It’s reckoned there are around 2 billion websites in the world today. While only 200 million of them are active, that’s still a hell of a lot of content. And if you run a business, a lot of competition! So, having a great website for your operation is paramount. You’ve often got one chance to make a good impression, and if you blow your opportunity, it’s unlikely you’ll get a second go. You might think you’ve got a great site, but it might be a turn-off for your audience in reality. Read on and discover what your business website needs to succeed in 2022.
Goals
Business websites are digital shop windows. If you’re not sure what the purpose of your website should be, then you can be certain your audience won’t either. You must show them who you are, what you do and what you offer. Seems an obvious thing to say, but millions of sites out there never get this right at the outset. It’s not enough just to have a site – it needs to say something! Once you know what you want, then you’re off to a solid start and you can build from there.
Know Your Audience
So, you’ve established what you want. But what does what your audience want? If your site doesn’t match their needs, then you’ve a recipe for poor sales. Creating a good site takes time, money and energy – so you must ensure you’re hitting and attracting the right people. If your site is already up and running, then you’ll already have some key data sitting in Google Analytics, waiting to be tapped. If you’re not using this, then do not delay – it’s packed with priceless data on who is looking at your site and their behavior while they’re with you. It’s a brilliant place to get customer insights, and it’s free. Away from Google Analytics, you should look at your competitors. Who are they attracting? What are they doing? Once you understand your audience, you can design your content to suit.
Easy Navigation
Now your audience is identified, the next step is to ensure your site is structured in a way that makes navigating around it easy. It’s not a time for puzzles – people are time-poor and information-hungry. Satisfy both demands with a logically constructed site, with clear page categories and sections. It is very easy to get this design element wrong – you can have the best content and the best deals, but if they aren’t easy to find, they’re useless. It’s no surprise that millions of businesses make sure they get this right by using custom web development services for their sites.
Content
With your design confirmed, it’s now time to populate your site with the engaging, compelling content you need to reel customers in and keep them coming back for more. Original content is a must too – it is this which will help you stand out from the crowd and build your brand. Having a blog section is a great way to deliver informative content and establish your expertise. Blogs can cover all sorts of relevant subjects. It can be a bit of news about your company, an industry development, a new product, an event or even a “guest” blog from one of your suppliers or partners!
Use sensible fonts that are easy to read and aren’t jarring to look at. Always use the right words. Make everything clear and to the point and use a range of word lengths for your blogs and articles. Some topics need more detail than others!
Eye-catching imagery is a must – it has been long established that humans respond more strongly to visuals than text. Bland or poorly chosen images can make your website look amateurish. Always use visuals that reflect the brand images you want to promote. First impressions matter and your audience will see the pictures before they decide to read the text. Getting your words and images right on your site will not only satisfy your audience but will give your SEO (search engine optimisation) a boost. Vital to get your site shooting up the Google rankings!
Speed
We’ve all clicked through to a website that takes too long to load. And we all do the same thing – click straight back out, often never to return. Slow loading pages are a disaster for websites, and you’ve about 2-3 seconds grace before user frustration sets in. It strikes a hammer blow to your SEO efforts too. There are plenty of free online speed loading analysis tools so make sure you check regularly. Make sure you keep file sizes down (particularly images) and if you’re still encountering issues, you should think about speaking to a web development team.
Think Mobile!
Smartphones are used for everything now – gaming, streaming and browsing the web. While your site might look resplendent on your desktop and be packed with sticky content and great offers, it does not mean it will do so on smartphones (or tablets!). These days, more people access the internet on their phones than on desktops, so you ignore this at your peril. Make sure your site is optimized to look fantastic across mobile, desktop and tablet. You’ll simply bleed traffic otherwise.