Websites are a way to communicate with possible customers in a more personal manner. If you have a business that needs advertising, then having a website is one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience. Having a high-quality site will improve your chances for success greatly when running any type of business online. In this article, we will discuss what makes a website stand out.
Well Designed & Functional
A website needs to be well-designed and functional. This means that it should load quickly, run smoothly, and there should be no glitches or errors when you visit the site. The design of the site is important as well. You want it to stand out and look professional at the same time. Unsurprisingly, the number one question that usually comes up is; how long does it take to develop a website? According to statistics, about 15-20 hours of time is required to create a single page of HTML code. The amount of time it takes will depend on the size and complexity of your website. You should expect anything from several weeks to over 5 months for something like an e-commerce website. That’s why it’s best to hire a professional to sort it out for you.
SEO Friendly
Search engine optimization is something that will help improve your site rankings and could have a positive impact on your website. It can take time, but when it’s done properly the benefits are well worth the effort. In short, SEO is making it easier for people to find you when they search for keywords related to your business. The better your rankings, the more traffic you’ll get from potential customers, simply because it brings them right to your door without even trying hard. When planning out a new website, keep SEO in mind and make sure that this important feature is built into the site design and structure down to every last detail.
Your site needs to be optimized in many different ways for it all to work properly. The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) code must be written, so search engines can easily find and index your website materials. One way of doing this is by putting most of the keywords & key phrases towards the beginning of the code. If you need help, there are many ‘SEO gurus’ or Search Engine Optimization professionals that can do this for you.
Crawling & Indexing
When someone visits one of your pages or posts something about you on another site, it’s time for your content to start getting indexed. Crawling is the process where search engines find you and put you on their list of websites to check regularly. If they can’t find you or there are no links or mentions about your website, then chances are that not many people will get to see what you have to offer. Take time to think about ways in which you are able to raise awareness of your website so that more people know who you are and what kind of services or products you have available for them.
Fast Loading & Mobile Friendly
For some people, speed matters a great deal when browsing through new website information. If it’s too slow, they’ll simply move on to another option instead. It takes only a few seconds for them to decide if they’ll stay or leave. If you know that your site needs work in terms of loading speed, then it’s time to do something about it. There are several ways in which you can improve the speed at which your website loads by making small changes here and there. It does depend on your hosting service, but some managed web hosts will optimize their servers automatically, while others require some manual tinkering to get the job done. Mobile responsiveness is also another important feature that any business owner should take into consideration when building a new website for their business.
More and more people around the world are using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets instead of desktops these days. In fact, almost 60 percent of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices rather than desktops. In order to remain competitive, you need a site that is easy to view and navigate even when using a small screen on a mobile device.
Quality Content
The content you write on your site also makes up a large percentage of how high quality it truly is. Having more than four sentences per paragraph or paragraph that are one sentence long can be difficult to read. Also, make sure that what you are writing is original content and not copied elsewhere on the internet (this includes pictures). This will help keep away people looking for free pictures, while also showing you know what you’re talking about and that your business is reputable.
Contact Information
People like knowing they can contact you easily if they need to, and having a ‘contact me page that is separate from your main website will help drum up more business. Be sure to have all of the relevant information on there such as an address, phone number, email address, map links for directions, etc. Also, be sure it links back to your main site, so people know where else to go if they want more information.
Ease of Navigation
Your website should be easily navigated, so visitors can view the content they want without confusion. This means that it is simple to get from one page to another or to go back if needed. You want them to enjoy the visit and come back again in the future. If you have cluttered pages with too many distractions, then they may not return. When visiting a potential customer’s website, they need to feel like you are giving them something for free just because you want their business. That can happen if your site offers valuable information along with an opt-in form to sign up for free updates from your company via email marketing campaigns.
Professional Graphics & Images
Your business will not look professional if your website has photos that look as if they were taken with a cell phone camera or images that are pixelated once it is enlarged. You will need high-quality images with an appropriate size as well as the right photos for your content. Using pictures from Google Images is a no-no, and neither is using stock photography that doesn’t relate to your business. This means you should either hire a professional photographer or purchase royalty-free stock photo website images that are related to your site.
A high-quality website is easy to access, loads quickly, has a good layout and design, provides visitors with contact information and a way to sign up for your email list, has quality content that is not copied from elsewhere on the internet or is full of poor grammar. And last but not least, it’s important that you have professionally taken photos/images/graphics that relate directly to what your site offers.
