In a previous post, we talked about web design trends in 2021, this time we wanted to share our expert insights on how you can make your website successful.
Regardless of the industry you’re in, we’ve found time and time again that there are a few key elements that work together to create a website that works for your business, attracts site visitors, and converts those visitors into paying customers.
These insights are based on over 15 years of experience in designing responsive websites for a range of industries from our base in Harrogate, Yorkshire.
5 ways to make your website the best it can be
1. Have a logical site structure
Think about how to structure and organise the pages on your website.
The labels on your main menu need to be obvious to the visitor because they need to be able to navigate their way around your site and find exactly what they’re looking for. This improves the user experience and overall performance of your site.
Home, About, Services and Contact may not be the most exciting labels for your main pages but there’s no confusion about what clicking on those labels will lead to.
2. Prioritise your website copy
It’s important to have clear and concise text on every page of your site.
People won’t read every single word like it’s a book so it’s important to format your text in a way that makes it easy to skim read. Paying special attention to your headings as people will often just scan the page and pick out key points that stand out.
Some other words of advice we share with our clients to help improve their website copy are:
- Make use of headings and sub-headings
- Use short paragraphs to avoid overwhelming site visitors
- Use bullet points to break up the text
- Include keywords to help your site’s SEO
- Share internal links to other relevant pages on your site
- Keep your blog up-to-date
- Engage with a copywriter if you have the resources
3. Use great photos
We understand that stock images are really easy to source and getting quality photography and images involves extra resources but we really believe that great photography can help take your website to the next level.
We would encourage our clients to use their own photos on their site whenever possible as some stock photos can be really cheesy and overused all over the internet – including by your competitors! Having said that, it does depend on the type of industry your business is in. Sometimes you have to turn to stock photography. Just make sure to source good images. Illustrations can also be used instead of photography and is a service that we can provide.
4. Use clear calls-to-action
So, you’ve got people to visit your website, now what?
If you want people to sign up for your newsletter, add products to their basket or read your blog posts all the way through, you need to give your site visitors a little nudge in the right direction – and that’s where call-to-actions come in to play.
Place a call-to-action on each page of your site to lead people towards a conversion.
10 examples of strong call-to-actions include:
- Shop now
- Start your free trial
- Sign up today
- Install now
- Subscribe today
- Get 20% off when your order today
- Find out how much you could earn
- Learn more
- Discover our new range
- Explore our most popular products
However, a word of caution, don’t overdo them! For best results, we recommend sticking to one strong call-to-action per page to give your visitors clear direction.
5. Regularly maintain your site
Once you’ve put in all the hard work to make your site the best it can be, your work isn’t done. You need to continue to maintain the site.
When was the last time you checked that your contact form works? Or checked for any broken links? Is your site taking ages to load a new page?
These are just some of the things you need to stay on top of over time to make, and keep, your site successful.
We actually offer a monthly care plan that can help you keep on top of updates, security, and more. We find this gives our clients added peace of mind that their site is being looked after by WordPress experts.
Gear your website up for success
Over the years, we’ve found that these elements work alongside great web design to generate success for our clients across Yorkshire and beyond.
Each element is a piece of the puzzle that results in a website that converts visitors into customers.
If you are ready to move forward with a new web design project, get in touch today.