Today, a website is like a business card. It’s a necessity and also a major deciding factor in the buying process. Everyone is online nowadays, and around 80 percent of consumers visit a company’s site before making a purchase decision. And their final decision is based on their online experience. With so much competition out there, a mediocre site just doesn’t cut it. It’s got to be one-of-kind and unique. Appearance, usability and accessibility are also important. All of the right design elements, such as color palette, message and logo, should be incorporated. As a matter of fact, it’s these elements that truly make a website stand out. Keep in mind that you’ve only got a few seconds to make a good first impression.
Evaluate and Update Your Site
Just as you evaluate your staff on a yearly basis, you should evaluate your site. Update its design for a fresh look and be sure to tweak it throughout the year. Publish new information, update images and add new products or services. Other key factors to evaluate include search engine rankings, target market and website and tablet compatibility. Do an objective evaluation. If it needs an overhaul, go ahead and invest in it.
Embrace New Technology
The stats are in on responsive website design. This technology is having a huge impact on how consumers surf the web. The use of mobile devices has increased by 78 percent. If folks aren’t on their mobile device, they’re on their tablets. If you’re not embracing the technology of mobile, you’re losing market share. With a responsive website design, your site is automatically resized and configured to suit the device it’s viewed on. And when you go responsive, you only have to update just one site. Save money and save time. Just last year, Google made an announcement that it would be catering its search results based on mobile functionality. It’s just one more reason to go responsive.
While not as new as responsive web design, content management systems allow you to easily update or make changes to your site without software. This way, you can do it yourself and not have to rely on a web developer. Responsive web design and content management systems are technologies not to be ignored.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
There’s a tidal wave of online competition. Millions of new websites come on aboard every year, and you’ve got to implement good SEO practices to get noticed. It’s this that helps your site rank high with the search engines. Images, videos, fresh content, niche keywords and tags are all elements of good SEO. SEO is something that should be done during construction of the site and ongoing. Good SEO encompasses both technical and creative elements.
Quality, Structure and Polished Details
Quality means implementing your unique selling points into one coherent visual image. The site design should be aligned with the company brand. Structure should be crisp and direct without confusing navigation and large blocks of small text. Polished and proper details like the choice of fonts, contrast and spacing of text are the nuances that will make your site unique. These details also add to the functionality of the site.
Custom Websites
Custom websites are designed to meet your brand’s unique needs. They also offer longevity and online success. Set your business apart from the others and create an impact that will make your site memorable with a custom web design. Clients will think of your brand first.
Content
Stand out from the herd and add valuable content to your site with case studies, ebooks, client testimonials and a blog. Constant new content on blogs generates leads, sales and traffic. As a matter of fact, a blog can ramp up your website traffic by 50 percent. Plus, over 60 percent of buyers say they’ve purchased based on a brand’s blog.
The bottom line is that a unique website attracts new customers and keeps existing customers coming back. Make it your own.
