consider the website’s function, design and content. Function
SEO ExeterHere, you’ll decide the main objective of your website. Maybe you provide a service, like consulting, and want to encourage users to reach out via a contact form. Perhaps you plan to sell products in an online store and need an e-commerce platform that allows users to view specific product pages. Or maybe your objective is to educate and create readership. Take some time to think about how your website can best serve your business and keep this function in mind as you begin to build. For example, suppose you’re a photographer and need to showcase your skill set. In this case, the main function of your website would be to display your work. On the other hand, if you run a communications agency, the main objective of your website would be the specific services you provide (public relations, content development and marketing, etc.). Join the world's work marketplace Find Talent
Design It’s important to have an idea about what you want your website to look like. Perhaps you’re looking to create conversations by showing users a portfolio of work. In that case, you might want a grid-like layout with templates that are easily repeatable to showcase new work. You might decide on-brand colors, logos, and specific imagery that ties into the overall look you’re hoping to achieve. Whatever web design you choose, make sure it’s flexible enough to serve your function and simple enough to maintain. It should also align with your brand’s personality. Content What type of content will you need to live on your new website? Creating a quick sitemap of the pages that you’re hoping to create and what needs to be on each is a great way to get organized. You can easily do this in Google Sheets or Excel. Once you’ve chosen your pages (for example, “Home,” “Blog,” “Testimonials,” “Portfolio,” and “Contact”), decide what information you want to put on each page. If it needs to be created, make that a priority. If you already have content, start compiling it.
Browse Project Catalog for more web development services. Purchase a domain name Next, decide on a domain name for your website. A domain name is the address visitors use to find your website. For example, if your business is “Sydney’s Catering,” pick a custom domain that easily describes your business. You can choose your business name, but you’ll need to do a quick domain search to determine if the name is available. It’s best to compile a list of possible domains before running a search. Domain registrars are accredited companies designed to help you buy and register a domain name for your website. While there are many domain name registrars, a few are Domain.com, Bluehost and GoDaddy. To see if the domain you’re hoping to use is free, run a search on a domain name registrar site. If the name you want is available, great! If not, keep trying until you find one that’s not already taken. Once you find a domain name, the registrar usually makes it easy to purchase it online, giving you access to your domain in minutes. Domain names typically cost somewhere between $10 and $15 annually. However, there are free domain name options available, usually included as a special offer to new users by the registrars listed above. Looking to set up a Website but not sure how much money it will take? Try the Free Website Cost Calculator tool to estimate costs associated with setting up a website.
