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Continual analysis is critical for a business, as it allows its owner to figure out whether or not he/she is on the right track to achieving his/her business goals

 

So, you’re thinking of putting your startup on the digital map by building its very own website!

Merely having a business website isn’t enough to be successful any more. What really matters is its effectiveness in attracting and pleasing customers.

Here are a few key considerations you should pay heed to if you want to end up with a great business website.

1. Your Company’s Purpose

The question you want to ask yourself right at the outset relates to what your business stands for. The answer(s) to this question will help you decide on the look and the feel of your brand, and how you want to communicate your message to your target audience. Once you’re clear on that, you will be able to come up with a great website design without much effort.

2. Domain Name

Picking a good domain name which resonates with what you do is crucial. It should be catchy and memorable. Further, it needs to fit your brand’s voice and should be easy to spell. Getting this right is important because the combination of SEO, simple spelling and brand identity into the domain name results in better chances of being discovered by search engines. This, in turn, will bring you more customers.

3. Hosting Service

Look for a hosting package that fits the needs of your website and business. Consider the following questions before zeroing in on a hosting service provider:

• Is your website going to be high on images, videos and presentations?
• Do you require scalable solutions in keeping with increasing traffic?
• Will you need technical support or other responsive support from your hosting service?
• What kinds of security and backup features are offered by your hosting service?

4. Backend Support

Exceptional backend support is important if you want to build a website that functions smoothly. After all, that’s where all the magic really happens. It has a direct impact on the user experience, which needs to be brilliant. In the absence of strong backend services, your website will not be able to impress your visitors and they will probably choose not to return to it.

5. Website Design

A clean, attractive and put-together website design is a must for every business portal. This means that your design should be visually appealing and easy to read with intuitive navigation. These qualities enable visitors to concentrate on your brand, your content, your values and offerings. A verbose website with garish images will only put them off. Remember, the way your website looks will tell your visitors about the quality of your business and your products. Hence, focus on providing a positive user experience through your design.

6. Colour Co-ordination

The colours used in your website have a higher effect on customer mindset than you realise. We all know different colours give rise to various emotions, such as happiness, anger, or calmness. It is, therefore, important to choose the colours that are in keeping with your company’s niche, target audience, branding and everything that colour theory entails.

Ensure that you get the finer aspects right. For example, use colour that your target audience responds to, and make sure that the colour scheme in your branding and logo is the same and is easy on the eyes.

Whichever colour scheme you go for, do your homework well and you’ll surely be successful in making a great first impression on your visitors.

7. Adequate Branding

Whether your business is big or small, branding will always be important to its growth. This is where the criticality of designing and placing your brand’s logo comes into eminence. Do not hesitate in getting your logos professionally designed. You want them to be eye-catching and convey your brand’s voice clearly.

Place your logo in a location where it can be easily spotted by your visitors. Try the upper-left corner as that’s where the eyes move first naturally. Using the same logo consistently on packaging, print advertising and branded apparel will go a long way in providing your customers with a holistic and memorable brand experience.

8. Easy Navigation

If your website is perplexing or difficult to navigate, rest assured that your visitors will stay away from it. You need to work on increasing the efficiency and the appeal of your website’s navigation by reviewing its various aspects as if you’re a first-time visitor. Keep the navigation streams that work, and get rid of or modify those that don’t.

One great way of enabling easy navigation is by adding a sitemap. Also, saying goodbye to unnecessary and/or underperforming pages will decrease the load time, thereby loading your website faster and improving the overall online presence of your brand.

9. Mobile Compatibility

Did you know that 34 per cent of cell Internet users go online mostly using their phones, and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer?

The use of mobile phones to search for information has been steadily on the rise. You need to make sure you’re tapping into this growing population of mobile users by building a website that can be reached from mobile phones and tablets. Your website should be able to function optimally and flawlessly when accessed from any of these devices.

10. Effectual Security

Technological advancements are a never-ending phenomenon and as newer technology comes in, security risks to your website increase. These risks can make your website vulnerable to malware and virus attacks by hackers, and compromise its integrity. This is why it is crucial that your website is prepared for preventing security breaches on both, the front and the back ends.

E-commerce websites and other websites enabling online transactions need to be high on the security measures to protect customer information. Having SSL certificates added to such websites should make them safer and more credible.

Further, businesses need to either conduct regular security checks themselves or engage third-party providers who offer such services.

11. Unique Content

Every website has content on it and yours will too. Do ensure that it is high in quality, informative and original. Further, it should also be relevant to your offerings. Remember, your content and keywords have a direct effect on your site’s rankings in search engine results. Choose your keywords carefully as they can help customers locate your website.

Provide a considerable amount of useful and authentic content, and insert links to authoritative sources and other pages on your website. However, make sure that it reflects your brand’s unique voice.

Watch out for duplicate content as posting such content on your website will invite hefty penalties from Google, including potential exclusion from search engine results.

Conclusion

Launching a website is just the start of a never-ending cycle of work. Continual analysis is critical for a business, as it allows its owner to figure out whether or not he/she is on the right track to achieving his/her business goals. This applies to websites as well. It is important to track how your website is performing, understand its strengths and work on its weaknesses. Keep the above factors in mind when building your website and it should put your business in the big league in no time.

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