What Makes the Perfect Website?

4 Key Factors To Establish Your Online Presence

Nowadays it seems easier than ever to make a website. Tools such as WordPress and Wix make it so that you no longer need an expert-level knowledge of coding or the high budget to match – maybe that’s why there’s almost 2 billion sites in the world today!

While the available tools might look shiny and attractive on the surface, just picking a good theme and choosing a host doesn’t automatically mean that you’ll be able to cut through all the Internet noise and bring traffic to your business.

So, the million-dollar question: how do you create the perfect website?

As a web design agency, it’s one we hear a lot. Unfortunately the answer isn’t so simple. No two websites are the same, so it depends on your own goals, target market and content. That being said, there are still aspects of web design that are fundamental and will cost you traffic if they’re missing. In this post, we’ll explain these steps and why you should consider them.

Planning

Before you can start to build or update your website, you’ll need to have a plan in mind, AKA a website brief. This is an essential part of the process and any reputable web designer should ask you for one. Without a plan, you’ll struggle to get your site to look and perform the way you want it to. This may sound intimidating, but keep in mind that the brief exists for you to communicate your key expectations in simple terms.

Remember to always have your target audience in mind. Here are some questions to consider:

• What’s the general aim of your website? Do you provide a service and want to generate enquiries and sales, or sell a product to customers? Do you want to educate visitors and raise awareness through blog posts, or increase reach and establish/improve your company’s online presence?
• Each page should have a particular goal. What features will be needed to achieve this goal? Maybe you’ll require an ‘About’ page that explains the company’s mission statement, a customer service area, or a secure payment/checkout system?
• What experience do you want to provide for your customers?
• How do you want your company to be perceived?
• Are there any specific features from other websites or competitors that you like or want to include, such as colour schemes, fonts, layout?

Audience-aware Content 

Your site should show original content that your audience will find relevant to them. Make sure your content is original as search engines can detect plagiarised content and won’t promote your website if they suspect copying. 

Any written content must have perfect grammar and spelling. It might seem insignificant but your website and its content are an extension of your business – errors are very noticeable to your customers and make your website appear unprofessional. Still not convinced? What if we told you that a London-based digital agency surveyed over a thousand social media users, finding that 42.5% of people said spelling and grammar errors would negatively influence their choice to pursue a service or purchase goods!

Approach writing copy for your site with a focus on ‘soft selling’ – providing visitors with enough information so they’re encouraged to make their own decision, rather than attempting to turn every visitor into a customer. Instead of intrusive pop-ups that can easily be hidden with an ad-blocker, include ‘Call To Action’ phrases that persuade the user to engage with your site. Some examples: 

• Learn More
• Subscribe
• Click Here For More Information
• Swipe Up

Good Design

Design can be tricky – you want a memorable layout that reflects your brand, but you need to avoid looking outdated or adding distracting features that don’t promote your brand or enhance the user experience. 

There are plenty of pre-made templates out there that can help you to keep your site looking clean and modern while retaining functionality. However, using templates may mean that other sites will look similar to yours, so your site can fade into the background. Templates that offer built-in features are also likely to affect your website’s loading speed and search engine performance. 

Design can be subjective but all users of your website will be looking for useability.  A survey by Gomez.com discovered that  40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load, with every second after that damaging the user experience. Consumers aren’t going to stick around on a poorly-designed website. If navigation is difficult or the essential information is outdated and hard to find, it leads to a loss in conversion from clicks to actual sales or enquiries.

Regular Maintenance

Why is regular maintenance necessary? Let’s take a look –

• A poorly maintained website with outdated information appears unprofessional
• Unsafe websites are more common and more dangerous than you might think – don’t leave your customers’ data vulnerable to hackers
• Search engines punish outdated and unsafe sites by hiding them from users and excluding it from search results
• Smartphone users account for over 51% of Internet traffic, with this number growing every day. Make sure your site is adaptable to emerging technologies

These issues will damage your credibility and hinder your online presence. Another part of regular maintenance is keeping updated on how different parts of your website are performing in order to improve performance. You can do this through tracking metrics – these include looking at:

• How much time the average user spends on your site
• How many visits per month 
• Average load time of pages
• Which channels are generating traffic
• What frequency of users access the site and leave without interacting? AKA – the bounce rate 

Google analytics can provide these statistics for you but may require investment of your time into it to get the best results. Luckily, it’s a widely used service with a wide berth of online tutorials and workshops that provide valuable insights into your audience.

In summary?

The perfect website is:

• Planned out in advance with clear objectives
• Always focused on how it can serve the customer
• Safe, reliable and easy to use
• Constantly being evaluated and improved 
• Adaptable, able to grow and change with your company over time

Most importantly, the perfect website needs time and money invested into it.

Having all these qualities provides you with return on your investment. By using free website building services, your end product can be a site that’s hard to find and use, as well as potentially unsafe. 

At Visionary Hub Space, we understand just how important that first impression is. We create fully customisable websites that work for you and your customers without putting your. credibility on the line. Speak to our team today to find out how we can help.