In this day and age, the internet is the first place people go to search for businesses, products, services, and more. For this reason, having a website has become increasingly important to the success of a business. Your website is often the first impression you give potential customers, and you want that first impression to be a good one. It is extremely vital to position yourself online with a strong and professional source of information that motivates prospective customers to engage with your business. With this in mind, let’s discuss 5 key things every good website must have:
1. Easy Navigation
The content of your website is huge, but equally important is how you choose to organize and display this content. While building your website, it is essential to begin by identifying the needs of users so that you can structure the content around those needs. Make it easy for your viewers by organizing the content in an easily scan-able way so that people can quickly find what they are searching for. The easiest way to do this is with a menu that clearly breaks the website’s content down into sections, or by using internal links to connect users to other pages of your website without having to go through the whole thing themselves. This allows users to effortlessly navigate their way to their content of interest with just a few clicks.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Your web page should be easy to use once on the site, but this means nothing if users cannot find your site in the first place. Users trust search engines, so having a presence in the top positions for the keywords the user is searching makes your website seem more trustworthy. SEO is not only about search engines, but good SEO practices improve the user experience and usability of a web site. If your website is easy to find and easy to use, prospective customers will gain more trust in your company and will be more likely both to follow through with what they were originally searching for you, and to revisit your site in the future. Good content and easy navigation is key here.
3. Optimized Sales Funnel
A funnel is a great analogy because a large number of potential customers begin at the top-end of the sales process with only a fraction of these people ending up making a purchase. As a prospect passes through each stage of the funnel, it signifies a deeper commitment to the purchase goal. Your website should serve to optimize this funnel, leading users down a clear path to success while losing as few customers along the process as possible. You have the power to lead them down whatever path you want, prompting them to purchase a product or a service your company provides, contact you, sign up for your newsletter, share social media posts, etc. If you are clear on your goals, strategically decide on your calls to action to create conversions and keep the user invested in your business.
4. Mobile Responsiveness
Nowadays if your website isn’t designed for mobile, you will lose a lot of potential visitors. When creating a mobile friendly version, it is important to understand that the needs of the user shifts when they are on their mobile device. Your design should be responsive, allowing for adaption of the display of your website to the size of the device screen being used. This will ensure that the most relevant items are not getting lost in translation or causing design to be off.
5. Cohesive Branding
Maintaining a clear and consistent brand is a powerful tool to promote not only your website, but also your business as a whole. Being visually consistent makes you seem more trustworthy to your customers. The best way to keep up a cohesive brand within your website is to create a theme that includes repeated colors, fonts, and photo styles. You should put this theme to use on your other platforms as well: social media accounts, newsletters, business cards, and more. Cohesive branding ensures that your business will be recognized and remembered.
First impressions count, so make it a good one! If you need help with website development, AngelytiX would be happy to help: check out our services here.
Best, Lawrence Brown
Co-Founder and Managing Consultant