10 Things You Need To Create A Successful Website
This week over at Global Wire Associates, we launched our annual New Year, New Digital You campaign. Now is a great time to design or redesign your website. Many clients that approach us don’t usually have any idea what it takes to create a website. This Saturday we are hosting our ever-popular “Extreme Website Makeover” webinar, where we showcase a “before and after” of two websites we redesigned recently, as well as give tips on how to create a new website or redesign a current website.
In the meantime, I created this quick checklist of issues to consider when you hire a web designer. It also makes my life easier when clients think about these things before embarking on a design project.
Title for the domain name: If you are starting a new business, you already know that the company title is very important. The domain should be the same as your company name. If it isn’t available, make sure the domain name closely reflects your brand and is easy to remember by users.
Purpose/Mission: What is the mission or purpose of the website? To advertise products or services? Expand your brand? Increase conversion rates?
Content: I say this all the time: It really doesn’t matter how fabulous you website looks or how many social media tools you use. If you don’t have great content on your sites, most people will not only not care about your web presence, but they will also not care to learn more about you or your organization. Having high quality content on your web presence is a top priority for establishing both your credibility and your brand.
Audience: Who are you trying to reach with your website? When you know who your audience is, it is easier to build content and a website to cater to their needs.
Competitive Advantage: What makes your website different from your competitors? The best websites are those that are unique and stand out from others.
Responsive Design: A responsive website adjusts to different browser screen sizes, rather than to different devices, without compromising the quality of the content and site design. Over half of all web traffic comes from mobiles and tablets today. Most importantly, today’s users expect your website to be mobile-friendly.
Fonts: Are you using legible fonts? Typography is very important today. Most users don’t stay long on a website where the content is hard to read.
Colors and Layout: The look and feel makes a difference in how users react to your website. Whatever color and layout your choose, make sure it is simple, professional and easy to navigate.
Advertising: Do you plan to sell advertising space on your website? If so, be conscious of how it affects the look and feel of your website. Too many ads might turn off users? Ever heard of AdBlock?
Ecommerce: If you plan on selling products or services online, make sure you have a complete ecommerce plan that includes how you will handle fulfillment and security matters.
Again, this is just a quick list to help get your started. If you have any further questions, contact us!
Happy New Digital You!