It’s exciting to get a visitor to your website, but that’s just the beginning of the journey.
Websites must be well designed and functional, with a clear call to action in order to turn visitors into customers. That’s why your website design is important and below is a checklist of website essentials that will ensure you get the most out of your page. Use this checklist to help answer the question “What should my website include?”
Your website should have the following:
Your own style.
A website is an extension of your brand. It should match the style that defines your business and speaks best to your audience. (Note that you should have a clear understanding of your target market in order to make a meaningful connection with them.) Include a strong, defining design, but remove any excess noise and distractions that may prevent visitors from seeing the most important points such as your competitive edge and call to action.
A clear goal.
While your website should be appealing to the eye, good looks will only get you so far and your website is no exception. It’s more than just a collection of text and images; the site has purpose and everything on it must work together to help achieve this. Determine the goal of your website (this depends on type of business) – is it to drive traffic, generate leads, make a sale, build trust, be a resource of information, etc? You may have multiple goals, but be certain to define these objectives to ensure website success.
User friendly experience.
The journey through your website should be pleasant and engaging. Visitors typically scan sites quickly and within 5 seconds decide if they’ll stay or go, so make the site inviting and easy to read. Once your site passes the first impression test, visitors should be engaged in the content and geared towards the call to action. To ensure a good user experience, the site must be responsive to different platforms (computer, tablet, phone) with the ability to work correctly on various devices. Also make sure that all links, buttons, and forms work.
Easy navigation.
Your website should be informative with easy-to-find facts that explain the who, what, where, and how. Beyond that, have a logical roadmap that makes sense and leads visitors to where you want them to go. Put yourself in the client’s shoes to decide what you’re trying to accomplish and how to best get there. Offer the path of least resistance; have clear links to the most important pages and make navigation and searches simple. Remember that obstacles may deter clients from staying on the web page. Also have strategically placed buttons to put focus on your call to action.
Call(s) to action.
Don’t let the connection you’ve made with visitors on the website stop there. Turn your viewers into clients with a clear call to action (CTA). Depending on the type of business, decide what the CTA is: to buy, sign up, contact, visit, etc. Call attention to this CTA by making it visible with strategic placement that can increase lead conversions. Remember that even if your CTA includes a contact form, you should also include visible contact information throughout the site. In addition to the contact page, you can include contact info on the top and bottom of each page. Be certain to include multiple contact methods such as phone, email, and address. Reaching your business should be easy.
SEO for searchability.
To increase visitors, make sure that the website is search engine optimized. For a higher search engine ranking, use SEO best practices, targeted keywords, external and internal links, and post original and relevant content. Maintain visibility by keeping the site fresh and engaging. Remember that text from images cannot be searched, so make sure that important keywords are visible.
Content management system (CMS).
On the back-end, a great website allows for easy edits and updates. Trends are constantly changing and it’s important to keep up with these changes to stay relevant. To increase a website’s ranking, fresh content helps. Keep your website current with powerful client testimonials, current case studies, blog posts, etc, through the website’s CMS. Remember that successful marketing is an ongoing process, and not a set it and forget it one-time deal.
By following this website design checklist, you can ensure that you create a website with purpose. And that purpose is to bring you closer to your business goals.
Wieting Design offers custom solutions for websites with original designs, as well as WordPress and Squarespace themes to ensure the best option for your business needs and budget. By creating a new site or revamping an old one, we will do more than just create a pretty page. We give these pages the power to work for you as a sales tool that turns visitors into customers. We also offer database management, hosting packages, search engine optimization (SEO), content management systems, and analytics.
See our website samples here https://wietingdesign.com/portfolio/website-design/ and discover the perfect balance of design and function.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Wieting Design | Website Design CT
Wieting Design is a full-service, graphic and website design agency based in Fairfield County, CT and serving all of Connecticut (CT). We are committed to sharing our experience and expertise in website design, graphic design, social media marketing, search engine marketing (SEO), and video production to help build powerful tools and campaigns that work for your Connecticut business. Whether your objective is to grow your reputation, create client loyalty, drive traffic to your website or set up a marketing strategy, we will adapt our approach to get you the results you need with the services we provide.
