There is often a battle that goes on in the mind of business owners when they need a website built for their local business. On one side, there is the pragmatic thoughts looking for a website that ranks highly and converts visitors to buyers in high numbers. On the flip side, there are often thoughts of grand designs and a website that is so stunningly beautiful that it becomes the talk of the town. If you approach a professional agency and ask them to build you a website, they are likely to advise the former than the latter, especially if they are experts in SEO too. They know that a website that is a work of art might be good to look at, but if it languishes on page 10 because its structure and SEO are poor, nobody will find it anyway. As a business owner, it is not necessary for you to become an expert in website design. However, there are huge advantages to knowing some key factors that can make a huge difference in a website’s performance. Armed with this knowledge, you can more easily discuss your objectives and ascertain whether the agency can create the website you require. Let’s start with one factor that hardly any business owners know regarding how it affects their website and its ranking. That factor is site speed, the term used for how quickly a website loads when someone clicks on it and thereafter, as they use it. We mention this first because site speed is especially important because it influences other factors affecting website rankings. A site that loads slowly will mean some visitors leave almost immediately, and that ‘bounce,’ as it is called, is noted by Google. High bounce rates mean a downgrading of rankings. A slow site will discourage visitors from hanging around, and the overall length of time anyone spends on your site during a visit is also a ranking factor.
Website design is something that makes many people roll their eyes, not because they do not like websites, but because it seems to hold some mystical qualities which only a few will ever understand. Whilst it is true that some technical aspects of designing and building websites require a level of training and experience, for the most part, it is not particularly difficult. Website design does have some basic principles which you should adhere to, and to help you understand them, if you are about to renew your website, here are the top 7. Ensure The SEO Basics Are In Place Being an SEO agency we had to start with this one, and no matter how large or how small a project you are undertaking with regards to your website design, in all cases, you need to have the basic SEO elements in place. This includes the title, the description, and all the other metadata such as H1 tags. Should you be unsure of this, or if the idea of going behind the scenes and dabbling with some technical SEO aspects of your website fills you with dread, then there are plenty of resources that can help you, including ourselves. Use a Clean Design When we say clean design, we mean have a website that looks uncluttered, welcoming, and inviting to anyone who lands on it for the first time, and indeed every other time after that. Whether there is a next time will vary depending on the first impression any visitor has of your website, so try to avoid neon coloured sections, black backgrounds with coloured text, and other imagery that is likely to have anyone seeing it reeling back from their screen.
The world today revolves around mobile devices. If you were to walk down the street in a major city, you would probably see hundreds of people staring into their smartphones or tablets. Now, many in these numbers are going to be on the internet or reading what their favourite websites have to say. With this scene in mind, you can most likely now understand how critical it is to consider mobile devices when you are considering web design. One of the best ways to do this is to use responsive design techniques. What Is a Responsive Web Design? Basically, a responsive website is one that renders differently on different-sized devices. Using responsive CSS code (or a website builder or template with responsive design built-in), you will be able to create a versatile website that looks great on pretty much any phone, tablet, computer, or other device. To put things simply, an optimised website is one that will respond to a user, the device they are using and their actions. In some cases, different elements will be displayed in different positions on different devices. Similarly, some elements could be absent altogether on the mobile version of your website.
Whether you are starting a new business and need a website for it, or have an existing business and wish to improve or even replace your current site, unless you are a website developer, you will need to employ a website development company to do the work. If you do some research you will see there are literally hundreds of them out there. Some of these will be one-man or woman operations, whereby the person designs and develops websites on a freelance basis. Whilst many of them are excellent at what they do, and can often design a very impressive website, they are not what most businesses need. They usually cannot back up the design with elements relating to SEO or conversion, for the simple reason that they specialise only in design. For a more comprehensive service that can not only design your website but also ensure it has every chance of ranking and converting well, you need the services of a website development company. One huge benefit they have is a team with all the skills required to ensure that every necessary element is optimised. Such a company will also be more able to offer you continued support after the website has gone live to implement any updates that are necessary.
Any business which has an online presence will almost certainly do so using a website. With so many templates now available you could literally have one up and running in a day. However, contrary to the mantra, ‘build it and they will come’, without an effective design, proper website development, and conversion factors addressed, you will struggle for traffic. More importantly, any traffic you do get, will not take the desired actions you hope for. Web design and development consist of a multitude of principles and best practices, which sadly all too many businesses are unaware of, or simply do not know how to implement. This is why using a website development company to build or redesign your website is almost always the best route to take. One of the most important reasons is that they will be up to date and fully aware of the current best practices and guidelines, especially as they apply to SEO and ranking on Google. These guidelines could literally take up an entire book, however, there are some that take precedence.
