The Anatomy Of A Successful Website
Getting things right from the very beginning is important for your business website if it hopes to go the distance.
New websites are being built every day, and every business wants a slice of the online pie. But what makes a website stand out of the crowd, not only visually but also structurally? Here we discuss the components which make a website successful. Follow these building blocks and you are on your way to creating a website packed with opportunity.
- Powerful Web Hosting
A beautifully designed and functional website is great, but if the hosting provider cannot keep up with your required loading times and/or data output then you are in trouble. We’ve all felt the frustration of a slow loading website, and many of us are quick to abandon a site that doesn’t spring up in seconds.
If you choose a powerful and reliable web hosting provider such as UK2, you can be assured that your images, online shop or any database-driven search site will load instantly. Whether it‘s a dedicated WordPress hosting solution, business website hosting, VPS or Cloud you are after, the right choice will give your website the anatomical backbone it needs.
When you are seeing the traffic you want – when your site becomes popular – you should consider investing in a dedicated server hosting solution, which will give you ample resources to make sure you site runs seamlessly around the clock. More info about that here.
- Professional Design
There are many options available to you when building your first website. For startups and small businesses a website builder tool – such as Website Builder from UK2 – is enough to get the ball rolling. But is this really enough to make a serious and professional first impression? Remember your website is your calling card – many of your potential customers will get their first impression of your brand from your site.
The best way to really impress and stand out of the crowd is to hire a professional web designer. They will be able to effectively capture and display your brand identity, choose the appropriate colour schemes for your audience and create an overall professional, bespoke look that will give your visitors confidence in your site. What good is an online shop, for example, if your potential customers are too wary to purchase anything? Custom website design will send all of the right messages. Read more about professional website design services from our trusted partner here.
- Usability
Not only will a professional designer create a visually stunning experience, they will also create an easy to navigate and functional website. Not all of your visitors will be equally online savvy, so you want to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome on your site. If your visitors are looking for something in specific, make it easy for them to navigate to. Choose fonts and colours that are easily legible, and make any process as simple as possible for your target audience. If of course your audience is a tech specific group, then by all means add all of the high tech functions they will be looking for.
- SEO Optimisation
A beautiful and functional website is a great start, but a website also needs to be found on search engines. This is why search engine optimisation (SEO) is so important. Again, a professional web designer will be able to incorporate all of the essential SEO features whilst designing the website, as well as creating the functionality in such a way as to score highly in SEO analysis.
- Purpose and Content
The big question is always this: what is the purpose of your website? Is it to provide useful information? Should it solve your reader‘s problems? Is it designed to showcase your products? Or is it a luxury item/service that some can‘t live without? Whatever your answer, your website needs to clearly reflect its purpose. The viewer mustn‘t be left to try and guess what your website is about. State your objective clearly and support it with relevant content.
The content itself has two important roles: one, it needs to fulfil the need your viewers have, and two, it is vital for SEO. Relevant content helps rank websites higher in search engines as it is an indicator of quality of the website in relation to the search terms. In other words, good content is more likely to include what a searcher is looking for.