When it comes to website design, there are some core essentials that apply no matter what your industry. Whether you are updating your online presence or starting afresh, you need to ensure that the following boxes are ticked.
- Your website pages can be found online
- Accessing the content on your website is intuitive
- There is sufficient differentiation between your brand and the competition
This article explains how these three points can be achieved by your web design company. Let’s begin with the search.
How do customers find what they want?
In the vast majority of cases, customers will search online to find the products and services they want. Within a split second of any request being made, the search engines have to compile a list of the most relevant web pages. Their reputation depends on providing quality results that answer the search criteria.
Let’s be clear; no matter what the search phrase, your web page is immediately up against a vast number of contenders. To stand any chance of being found online, your website has to help the search engines to see that it is a quality site. As a core requirement, you need:
- Unique and well-defined content (plenty of opportunities to show the correlation between your offer and the search term)
- Mobile responsive or mobile-first web design
- Fast Loading Pages
- An SSL Certificate if you are requesting any information from visitors
The search engines keep a score of your website, it knows if a web page is regularly updated, visited and referred to online.
There are more than 100 factors that are calculated by the search engines to determine the correlation between a search query and the results displayed. It all happens in the split of second and 3.5 billion per day worldwide. Over time, your web pages will gain the authority, necessary to move up the ranks.
Please note, if you have an existing domain name, stick with it. The length of time that you have had an active website domain counts in your favour.
What are your Customers Looking For?
When it comes to website design, it doesn’t really matter whether you offer an exclusive range of luxury products or a vast selection of essential services. The top priority is providing a positive customer experience. At a basic level, your web pages should:
- Be accessible on their device of choice
- Be quick to load
- Communicate what you offer at first glance (no matter which page they land on)
- Be intuitive to navigate
As a business, you need to have a clear idea of what your customers want. What are their priorities? How can you meet their expectations? On this point, consider the company values as well as what you sell. The customer’s priorities could be finding a local company who actively supports the community, a business with strong eco-credentials or a company who has achieved a specific standard/membership.
Also, consider how your website content can be of value to them. Can you provide practical advice, inspiration, case studies or other useful information?
Maybe view your website as a Customer Service Representative, rather than as a Salesman. Prospect clients would certainly appreciate that approach and it may be in keeping with the style of your organisation.
How to Differentiate your Website from the Competition
If you are planning a new website design, it is useful to check out your online competition. This is not to copy what they are doing. Your goal should be to see what your brand is up against and ensure that your web pages are strong enough to compete. Can you spot gaps and offer anything that the competition is missing?
When it comes to standing apart, your website essentials are to:
- Use unique branding and content (original copy and custom photos)
- Be personable, with the aim of connecting with the customer
- Focus on the positive outcomes of using your products and services
- Ensure that your website has a straightforward CRM, so you can quickly add fresh content with confidence.
Yes, it will cost more to engage a professional photographer or copywriter, but original, quality content will reap rewards.
Website Essentials in Summary
In 2020, every business needs to be found online. As the competition has never been higher, you can not afford to cut corners or promote anything other than your brand at its best. To deliver a quality experience, your website design must:
- Meet the core requirements of the search engines
- Be easy for customers to access, navigate and identify with
- Accurately reflect your brand
- Be original
- Be regularly updated
If your website can be found and if it offers a great customer experience, it can be your strongest sales tool. For further information or to request a meeting to discuss your website project please call 01296 320820 or email office@frameworkdigital.co.uk
