5 Things Every Website Needs
When you’re new to web design and building a website for your business, it’s easy to get caught up with the bells and whistles. And that’s because bells and whistles are fun! But they’re not necessarily what you need if you want your website to perform well (and by ‘well,’ we mean get traffic and generate leads and/or sales).
So, forget the bells and whistles. If you want a good website, focus on the bread-and-butter. Here are 5 key elements that every website needs
Every Website Needs A Blog
Maybe you don’t want to call it a ‘blog.’ Maybe you want to call it ‘articles’ or ‘stories’ or ‘resources.’ But a blog is a section on your website where you can add frequent updates and content. And your website needs one.
Blogs serve many purposes. They help you connect with your customers, they help establish your expertise and authority in your field, and they give users a reason to keep coming back to your site. Simply put they’re an easy way to boost your online marketing and presence.
Blogs are also critical for search engine optimization, or SEO, which we’ll cover more below.
Every Website Needs An SSL Certificate
This one’s so important, we’ll repeat it: every website needs an SSL Certificate. This is an extra security feature that encrypts the data that travels between websites and users. And having one is really important because it protects your website from hacking and makes it safer for your visitors to shop and share information.
It’s also important simply because Google and other search engines have decided it’s important. In fact, they’ll penalize your site if you don’t have one.
But don’t worry – SSL Certificates aren’t as scary as they sound. In fact, we add them free of charge in our website hosting packages.
Every Website Needs Clear Contact Information
This one should be a no-brainer. There’s nothing more frustrating than being on a website and not being able to find the contact info.
If someone is inspired to contact you, then you want to remove any possible barrier in their way. That means you want to have a clear and detailed contact page. It’s often helpful to have a submission box on this page. Embedding a map is also a smart idea, especially if you’re concerned primarily with local customers.
It is also a good idea to have your main contact info (phone, email, and possibly social media icons) in your header, footer, or both.
And a word-to-the-wise: when you include your phone number on your site in the right way, people who are accessing your site on mobile can click to call you directly. Might as well make it as easy as possible!
Every Website Needs SEO
Like we’ve mentioned, every website needs to be optimized for search engines. Because if you’re not showing up in search engines, no one’s going to find your site (unless you’ve got a huge online ads budget – and even then, it’s always good to get traffic for free!).
There are many approaches to SEO. But again, bread-and-butter usually works better than bells and whistles. This means sticking to SEO basics, which includes keyword use across your site, updating your site regularly with good, new content (that’s where the blog comes in), and maintaining a fast, well-organized website. Using WordPress as your content management system is one of the best ways to ensure this, which is why it’s our go-to.
Every Website Needs A Goal
What action do you want people to take when they visit your site? Do you want them to sign up for an email list? Download a PDF? Check out your Shop page? Make a purchase? Fill out a survey? Read your blog? In digital marketing speak, we call this a ‘conversion,’ and you need to know what yours are for your website before you start building.
Once you know what your goal or goals are, you can design your website in a smart way, to encourage people to do what you want them to do. This includes having what are called ‘calls-to-action’ used judiciously yet effectively on every page.
Looking for some design help?
If it turns out that creating your new website is not something you would like to take on alone, make sure to Contact us for your free 30 minute consultation.