Living in what we call as the digital era, it is crucial for your brand to have a website. Digital presence is becoming more important by the day as internet users and smartphone users increase. As traditional media continue to decrease, you need to consider having a strong digital presence. This does not mean only social media accounts but also your website.
Interesting Fact: It takes approximately 50 milliseconds for a user to form an opinion about your website.
Here’s our checklist of what makes up a good website.
1 – Mobile Responsiveness
Considering the fact that 60% of internet users access websites and other media through their smartphones, you need to ensure that your website is mobile responsive especially if you’re an e-commerce site. Let’s trace back to the last time you went on to Amazon; have you ever noticed how fast their website loads? Or how easy it was to use on your phone?
Further, a non-mobile responsive website can damage your search rankings. In 2015, Google updated its SEO algorithm to include mobile responsiveness. This is why we regard having a mobile responsive website as a top priority.
2 – Be Smart with Content
As a content writer and digital strategist, I’ve always believed content is king. Be it video or written, content is what helps engage users on your website. While video content is easy on your user’s mind, they’ll still look for written content to stay informed. I would recommend using both types of content in a smart way.
Major Rule: Don’t clutter your website with too many videos or paragraphs. Keep it simple and straight to the point
For example, if you want your user to understand how your product works, a 1-2 minute video can guide them on how to do so. For other information, such as specification, types, and concise instruction, use written content. Having a mix of them is always a safe way to go. In short, content increases a user’s “time-on-site”, a key metric for the success of your website and business.
3 – Effectively Place Important Business Information
I hate it when I go to a website and can’t find their contact details at one go. Some websites make you go through irrelevant pages to access their business information. Place details such as contact number, email address, store address, business hours in obvious spots, such as the footer or a separate Contact page. For an e-commerce site, it’s vital to have an easy-to-navigate “Track Orders” page for your customers to check up on the order status.
4- Stay Modern but don’t forget Design Norms
As with everything, websites have to stay ahead of the competition and make sure their design is up to date on the latest website trends. Some of the biggest trends (and ones that will stay for a long time) are minimal designs, dynamic scrolling, bold font, easy to use interfaces, etc. However, it’s easy to get caught up in design trends that you end up forgetting about design norms. No matter how trendy your website looks, if your search bar is hard to locate, or important business information cannot be spotted right away, the ultimate purpose of your website is taken away.
5- Put Personality to your Brand
Storytelling has become a popular method in a business’s digital strategy. While you can only have so much on your website, include your social media links on your website. Individuals often discover new businesses through social media. If you were to focus on building a story about an experience with your product/service than directly advertising it on social media, you’ll be able to captivate a user’s mind. This in turn leads them to access your site through social media.
Now think of this scenario in the other way. If you have a blog page, users would want to share it on their personal socials. By including social media icons, your own customers can communicate your brand value and give more visibility to your social media page and site.
6 – Have Consistent Fonts
It’s okay to have two different types of fonts and styles to differentiate the main points from paragraphs, however using too many fonts and styles could distract your audience. While your audience tries to figure out your text, the message you want to send across your site will not happen. Consistent font types and styles not only make your site look clean, but your audience will understand the message you’ve put out for them.
7 – Clear Navigational Menus and Breadcrumbs
When a user accesses your site, it’s obvious that you wouldn’t want to confuse them. That’s why you need to leave visual clues and breadcrumbs to lead them to your desired path across the website. Make certain that your site has an understandable navigational menu for users to answer the constant question of “Where am I” and “Where do I want to go next” on your site.
8 – Have Clear Call-to-Actions (CTA)
The purpose of your website is for the audience to do something on your site. Maybe you want the users to reach out and contact you, or purchase something from your site, the CTA is up to you to figure out. For you to convert your CTAs to actual conversions, you should understand what your goal is before you can strategize the CTA properly.
9 – Internal Links
This is beneficial for your website’s SEO. Improving the SEO on your site can create better visibility on Google’s search ranks. One method of doing this is including internal links. For example, your website can display related articles below an article a user would have been reading. This reduces bounce rates on your site and also increases the time on site. You can also display more important information about products or services that you offer by linking relevant pages, thus arousing a user’s curiosity.
10 – Browser Compatibility
Your audience could be using all sorts of browsers; Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Microsoft Edge (yes you saw this correctly) and others. You have to make sure that your website is browser-friendly as you could lose potential clients if it isn’t compatible.
In conclusion, this list could act out as a starting point of what you should do in order to make a good website. While there are many more pointers, we feel that these are crucial in your list when conceptualising and designing your website.
