In the digital world today, having a website is the first step to getting your business or yourself out in the world for people to explore. A website will probably be the first place where you and your visitors interact with each other, which is why making one should be taken very seriously. Traditionally, the receptionist would be the face of the business, but here, the reception is the landing page. On that note, here are seven elements you need to consider when building a website.
Purpose and Goals
Before starting on the actual building of the website, it is important to set down the purpose of the website and the goals that you want to achieve with it. Websites will differ according to the purpose they are supposed to perform like a website for selling products will be different from one for hosting a portfolio for a freelancer. The layouts and backend to turn designs into custom Webflow websites will be completely different because one can survive with a simple code while the other will require a lot to make it functional. Apart from the purpose, a person should have the goals of the website and what they want to do with it. If the website will be required to handle heavier stuff in the future, then it would be better to build it strong from the beginning instead of rebuilding again when the time to expand has come.
User-friendly Design
We said above that the landing page is the face of the company, so it should be made in a user-friendly manner. Sometimes, a website can be very difficult to navigate, so a person just gives up and leaves; after all, there are countless other sites that offer what you are offering. The first thing to realize is that there is no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to design layout. While we may want to be unique and stand out, sometimes we might discourage a person from staying on the website because instead of the search button being at the top, it is in the middle of the website somewhere. A person should stick to the basics of website design and just play around with the colors.
Content Strategy
Content is the only way a website can speak to visitors, so make sure that the website is full of engaging content. When it comes to making content, it is important to ensure that it is of the best quality and is enticing enough to keep visitors on the website. It is good to have a schedule on how to post the content because one thing that people and search engines have in common is having some sort of consistency. Knowing that tomorrow at a certain time, they expect this or that is good at keeping a steady flow of visitors.
Hosting And Domain Name
It is crucial to take time and research the best hosting and domain name providers, as these will really contribute to the success of the website. A domain name is an entry that people enter on search engines like Google to be directed to your website. They should be easy to remember, and nothing too specific, and a person should choose or create a name that is related to the content that is on your website. Hosting is where files and data are stored that keep the website running. A common analogy is taking the website as a house, the domain name as an address, and the hosting as a piece of land that the house is on.
Security
The security of a website is important for the creator and also the users because the internet is full of threats. Ensure that the site has the following:
● SSL certificate
● Regular updates
● Firewall
● Security plugins
● Strong passwords
Performance And Loading Speeds
Good performance of the website accompanied by high speeds will help to avoid lagging and slow downloads. A slow website is only good at one thing: chasing away visitors. No one will wait for a site that is slow in loading. Thus, it is important for websites to have high speeds. Having high-resolution photos may appear reasonable in the first place, yet if your resolution is too much, it can cause your site to run slow, and you need to find the right balance of quality and a good-performing site.
Mobile Optimization
It is also pertinent to mention that the website should be optimized for use on phones with all the mentioned elements. One should bear in mind that not everybody has a laptop, and of course, it is impossible to carry it everywhere one goes, therefore, it is necessary to use responsive design for optimization. In this case, most of the people will quickly make a search on their phones, with some of the visitors coming from there.
Take your time and check what features make successful websites at this particular point. Be specific on colors used in designing, as they play a huge role in the overall impression of the page. If the design is meant for business or long-term use, then it would be extremely wise to look for a professional because there is quite a bit of coding. In essence, by the end of the day, the website ought to feel like home to all the bits of information appearing on it.
Featured photo by Balázs Kétyi on Unsplash.
