- 6 Things I Wish I Had Known About Building A Website Must
- 6 Things I Wish I Had Known About Building A Websites
- 6 Things I Wish I Had Known About Building A Website Page
6 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before I Built A Marketing Department Home » Blog » Marketing » 6 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before I Built A Marketing Department A couple of years ago I was given an incredible opportunity to build a marketing department from the ground up. Discover the Best Way to Build a Website With Our Free Checklist. Welcome to the wonderful world of website building! Whether you’re unsure where to start, or you’re just looking for some expert tips and tricks to take your site to the next level, we’ve got the perfect thing for you: our free website building checklist.
Last Updated on December 11, 2019
Did you know that companies like Domino’s havefaced legal troubles because their website is not accessible by a blind customer? Even Beyonce’s website is under fire for the same reason. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) sued Targetbecause blind people couldn’t access their website.
A decade back, it was just enough for a business to have a website regardless of its quality. But the landscape of the internet-based business environment has changed dramatically since then.
Fast forward to today, and your website needs to be attractive, responsive, load fast, and follow the . Along with these, you also need to ensure that your website is compliant with the evolving legal framework related to website accessibility.
Think of your website as an online extension of your business. It should be easy for your potential customers to easily find you online and locate the information they need.
MetaFilter is a weblog that anyone can contribute a link or a comment to. A typical weblog is one person posting their thoughts on the unique things they find on the web. This website exists to break down the barriers between people, to extend a weblog beyond just one person, and to foster discussion among its members. You Can Host Your Website for Free. It’s true, and the solution was right under your nose the whole time! I’m sure most of you have a Google Drive account anyways. Use up that free storage! This is great for rapid prototyping your first custom HTML website. You could couple this with Bootstrap and whip up a fancy design in no time.
Your website should also be customer-centric. It should promote your business, clearly convey the value it brings to your existing and potential customers, and be easily accessible by all.
Want to build a website that has it all?
Let’s take a look at a few points you should consider while building your first website.
1. Responsive Design
Your visitors might be visiting from a variety of devices including laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. Keep the design simple and clean so that it is optimal for viewing on any device.
If a website is designed for viewing on large monitors only, the design will break down on smaller screen sizes. Many small business websites are not designed for smaller screen sizes. And they might not load appropriately on mobile devices.
In 2018, mobile traffic accounted for more than 52% of all website traffic generated worldwide. And, mobile usage still continues to grow.
This suggests that if your website design is not responsive, it is likely to drive a certain section of your potential customers away. More than that, unresponsive website design will look unprofessional and it will also hurt your SEO.
There is a nifty tool from Google, called Mobile-Friendly Test, that lets you check if your website is mobile-friendly or not.
2. Web Accessibility
Many people with disabilities use the internet now and this number will continue to grow with time. That’s why you can’t ignore the need for web accessibility or deem it as a mere afterthought. A business website should be accessible to every customer, regardless of their abilities or status.
It’s easy to get scared by the thought of building a website that is fully accessible but fret not. There’s a tool called accessiBethat can do it all for you. This AI-powered web accessibility tool requires a few minutes of installation, and anyone with a basic understanding of HTML and JavaScript can install it.
Image via accessiBe
Once you install the accessiBe code on your website, an accessibility tool icon will appear on your website. This icon will allow visitors to change the website settings based on their special needs. On the back-end, the AI will constantly scan your site to ensure it’s accessible when uploading new content.
3. Uncluttered Design
6 Things I Wish I Had Known About Building A Website Must
Your website is the first thing many potential customers see before reaching out. Keep your website design simple, fresh, and organized. Nobody likes clutter.
A simple and intuitive structure will allow visitors to quickly and easily find what they need.
Your website should provide answers to all of the critical questions that potential customers might ask. You can provide details about your products and what they can do for consumers. Use that opportunity to convey key information to potential customers using crisp and clear text.
Avoid providing too much information as it can make visitors feel overwhelmed. Moreover, key information and your call-to-action (CTA) may get lost in the noise. Instead, use a balance of text and graphics with the right use of white space to give a clean, minimalistic feel.
Remove elements that don’t support the purpose of your web pages. Too many page elements only add confusion. Use a minimal color scheme to make the most significant impact on your audience.
4. Easy Navigation
Make sure that your site iseasy to navigate. The main navigation menu should help visitors find what they’re looking for. Nothing is more frustrating for users than a disorganized or confusing navigation interface.
You should:
- Design a visually-prominent navigation menu.
- Limit your top-level navigation menu to five tabs, and make sure that you name them appropriately.
- Link your logo to your homepage.
- There should be a clear link to get back to the homepage, no matter where visitors are on the site.
- Use breadcrumb navigation on blog pages to help visitors navigate through the website.
5. Above-the-Fold Content
The entire portion of a website that is visible to visitors without scrolling down is known as the “above-the-fold” section. This portion is extremely important for your website and it often determines whether the traffic will stay or bounce.
When your website loads on a visitor’s computer or mobile phone, this is the first thing they see. Visitors form their first impression of your website based on this section. Your best proposition or CTA should be prominently located above the fold. And this section should offer good enough reasons for the visitors to stay.
6. Conversion Optimization
The primary goal of creating a business website is to drive conversions and grow your brand. You should evaluate how well your website is helping visitors to move down the sales funnel. Some of the best ways to convert visitors include offering discounts, demos, and free trials that they’ll find attractive.
But, the only problem is that everyone is doing it. So it has become harder to break through the noise and get people to convert on your website. The only solution is to constantly evolve your website by paying close attention to not only your offerings and services but also what your competitors are offering.
If you notice all of your competitors are offering ebooks, you can go a step further by offering a tool. The tool might allow people to enter certain information and generate free reports that they can receive in their inboxes.
Whatever you decide to do in regards to conversion optimization, make sure you are one step ahead of your competitors.
Wrapping Up
6 Things I Wish I Had Known About Building A Websites
This is not an exhaustive list, but a good starting point. You wouldn’t put up a messy physical storefront. The same goes for your business website, which is your online business establishment.
Think about your website from the perspective of your customers and make sure that it gives enough reasons for them to visit again.
6 Things I Wish I Had Known About Building A Website Page
What do you look for in a business website? Please let us know in the comments below.