Nowadays, having an online presence is mandatory for even the smallest of businesses. In today’s digital world, while everyone is shopping or looking for things online, creating a website for the business is necessary.
Now, investing in a website might feel overwhelming to you, as many things go into building a website. A beautiful and user-friendly website has the perfect balance of functionality, coding, appearance, and navigation.
If the website is made correctly, then it can convert leads into prospect sales. However, if anything goes wrong, you would not only be wasting time and money, but you would lose your brand goodwill too.
So, what can you do to save yourself from such troubles? You should know there are some things that you need to take into consideration before putting money into designing a website. To make it easy for you, in this guide, you will find the top seven major things to consider when building a website.
Identify Target Audience & Start Designing a Website
This might sound like an obvious thing; however, you cannot skip this part. Identifying the target audience is the primary thing needed before you start designing a website.
Now the question is, how can you determine audiences? First of all, you need to know that a website can have multiple user groups.
For example, If you own a tour & travel business, your employees would also access the website to manage appointments and customer queries apart from the website visitors.
When you understand who will view or access your website, you can narrow down the required functionalities your website must-haves.
When you know all the important details before having a website, you can create one yourself. Nowadays, there are so many platforms available online that let you create your website for free. You can create the website yourself, or you can guarantee quality and outsource to a web design agency in the UK.
Clear your Intent
Your website needs to have a clear message of the purpose or intent. Keep in mind that it takes only 3 minutes for a visitor to like or dislike your website. So, you need to design your website so that it can engage your audience within 10 seconds.
If a customer is not clear about your website’s intent, they might leave your website and choose your competitors over you.
You can easily make your intent distinct by using specific keywords related to your service, product, or industry. Google Keyword Planner is one of the best tools to help you with keyword research.
Mobile-First Website Design
People are using portable devices like mobiles and tablets to access the internet. Almost 60% of internet traffic is generated from mobile users. Plus, Google prioritizes those websites which are responsive.
In that case, It will be a foolish decision to have a website that is not built on the concept “Mobile-first.” This means that when you designing a website, it needs to function on the desktop, as well as on mobiles too.
A website can be responsive only when the font, image, and content fit perfectly on any device. So, talk to your website developers about mobile-first, sensory and adaptive design before giving them the project.
Branding
Branding is an essential part of the business that you have to consider before building a website. It doesn’t matter if you are creating the website for business purposes or personal use; it would not have an identity if there were no branding before.
If you own a large company, you already have its logo or other branding materials.
For small or medium businesses, you have to build your brand’s identity from scratch. If you’re new to this and need a complete guide, learn how to create a website from scratch.
Brand-building is a time-consuming process, plus it needs a solid marketing strategy. You need to clear your doubts by considering a few questions like:
● Do you have a company logo that you can use?
● Have you selected the font that you will use on your website?
● Do you have any specific design element on your mind?
● Which color will you use to design your website?
Jot down every minute details that can appeal to your target audience and plan your branding accordingly. You can even use online branding tools to make your brand more presentable.
User-Friendly Design
You cannot go a long way with a website that looks good but lacks functionalities.
When a visitor is entering your website, it means either they are here to access information, buy things, or communicate with your brand. The visitors will leave your website if they have to struggle to navigate and find information on your site.
When you are developing your website, remember to balance both the form and functions to give the end-users a good user experience.
Search Engine Optimization
You can only expect ROI when your website traffic is increasing. SEO plays a major part in boosting organic traffic. When a website is properly SEO optimized, it will crawl to the top of the search result list of Google or other search engines, resulting in more visibility for your business.
Implementing SEO in a website is not an easy task. It requires solid keyword research, engaging content, and natural keyword placement. Other than that, you also need to keep an eye on the images, titles, and meta-tags.
Clear all your doubts with the website development company before handing them over your project.
Images & Videos
There is no good-looking website without images. You have to put images or graphics on your website to make it look attractive.
If you are thinking about which images can you upload, then here’s an example:
Suppose you own a tour & travel company; you can upload your organized tour photos and post photos of your office, employees, and others. You can even upload some videos of the facilities you provide to your customers.
If you are about to start a new venture, there are plenty of pictures available for free on the internet that you can use too. However, if you want to make your website unique, you can upload some pictures that you have created that are related to your business.
Conclusion
If you keep all the seven things mentioned above in consideration while building your website, you will be sure to have a successful website in the end.