(This is a contributed post)
Anyone who has a business or is looking to start one in 2021 should know that having a website is a given. Your online presence and the performance of your website should be two extremely valuable aspects of what you’re trying to build. You might be able to get away with offline work, but that will only last for so long as competitors will come along and swallow you up.
A website is such an important part of a business due to the fact that the world has become so much more technological. When people hear about you or what you have to offer, they likely won’t look to get in direct contact straight away like in years gone by. They’ll head online and see if you have a website or any other kind of channel. If they cannot find anything, they’ll likely lose interest and completely forget about you. If they see you have a website, then they’ll investigate further. From then on, they’ll decide whether they like you or not.
So, we’ve established that a website absolutely should exist if you want to stay in the game. The quality must then come into question. Sure, a bland website might do a good enough job, but you’ll need a little more than that if you want to really stand out. Here are some dos and don’ts regarding professional websites that want to be a resounding success:
It can be tempting to throw all the information at the visitor because you’ll want to make sure they see what you’re about. You have to go against these instincts, if they are there, however. Just like when someone walks into a store and needs space to breathe, a website must provide the same. Once they collect themselves and get to grips with the website fully, that’s when you can point towards more info.
Once you manage to get them to stay due to your wonderful homepage, you’ll have to make sure you actually provide all they need to know. Your job is to make things pretty while answering every single question they might have. It doesn’t have to be too complicated, of course, it can be like what this designed Premier Auto Wash website is displaying. People will be expected to leave satisfied having learned more.
When a website has a lot going on, it can affect the speed of it all. Make sure people aren’t being made to wait for the content they desire. It may seem like a small thing, but it’s very frustrating when you have to wait an extra five to ten seconds after every single click. To begin with, just keep things simple and don’t install too many add-ons.
If you have a boring website that literally has written information on every single page and very little else, then people are likely to click away immediately. While it’s not essential that you have an exciting page, it would help a lot. The likes of interactive content and many pieces of visual content that are aesthetically pleasing would help out so much. We’re talking surveys, graphs, competitions, and all kinds of things people could get involved in.
So many websites are being attacked by the likes of hackers and all kinds of other cybercriminals. This is why cybersecurity is vital. The right software and the right team behind you can save you so much stress and money. You could build up a solid business and have worked really hard, only to find out that everything has been stolen from you in a matter of hours. This kind of heartbreak shouldn’t happen – and it won’t if you have the right protection.
Website analytics are amazing. You can gather so much information and understand how your visitors behave based on the kinds of things they do when they enter your site. Ensure you have analytics hooked up to the site.
Social media is another vital arm of the online presence. People are surfing social media every single day, and they’ll want to get in touch immediately with queries or to learn the latest. Make sure you have everything synced up between the website and the social media platforms. Let them know where they can find your accounts.