Although there may be millions of websites out there on the great internet, they all have some purpose. Almost 2 billion (with a “B”) is the current number thrown around of how many sites are out there. Only about 400 million are active, though.
So why don’t we chat for a few seconds about the things you need to think about while creating your site. You can have one of those thousands of new sites made before you know it.
Where will it be?
Well, sure the site may be on your laptop, but the site has to be hosted somewhere. Meaning, your millions of potential visitors cannot all come to your house to see the site. It has to be put on a web server out there that can handle the visitors it attracts. Plus once your site is being hosted, is there backup and security for your site? Is the hosting scalable? Do they have tech support for you 24-7? Doing your homework is the point here.
What is it called?
Choosing a website name – your URL or Uniform Resource Locator, has to be thought about profusely. What will your website do (that purpose I was talking about)? SEO or search engine optimization is important for your name, as well. Also, let’s keep the name short and easy to spell. So you take the SEO, the short easy name and add some branding identity and put it all together, and create a website name that will bring your new visitors running!
How’s It Made?
Are you going to be selling something or are you ranting or just showing off those socks you darned for your bearded dragons? Each one will require a different platform to build it to run efficiently on the net. E-Commerce has to be on a CMS (content management system) that will be secure enough for people to trust your site enough to buy from it. Some well-trusted names are Wix, Shopify, WooCommerce, or Zyro.
On the other hand, if you are just ranting, then WordPress will probably satisfy your needs. WordPress alone has over 4000 free customizable website templates to choose from. They rule supreme over web content on the net, so they can most likely take care of you. They can probably handle showing off those dragon socks, too.
Where Are They Going?
The navigation on any site is paramount. Not only for your web travelers, but for the SEO of your site, as well. The links to different pages have to make sense. The pages all have to also have a site map to show the overall structure of your site as well. Try to ensure that navigating your website is as effortless as possible.
Colors
Having an effective color scheme screams professionality. Depending on what you are doing on the web, you have to think about your shades and hues. Are you trying to hype your guest up or grab their credit card? These types of major commitments make or break that site you are currently toiling over.
How Quick?
In this day and age, you have to be quick. That means your website, too. Check to make sure all your pages are fast to load and that your images are optimized for the web. You may be on a super speedy network connection with your ISP(Internet service provider), but that does not mean your customers or readers are.
Legal Stuff
Unfortunately, nowadays having a good Terms and Conditions page is good to have for your site, especially if it’s e-commerce. Don’t know how to write one? You can use a customer T&C’s template to understand the basics. Attorney drafted to take all the worry out of the legal stuff so you can concentrate on the other things.
Web Presence
Search engine optimization is of great importance if you want more visitors. If you are using WordPress, for example, there are plug-ins for helping to get people to notice you through SEO. You have alt tags for your images to use, you have meta tags for the search engines to know what your site does to get cataloged properly. If you want to get to the first page of search results organically(meaning you don’t pay to get there), then work on your SEO.
There are more pertinent points to be made here in this short guide to web design, but these happen to be the first step decisions that have to be made to ensure moving forward is not a painful experience. If you need any help in website design you can also check our other articles.
