Have you ever wondered WHY does everything move towards digitalization? Why don’t we use tons of paper anymore? Why are students with smartphones sharper than some professors? Why do we have whole shopping malls inside our pockets or on the top of our desks?
Right, exactly! It’s just so convenient! Too convenient at times, to be true. Digital means accessible. Digital means fast. Digital means ever-changing and evolving! We all choose digital over traditional due to it being the future. You, us, and your clients as well. People sometimes even attribute fictional efficiency to the Internet. As the statistics show: 71% of consumers believe they’ll get a better deal online, even if the item isn’t technically on sale.
So you have yourself a scenario in which everything is getting digitized. In that case, how is your business going to stay afloat with no digital presence? That is exactly why having a website is mandatory these days.
But does having a website guarantee instant success? Absolutely not! Then what are the key elements of a good website? The competition online is insane, but thanks to the years of experience in digital, we’ve noticed a thread of a successful web site. To ease everyone’s way towards the inevitable digitalization, we’ve decided to publish the following keys to a good website:
- Intuitive functionality
- Digital marketing strategies
- A pleasing and modern look
Your website should function perfectly
It is so obvious, yet not every website is all that simple to use, navigate, or just browse through. The goal is to create a fully intuitive and easy to use website, friendly to both new and returning users. No need to reinvent the wheel. It’s true, that you can squeeze more engagement out of your users by experimenting with the website’s layout and overall functionality, but it’s always best to start simple (and keep it that way).
Navigation starts with a question and ends with an answer. Your user/customer will have a specific need, which brings him/her to your page. Try thinking this “need” through and through. Think of the other “needs”. Find an answer to the main ones and bring them on to the main page of your website. Add a search bar to aid your users even more. Throw the bone.
PRO TIP:
First things come first. And what is the first thing your user experiences? The speed of your loading page. Don’t spoil the first experience of your user. Invest in the loading speed.
People decide whether they want to leave or stay on your website in a split of a second, so you better be clear and precise answering the questions: Who are you? What are you offering? Why?
But if your main page is not informative enough (it doesn’t have to be filled to the brim with information either) All three of the questions above should be answered fully on the “About us” page. Tell a story of your brand to the user, but don’t overwrite. No one surfs the commercial part of the Internet to read fables.
Study the user’s behavior and design the pages accordingly. For example, most people expect finding contact information or something close to a sitemap in the footer of the page. Don’t disappoint your visitors and put the expected information in the expected arias.
You should consider digital marketing
When you succeed in building a sophisticated machine, that is your website, you will need some oil to make it go, that is marketing. Just think how will your website be found among numerous other domains, that contain information similar in nature? How will the efforts of constructing your magnum opus pay?
The answer to your questions will be uniform: digital marketing. Although it’s incredibly complex, we will go through the basics of what will make your website optimal for growth and maintenance.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If the Internet is the Wild-Wild West, then SEO is a gun. There’s no way around the world wide web without using the SEO technics and methodologies, that bring your website up in the search results.
One of the core SEO practices is strategically using keywords (word combinations frequently searched online). Look for the keywords related to your pages, implement them in your URL, H1, H2, H3 titles, and your metadata. This will help search engines to understand what is your page about. This way the users will be more likely to find your page while looking for information on some specific topic.
Without the right keywords, no user or search engine will ever consider browsing your pages. SEO creates an opportunity for both to get some sort of understanding of what your page is about. Don’t overfill your website with keywords, though. Neither people nor machines appreciate it.
Content
One would assume that a successful web site, that is easy to be found online has a price of sorts. That is true! The traffic can be motivated by valuable editorial content.
You have probably noticed that most websites have a blog. That is not a coincidence. Webpages fight over traffic with valuable and original content, backed by the SEO.
Increase your chances of being found online by researching interesting topics and providing appreciable information to the community of your industry. As you may have guessed, truly valuable content is not only rewarded with traffic, but also with trust and authority (backlinks, that are also superimportant for your SEO)
Call-To-Action (CTA)
Call-To-Action is the trigger of your website’s commercial success. Their misplacement can be devastating. A CTA is a button, that leads to a purchase / registration/ schedule / confirmation… to cut a long story short, it concludes your strategy. It’s a final (and most important) stage, that brings you leads and sales, so be especially particular about them.
A justified positioning of a CTA will take its place after every user’s question has been answered and everything logically comes down to you making every solution real. To find a place for one of the keys to a good website you will have to think through your strategy. A CTA will find it’s place just like a nice cherry on top of a great plan.
You should consider digital marketing
When you succeed in building a sophisticated machine, that is your website, you will need some oil to make it go, that is marketing. Just think how will your website be found among numerous other domains, that contain information similar in nature? How will the efforts of constructing your magnum opus pay?
The answer to your questions will be uniform: digital marketing. Although it’s incredibly complex, we will go through the basics of what will make your website optimal for growth and maintenance.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If the Internet is the Wild-Wild West, then SEO is a gun. There’s no way around the world wide web without using the SEO technics and methodologies, that bring your website up in the search results.
One of the core SEO practices is strategically using keywords (word combinations frequently searched online). Look for the keywords related to your pages, implement them in your URL, H1, H2, H3 titles, and your metadata. This will help search engines to understand what is your page about. This way the users will be more likely to find your page while looking for information on some specific topic.
Without the right keywords, no user or search engine will ever consider browsing your pages. SEO creates an opportunity for both to get some sort of understanding of what your page is about. Don’t overfill your website with keywords, though. Neither people nor machines appreciate it.
- Content
One would assume that a successful web site, that is easy to be found online has a price of sorts. That is true! The traffic can be motivated by valuable editorial content.
You have probably noticed that most websites have a blog. That is not a coincidence. Webpages fight over traffic with valuable and original content, backed by the SEO.
Increase your chances of being found online by researching interesting topics and providing appreciable information to the community of your industry. As you may have guessed, truly valuable content is not only rewarded with traffic, but also with trust and authority (backlinks, that are also superimportant for your SEO)
- Call-To-Action (CTA)
Call-To-Action is the trigger of your website’s commercial success. Their misplacement can be devastating. A CTA is a button, that leads to a purchase / registration / schedule / confirmation… to cut a long story short, it concludes your strategy. It’s a final (and most important) stage, that brings you leads and sales, so be especially particular about them.
A justified positioning of a CTA will take its place after every user’s question has been answered and everything logically comes down to you making every solution real. To find a place for one of the keys to a good website you will have to think through your strategy. A CTA will find it’s place just like a nice cherry on top of a great plan.
You shouldn’t neglect your website’s design
Once again, designing a website isn’t as easy, as it might seem to be. It’s the design of your website, that doesn’t scare off your first-time visitors. It’s the design, that creates a visualization of your digital brand image. It’s the design, that is the most convincing in showing how serious you are about your website. The visual representation can tell much more than it is usually expected.
Returning to your question “What are the key elements of a good website?”, the design is your opportunity to shine and differentiate. It can also scare off your visitors if executed poorly. Dated visual representation is like sand in the eyes of an Internet user.
But what makes a design good? There is no absolute formula, but we can give you a vague image of a successful design, which is free to interpretation. The key to success here is cohesion.
The website has to be consistent in terms of style, font, color pallet, images, videos, positioning of the text/other elements, and so on. Every decision has to be bound by logic with your brand and executed with skill.
The task is genuinely not the easiest to pull, but there are some platforms, that may help you out. For example, there are numerous website builders (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, …), which boil down the creative process of designing a website to a task reminiscent of creating a PowerPoint presentation.
These platforms allow easily creating websites both functional and visually appealing, but limit one’s creative freedom and an ability to truly shine. It also may give off a sense of unprofessionalism to a user.
You shouldn’t procrastinate
One of the secret keys to a good website is to finally start developing one! Start moving towards digital today before all of the other competitors of yours already succeed in that.
Another one is being progressive. To achieve greatness, you’ll have to constantly update and enhance your pages. If you already have a website, it’s never too late to go through this article again and think of some changes your domain needs.
Through the long path of trial and error, your persistence will finally be awarded. Try your hand in web development or contact us. We will guarantee you fast and efficient results of quality. Check our case studies to reassure yourself in our expertise or just for inspiration.