With more people than ever relying on the internet to do everything from their weekly food shop to booking an MOT, it’s critically important for all businesses to have their online presence in order. This all starts with a professional website.
There are essential key elements a business website should have to ensure it is engaging, easy-to-use, and functioning perfectly for your customers. In this article we’ll look at what you need to have a successful website.
Eye-Catching Design
Think about it, what’s the first thing you notice when you go on a website? Nine times out of ten, it’s the design. Web design is a crucial part of creating a successful website and in order to achieve that success, every design element should focus on the user. You should think about things including, “Will these images appeal to the user?”, “Is the layout easy to use?”, and “How will the design appear on the user’s device?”. Everything is about the user or, in this case, your potential customer. If you have a site that is poorly designed, hard to navigate, and with no clear visuals, you could lose that customer.
A well-thought-out colour scheme, carefully selected high-quality images, an easy-to-use layout, and other pieces of engaging content are all things you could easily implement on your existing website to enhance the user experience and turn visitors into loyal customers. Ultimately, a well-designed site can help build trust and guide visitors to act.
Speed Is Everything!
There’s nothing more frustrating than using a website that has a slow load time and this is how we know that improving load time is one of the most important things to consider when creating a successful website. Page load time is the average amount of time it takes for a page to show up on your screen with all content. The load time is made up from two different parts; the network and server time. This is based on the internet connection of the user and how quickly static assets, such as photos and other files, are received. The second is browser time and this is how long it takes for the browser to parse and execute the content and render the page available for the user to see. Issues such as large file sizes, too much content, or a small website server could have a huge impact on how quickly your website loads.
So, why is speed important? The modern consumer is used to accessing everything they need at a touch of a button, so they’d expect your website to be fully loaded within seconds. If your website takes more than a couple of seconds to load, it’s likely the visitor will leave and not come back. A slow website means less visitors, which will inevitably impact the number of customers. Search engines like Google use page load times within their algorithms to determine the search engine rankings of a site. This is extremely important when building an online presence because better SEO means more potential visitors to your site.
Add an eCommerce facility
If you sell a product, it’s essential to add an eCommerce function to your website. However, did you know that as part of the digital transformation of your business, you can use the eCommerce function for so much more than just selling products! By adding an eCommerce function, you allow customers to make transactions anytime online without the need to contact you as normal. Whether you’re taking sign-ups for an online course or want to offer a place for customers to book an appointment, adding eCommerce to your site will allow payment to be made safely, securely, and easily.
Mobile First!
Thanks to technology, everything is accessible within the palm of your hand. Therefore, the majority of those who are visiting your website won’t be able to do so from a computer – they’ll be visiting from their phones. Making sure your site is mobile friendly is the perfect way to reach your audience without limitations.
This means when designing and building your website, you should always check how it looks on a mobile, tablet, and computer. Not doing so could result in a bad user experience for your visitors.
Is your website prepared enough to succeed in 2021? We’re currently offering a completely FREE website health check that will tell you everything you need to improve your online presence. Get in touch to found out more.