Proper preparation prevents poor performance. That mantra rings true for any industry and website creation is no different. Before you sit down to craft a client for yourself or others, you need to be sure you’ve got the right building blocks in place. Read more to learn about nine crucial factors for website success.
Think About These 9 Things Before Building a Website
What to Name the Domain
A domain name is one of the first steps in branding your website so think carefully. You don’t want a domain name to be too long or hard to remember like www.jasonsbeagleemporiumwarehouseandboatstorage.com. You want the domain name to show the customer what you do right away and be easy to remember. www.jasonsdogstore.com works much better and can draw in more customers.
What Do You or Your Customers Want to Do?
Before putting any files or images in place or choosing templates, think about what you or your customers want to do with the website. Is it an online store? Is it an image gallery for someone’s artwork? Knowing exactly what the website is intended for and what customers can do with it is first and foremost. Deciding this will allow the other processes to run much more naturally.
Balance the Budget
If you could, you’d buy the best template on the market with premium software and plugins. Any smart website designer knows it isn’t about the money dumped into the website but the balance of budget and options. Be patient in your approach, set a budget, and put the money towards the best possible choices.
Call in the Pros
Can you design, create, and implement the website you want on your own or do you need professional help? If you’re setting up a simple website for your neighborhood, you might get away with taking care of business by yourself but if you need a website that’s going to wow potential customers and get the traffic you want, you may need to call in the pros. Let professional services take care of what you can’t including design, the underbelly of the website, hosting, search engine optimization, and more. If you need your website to be professional, generate leads, and grow your business – you need Sympler.
Your Sitemap
The sitemap is your site’s skeleton or the blueprint for your website. You wouldn’t trust a confusing blueprint for your home so why would you want to put in place a wonky sitemap on your website? The sitemap helps properly direct the flow of traffic through your website and allows customers to navigate to what they need quickly and will let search engine crawlers know how to rank your site. A proper site architecture will keep clients on your website longer, which keeps your business churning.
Layout and Content Design
Matching the layout and content design to your purposes is a tough process but is essential to a great website. Before you start dropping articles and images randomly across pages sit down and design your site in your mind or on paper. The last thing you want is for your website to look likes it designed by a 7-year old. You also want the layout and design to match the type of business or website you’re creating. A formal website won’t do well with cartoony fonts, and a kid’s site won’t do well with rigid, formal, site design. Luckily many content management systems offer free templates and ideas to start you on the right foot.
Search Engine Optimization and Digital Marketing
How will you set your website up for search engine optimization (SEO) and other forms of online marketing? SEO strategy pushes your website up in search engine rankings for more views, clicks, and business. You can use third-party plugins to assist with SEO and use online resources for SEO beginners. If you’re serious about your website and want it on the first page of Google, you will need to hire SEO professionals. Also, consider your other marketing strategies like social media outreach and link building strategy.
Now, We Wait
Your last task before launching your site is patience and testing. Allow yourself and others to test the website on multiple platforms and allow any search engine optimization strategies to start aging before launch. This can be tough, but it’s a critical step.
Before you begin pumping money and effort into a website, carefully think over these nine factors. A website is a lot of work but using these nine factors will help your website start out optimized, laid-out, and ready for any potential customers. Consult professionals when you need to and always be patient with new websites. With patience and effort, you can get the website you or your clients deserve.
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