In a world driven by social media, businesses often forget the power of a well-designed website. Social channels are highly effective in reaching out to find new leads, but a website gives your business an online storefront, a central location where users can learn everything they need to know about your company. There are a few things to keep in mind for maximizing your site’s potential. Here are 6 ways to improve the function and appeal of your website.
- Understand the objective. Whether you’re building your site from scratch or revamping your existing site, it’s crucial to have a clear objective. Is the main function to sell a product, explain a service, provide industry news, or a personal blog? Knowing these details ahead of time will help you design a user friendly layout for your site.
- Keep it simple. When building a site, it’s easy to get carried away with fancy plugins and flashy graphics. But the truth is all of those will bog down your site’s performance and likely distract the user from your product or service. Keeping things simple doesn’t mean that your site needs to be bland and boring. Creating a visually pleasing site can be achieved without going over the top.
- Clean it up. You wouldn’t want people walking through your place of business when everything looks completely out of order. Your website is just as important, if not more, than a brick-and-mortar storefront. Create a clean homepage that grabs the user’s attention and immediately provides a clear value of the site.
- Keep your pages clean and organized with each page of your site serving a clear purpose. Don’t go overboard on pages, as too many pages can create confusion.
- Reduce file sizes. Large videos, photos, and flash files slow things down dramatically, especially for users with slower connection speeds. Studies show that if a site functionality is poor, a user is far less likely to continue browsing and will likely not return. You can still offer this content by creating smaller files and putting larger files on designated pages on the site. For example, instead of putting a 10-minute HD instructional video on your homepage, create a video thumbnail that brings the user to a new page when clicked. That way, your homepage loads quickly, while users who are interested in your video can still access it.
- Keep things fresh. Give users a reason to want to return to your site by regularly updating the info, news, and other content on your site. Using a simple plugin to display business news or posts from your social channels can help keep your featured content relevant and timely.
Your website is an invaluable tool that can help reach users virtually anywhere and bring in revenue around the clock. Keep these 6 tips in mind for your site and you could be seeing a dramatic increase in traffic. Are you looking for help with your website or online web presence? OnPoint is located in Sacramento and specializes in internet marketing and is a Sacramento SEO expert . Want to hire a SEO or are looking to grow and increase their digital reach? Get in touch with us today to discuss your needs and possible solutions.
