If you’re going to start a website, you want it to be a good one. You don’t want to go through all the trouble of setting up the site, only for it to not turn out how you’d like, or for no one to visit it. To keep that from happening, there are 6 essential tips you can use to help ensure you’ll have a successful website. Here’s what you need to know:
Choose a Good Domain Name and Hosting Service
Before you even start building your website, you need to set it up on the web first. This means choosing a good domain name, registering it, and finding a good hosting provider. There are plenty of hosting providers out there, so you’ll have to do some research into which one works best for your budget and needs. As for a domain name, try to choose something simple that represents your brand. Don’t make it anything too complicated or hard to spell and you should be off to a good start.
Have a Solid CMS to Work With
Once you complete the initial set up, the next thing you’ll want is a good CMS (Content Management System). A good CMS will make it easy for you to add, edit and remove content from your website, so you don’t have to call up your web designer each time you want to make a change. Squarespace, Weebly and Wix are all good options, or you can get yourself some optimized WordPress hosting. Explore each of the options and see which works best for you.
Make Sure You Have an Efficient and Appealing Design
Next, you’ll want to turn to the appearance of your website. If you don’t make a good first impression with your visitors, you likely won’t generate too many return visitors. When designing your website, go for something simple. Keep the number of colours you use to a minimum and don’t try to put too much on the page. You want to get your point across without overwhelming your visitors. When it comes to a good web design, efficiency and appearance go hand in hand.
Focus on Well-Written Copy
An often overlooked aspect of a website is the copy. People spend so much time focusing on how the website looks that they don’t spend enough time focusing on what it says. If someone is scrolling through your site, and the copy either doesn’t make sense or it’s riddled with errors, this will leave a bad impression. Make sure you’ve triple checked anything you’ve written, and that you aren’t adding in unnecessary content. Again, efficiency is key here.
If you’re not a good writer, consider hiring someone else to do this. A small expense now to get the wording right on your website can go a long way towards running a successful website.
Make Your Website Highly Functional
To have a successful website, you want it to serve your audience as best it can. For example, let’s say you’re running a website for your local restaurant. A great way to make this website functional is by adding your menu, making it possible to reserve a seat online, and making it easy to contact you. If people come to your website and all they can see is your hours of operation, plus some descriptions of your food, this won’t help them too much. The more functionality you give your website, the more your visitors will enjoy their experience. Just be sure whatever features you add work flawlessly, otherwise they defeat the purpose.
Optimize Your Website for Search Engines
Finally, take some time to learn about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is the practice of tweaking your website to better suit the things search engines are looking for. For example, you can include your keywords in the title tag of your page and in your image alt tags. There is a lot that goes into a good SEO strategy, but if you can at least learn the basics, you’ll be off to a good start.
A Successful Website Takes Time
Even if you implement all the advice above, you won’t see results overnight. A successful website requires time, and it requires you keeping on top of it. You’ll need to monitor your traffic to see if things are improving and make further changes as necessary. But if you can maintain an attitude of always trying to get better, there’s no reason you can’t have a successful website before long. Good luck!
Even if you implement all the advice above, you won’t see results overnight. A successful website requires time, and it requires you keeping on top of it. You’ll need to monitor your traffic to see if things are improving and make further changes as necessary. But if you can maintain an attitude of always trying to get better, there’s no reason you can’t have a successful website before long. Good luck!
