According to Forbes, 71% of businesses have a website in the US. Whether you run your business online or in person, a website is crucial for drawing in customers.
Before you get caught up in choosing the perfect font and color scheme for your site, though, there are a few crucial things to consider. Read below to learn the 7 things you should know before building your website.
While a website is an important marketing tool for your business, you shouldn’t build a website just for the sake of it.
Before you get started, you need to think about what your main objectives are when building the site. In other words, what do you want users to do when they reach your site? Do you want them to purchase a product or service? Do you want them to sign up for a mailing list? Or do you want them to book an appointment or call you?
Whatever your objectives are, make sure to clearly lay them out beforehand. Ideally, your website should only have one or two objectives, as a site that tries to do too much can overwhelm users.
You’ll want to keep your goal in mind throughout the building process, as every photo, piece of content, and design element should be planned carefully to help users get the information they need to achieve the website’s goal.
It’s also very important to understand your target audience before building a website. Many businesses make the mistake of assuming that their target audience is everyone. However, this is not the case, and there’s no way you can create a website that’s catered to the needs of every type of person.
Defining your target audience will help you determine your site’s layout, content, and design. Therefore, before getting started, you should learn as much as you can about your target audience.
Some questions you’ll want to ask yourself include:
Knowing these answers can influence a lot of the decisions you make when building your website. For example, if the majority of your users are in their 20s and 30s, they’re likely going to be viewing your site from their mobile devices. Therefore, you’ll want to ensure your website is mobile responsive.
Your site’s content can make or break your conversion rates. There are two types of content you need to consider when building a website: long-form content and copy. Long-form content can include blog posts, guides, and tutorials. Copy refers to the rest of the content that helps users either navigate your site or learn about your brand.
When writing blog posts and other types of long-form content, you want to focus on quality over quantity. In other words, you shouldn’t crank out new articles just for the sake of it. Instead, brainstorm some topics that will help inform customers about your industry, products, or services. For example, if you run a commercial insurance agency, you could create detailed blog posts on all of the different types of insurance available.
While the goal of long-form content is to convert users into customers, you don’t want to come across as too salesy. Instead, you should focus on being as informative as possible, as this will help you build trust with users.
When it comes to writing website copy, you want to stick to shorter blocks of text. Most people scan websites for the most important information, so keeping the copy short and sweet will help the user know where to focus their attention.
When most people are seeking out information online, rarely do they type in a specific website URL. Rather, most people start their internet searches with a search engine. In fact, 93% of all web traffic is via search engines.
Additionally, when most people scour Google or another search engine for answers, they only look at the first few results, as these typically contain the most relevant, informative information. Therefore, when building a website, you need to think about how to get it to the top of the search results, as this will help you get more traffic.
Creating quality content is a huge part of ranking high in the search results, but it can also help to include specific keywords on your site that users may be typing into the search bar. You’ll want to pinpoint about 3-5 target keywords to naturally incorporate into your site content and copy.
To identify keywords, think about what the average person would type into a search engine if they were looking for information related to your products or services. Then, you can use a keyword tool to hone in on popular keywords that will help boost your site in the search results.
Even if your site contains valuable content and the right keywords, people aren’t going to stay on it for long if it’s not easy to navigate.
You want your site to be uncluttered and well organized so people can find the information they’re looking for as quickly as possible. Ideally, you want to make it so a user can find what they want in just a few clicks.
Here are a few things you can do to make your site easy to navigate:
Cyber attacks occur once every 39 seconds . Whether you run a small online store or a large corporation, your website could be a target of a cyber attack.
For this reason, you need to think about how you’re going to secure your site before building it, as you could lose major trust with your customers if their personal information got into the hands of hackers. Here are some things you can do to ensure your website is secure:
While your website’s content and copy will inform users what to do and where to look, you need more than words to draw people in. Most people are visual learners, which is why it’s important to include videos and images on your website.
Ensure the images on your website are professional and of high quality, as low-quality images can lower people’s trust in your brand. If you can, hire a professional photographer to take pictures of your products and services to add to your site. If you don’t have the budget for a professional photographer, you can purchase quality stock photography that represents the “vibe” of your business.
Any video you add to your site should be short, informative, and engaging. We recommend staying away from auto-play, as most users don’t want to watch a video the moment they enter a website.
Building a business website can feel like a daunting task. However, with the above tips in mind, you’ll be well on your way to building a site that makes your customers happy and helps grow your business.
If you don’t have a lot of experience building websites, we recommend using a website builder . Website builders can help you create a professional-looking site for your business, even if you have no experience with web design.