Websites For Dummies
Intro
Creating a kick-ass website is something all business’ in 2019 want to achieve. There are so many positives from an awesome website the list is endless. From customer usability to website interaction to just having an amazing interface design. These are just a few things you need to get right if you’re going to build a successful website. So that’s the long term goal, but where do you begin?
The Plan
Like every good creation, it needs a plan and a slick website is no exception. Start by planning every aspect of your new or existing website if you’re planning a refurb. Choose your design carefully, base it on what your customers would want to see and what you want your customers to think about your brand when they visit the site
For instance, if you’re a coffee company, using very tech looking font or trying to replicate someone like Apple’s site it may just be a failure. You need your site to truly convey what it is you do and what your brand is all about. Look at competitors for inspiration if you’re stuck for ideas, but just take into consideration which ones are the good sites to take inspiration from and which ones aren’t!
When you’ve got your design/layout idea down, next you need to focus on website content. What is the purpose of your website? Do you provide information? Do you sell things on your site? Figuring out the purpose of your website is key. Think about what you would expect/want to see on a website similar to your company, FAQ pages, social media pages, blogs, shopping page etc. Implement everything your company has to offer through your website. But don’t overcomplicate it, keep the pages useful and relevant. Adding too many unnecessary pages will get visitors to your site lost and confused, so they are less likely to stay – resulting in a higher bounce rate which will affect your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), but more about that later…
The Creation
The groundwork has been done, you’ve got your slick design, you’re layout is planned and you know what content you are putting on your website. Now it’s time to actually build this bad boy! Now you may have built a LEGO Death Star when you were younger, but building a properly functioning, multi-device optimised website is a whole different story. This is where you generally have 3 paths to choose from when creating the website.
- The cheap option – Get Dave from the pub, with his ‘Developer Qualification’, to quickly whip up a website concoction for a tenner, a pint and a packet of crisps.
- Build it yourself – You can use coding tutorials or use your experience of web developing to give it a go but if you’re going to try it yourself try to use quality web-tools or web-design platforms. This can be a very effective and cheap way of building your site, but just bare in mind it may be cheaper but it WILL take more time to build.
- Outsource – Probably the best way to go about it if you don’t feel comfortable building the site yourself is to get professional help in the form of web developers who do this for a living. This is obviously the most expensive way to go about it, but at least they’ll get the job done properly.
Whichever method you choose to use just make sure you take everything we’ve just mentioned into consideration if you want to get the best out of your latest and greatest design. Optimise the site for SEO, include all relevant keywords on your site so the powers that be at Google will rank you generously for showing them that your site is full of useful and relevant content for anyone searching for your product/service or a similar product/service.
Test, test and test again! We can’t reiterate this enough, make sure it’s optimised on ALL devices – desktops, tablets and mobiles. Go through the entire site with a fine-tooth comb and make sure there are no grammatical errors, design errors, make sure EVERYTHING is functioning how it should be.
The End Result
When the day finally comes that your new website is ready to go live, it will without a doubt be a memorable day for you. I’m talking up there with your wedding day and the birth of your children. The feeling of all the hard work, time, dedication and money you have poured into it paying off will finally make you realise it was all worth it! That’s it, you’re website is done, leave it alone, put your feet up and watch the money roll in…
Ha! You didn’t really believe it was that easy did you?
For some their site will inevitably have some errors or glitches, for others it will run as smooth as our die-cut stickers – Shameless self-promotion…
Now is the time to make sure there are no issues before you’re hounded with a sudden surge of millions of customers based on the advice we’ve given you.
To make sure everything is as it should be, we recommend running your site through an SEO report to get a full analysis. This will allow you to see if your new website is reaching its full potential or not and allows you to make changes based on those findings.
Once all of the above is complete now is your time to PROMOTE IT!!! Shout about your new site on social media, get your friends, fellow business owners and aunty Pam to post about it for you! Human nature is to naturally be curious by anything new or unseen so give the people what they want – your AMAZING new website. We hope you do take our advice on board because trust us we’ve been there, building a website is no easy feat, sometimes all you need is a little inspiration in the form of a very useful blog and some kick ass stickers to accompany it! Here, go nuts 😁 https://stkrs.io/