When it comes to getting your first website up and running, or updating a current site, your end goal should be the most important focal point. Every website is created to achieve at least one or two major goals. For restaurants, it is to show customers their menus and locations. For online stores, it is to allow customers an easy way to view and buy their products. As you work with an Edmonton web design company you should have the main purpose of your website in mind from the very beginning.
Regardless of your industry or reason for needing a site, there are universal things that a website needs to compete online and keep visitors happy:
SEO is not for everyone and perhaps you are not in a position where you feel ready for a competitive SEO campaign. There is nothing wrong with that. However, you still need basic SEO completed on your website in order for search engines to correctly read and index your content. This includes things like properly writing title tags, meta descriptions, and alt-image text. Make sure you talk with your website designer to help ensure that your website has been reasonably optimized for search engines.
We live in a time of the digital age, where having a website optimized for mobile users is no longer an option, it is a necessity. Not only does having a mobile-friendly website give you better rankings in search results, mobile users constitute over 50% of all online visitors. If they cannot quickly load your website and navigate it easily on their cell phone or tablet they will quickly bounce to another website that performs at their expectations.
Although this is a relative standard, it is easy to tell what an ugly site looks like when you see one. Make sure that your website stays on top of current design trends and standards. We have all visited outdated looking websites with cheesy graphics and layouts that make the site look at least a decade old. Modern websites need plenty of white space, easy navigation, short and simple commands, interactive aspects like contact forms or better yet videos, and professional looking graphics and pictures. People judge your company by your online presence so you want to make sure your online image reflects the same standards you have in the real world.
In order to make sure that your website shows up when people search for your business name, it is highly advised that you do a little name, address and phone number backlinking from citation websites. This helps Google and other search engines know that your company contact information is correct. It is also a great idea to reach out to happy customers to leave reviews on these sites to increase social appeal.
The basic principle here is that your website can never have enough content, the more content you have the easier people can find you online. You will have more opportunities for potential customers to find you in search results. You will also have an easier time keeping people on your site by giving them content to read and interact with. A good starting point is to make sure that every page of your website has at least 400 words of solid, original content. Remember, it is a game of quantity and quality.
If this is your first website then you might not think that you have any use for a blog feed. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Blog feeds allow you to create new posts about your business, industry, promotions, coupons, and is a great way to provide helpful information to your online visitors. Make sure each blog post you write has basic SEO involved, including at least one graphic or picture and, you guessed it is filled with great original content that is relevant to your business.
It doesn’t make much sense to create a great looking site, just to let it sit there with no purpose and no visitors. We recommend that you take a look at your goals, budget, and business to help you determine where you want to be online. Speaking with a trusted Edmonton web design specialist is highly recommended so that you can understand where you are online and what it will take to achieve your goals.
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