Why Do You Need a Website?
Technology has changed significantly in the last decade, and we have entered a digital era. What was popular 15 years ago doesn’t work anymore in the marketing world. For example, we used to get all the ads in the paper form once a week or once a month. But in today’s world, this is far too slow. We are used to getting everything right this second. It is set deep within us that we have to have all the information we want right away. With the development of the Internet, we can get all the information immediately, so waiting for that paper to tell us what’s on sale or what exciting things are happening in the evening is, of course, outdated.
With the change in consumer behavior, the companies had to evolve too and make their customers happy and “in the loop”. A study from 2017 has shown that a whopping 97 % of people looked online to find a local business near them. That only shows you that you are found faster online than on paper. This makes having a website a MUST. So regardless of the industry your company is in, it’s important for your customers to get to know you and find you faster.
Businesses have to have an online presence; otherwise, it’s the same as not existing. It’s how we make sure that the company meets our needs. Consumers are used to checking the website of a company they’re about to purchase from, especially when buying online. You want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.
But having a website is only half the work. Just having it isn’t enough. The quality of your website has a strong impact on the customers’ decision whether to buy something from you or not. We’re here to help you with that. We want to explain why having a good website is important and how to get started, what you need to be careful of when building a website, and how to make your website attractive for your customers.
Why is a website important?
Digitalization of businesses is important in this day and age. With digitalization, you can move your company to the next level and not get stuck somewhere far away in the past where only your grandparents know what you do. Digitalization helps your company make better offers to your customers. From 2020 when a pandemic struck us, many companies continued their businesses as if nothing had happened. And they can credit it all to digitalization. Because of it, they didn’t have to shut down their operations, and they continued selling because their customers could find them online and buy their products from the comfort of their own couch.
So, to show you how important a good website can be for your business, here are six great reasons to set up a website for your company:
1. Visibility and accessibility: The most important reason for having a website is, of course, visibility. Amongst millions of potential customers, having a website and being visible makes it easier for those customers to find you. It gives them a chance to buy a product whenever they want to. People search for a business that is going to solve their problems, and having a website that clearly describes what you can offer them makes it easier for them to find you and decide whether they are going to buy from you or not. Your customers will first Google you and then decide if you’re worth their trip to find you and make a personal visit to make the purchase. Keep in mind if your customers find you online, and it makes them understand what you are selling without having to have a personal conversation with you, that’s a bonus.
On the contrary to your physical presence in the form of a store, your website is open all day, every day. Even when your shop is closed, your customers can still access information about your product and your company on your website, leave a comment, sign up for a newsletter and order a product.
2. Credibility: You likely have competitors targeting the same people as you. With a good-looking website that communicates a clear message to your customers, you can stand out from your competition. Not having a website may look sketchy to your customers as they can’t see what you do. A website provides legitimacy for you and is a great opportunity to get first impressions. By showing your customers who you are, what you represent, and what you stand for, there is a higher chance people will buy from you as you represent yourself as a serious business.
3. Organic traffic: Your online presence and SEO-optimized website increase the chances of your company showing up in Google search results. This means that when your customers are searching for a specific product, there is a high chance that your website will show up in the results. Having a better SEO score means you can attract more visitors you can turn into clients. Companies are spending more on SEO optimization every year, and we don’t see this trend going down.
4. Customer Service: Your website is very important for sharing the information your customers want. For example, a customer wants to call you to ask what time you open. If you miss the call, the customer will be unhappy. They call again, and you’re unreachable again. That does not look good. So by having a website where all those little details are mentioned, you save your customer’s time and yours and don’t risk their unhappiness. Also, having a website can increase internal productivity since your staff can focus on more important parts of your business rather than answering questions about what time you open. Without having customers calling every day, it makes their experience better.
As we mentioned earlier, it’s easier for a customer to find your company online than in a printed catalog. By posting different tips and other information via blog posts that can be useful to your customer, you add value to your product. With the rise of social media, you can also use those to increase customer service since you can post videos, podcasts, and share information about your products across multiple channels.
5. Lowers costs: A website is an investment, but it’s mostly a one-time investment. The only maintenance you have with it is adding or cutting out things. People are always on their phones and on the internet, so a good website also helps reach more people than any other form of advertising. If you have everything a customer needs to know about your business on your website, you can lower the cost of utility bills, cost of staff, and rent as you have everything there, and no one has to explain everything on the phone to the customer. We can’t forget about the fact that a website costs way less than having to advertise via television, radio commercials, or billboards.
6. Showcase your work: Your website is the first interaction your audience gets when they land on your page. That is why it is important to showcase your work in a way that makes it appealing to the customers. To make it easier for your customers to make their decision, try adding short tutorials on the page or PDF instructions. You can also add testimonials of satisfied customers on the product page or even some of the awards you might have gotten for your outstanding products. All these tips show your customers that you are the real deal and they can trust in you.
Hire a developer or build it on your own?
Building a website can be very exciting, especially if you’re very creative and already know how your website should look. Deciding between building the website on your own or outsourcing the work to an agency can be difficult. There are pros and cons to every dilemma. Your task is to wage all the pros and cons, write them down and then decide what is best for your company. Ask yourself what is important – saving money or having a quality end result. Think about what is best for your company long-term. The good news is that even if you change your mind later, you can switch to a designer or try to manage it yourself.
In this chapter, we will talk about the positives and negatives to both of these options. Let’s take a closer look.
Hiring An Agency
If you have absolutely no idea how to build a website or even don’t want to do it yourself, hire an agency that provides professional web developers. They will build your website from scratch. All you have to do is to give them all the information about your company you want to include on the website.
Pros
1. High quality: Having a seasoned web developer means they have tons of experience with setting up websites. Web developers will take their time to make sure everything on the website works properly and that it looks great. They will also provide you with a well-designed user interface to increase your customer’s experience.
2. Reliable: An agency specializes in hiring professionals in the field of web design, so it’s only natural to think that they know what they are doing. Knowing the details, bugs, and intricacies of a website, web developers are far more reliable when it comes to designing a website than a website you do yourself. They know what needs to be done and how they’re going to do it, and they will do everything in their power to make your website work without any technical problems.
3. Saves time: Building a website doesn’t happen overnight. To make a website look good and offer a great customer experience takes a lot of time. By hiring a web designer, you can save time with all the details you can forget when doing a website on your own.
Cons
1. Cost: If you just started your company and have a really low budget, then maybe the cost of hiring a professional web developer isn’t for you just yet. Still, sometimes their knowledge and skill can outweigh the costs. You have to think of web developers as an investment. For example, if the traffic your website brought to you results in a profit way larger than the amount of money you paid for designing a website, you already paid off your investment. Try to make sure that hiring a professional fits your budget. Don’t forget that hiring a web developer to set up a website from the start is a one-time investment.
2. Lack of control: You probably have a vision of what your website should look like, and now you have to explain that to the web developer that may or may not share the same vision. Once you brief the developer about your wishes, it’s in their hands. Sometimes your vision may not necessarily be what is best for your business. Web developers are professionals and having them do what they know best can be a bit scary. Since they have the experience, there are not many people that were not satisfied with the work of web developers.
3. Time-consuming: As opposed to doing a website on your own that can be done in a couple of hours, hiring a professional web developer is not going to be this fast. Building a website will take multiple checks, edits, and your opinion because that is what matters most. If you want your website to look nice and functional, you have to accept that it’s not going to be done in a week. Especially if you make a lot of changes in the process. Hiring an agency means that they can be very busy, so don’t expect them to drop other clients immediately because you want to make an update on your website.
In conclusion, not every web developer knows what they’re doing. Take your time, do some research and find a developer that has the experience in setting up beautiful and functional websites.
Doing It Yourself
If you’re creative and love to learn new things, then this part of building your business is perfect for you. Nevertheless, there are still things you need to know before jumping into the creative process. It’s not all fun and games.
Pros:
1. It’s cheaper: For a low monthly fee, you can use one of the most popular platforms like WordPress, Wix, or GoDaddy. And it’s easy to use so that anyone can create a website of their own liking. If you’re not sure of your design, you can ask your friends and family for some input, so you have some more information about what works and what doesn’t. The tricky part is making sure your website works as it should. You have to make sure that your website is working properly, is attractive, and mobile-friendly. If your customers can’t find anything on your website, they’re out of there.
2. Incomplete control: Since you’re the designer, you don’t have to listen to others’ ideas. It’s completely yours to design, and you can make it however you wish. Being in control of your own website takes time, so make sure you commit to it and give it all the time it needs. Work at your own pace, but don’t complicate too much time because your website can look sloppy.
3. Business savvy: You know your business better than any professional web designer. Making your website on your own saves you a lot of time meeting with agencies and explaining to them what you do. You know what your customers need, so you can decide what would work on your website the best.
Cons:
1. SEO mistakes: Search engine optimization is important when creating your website. This one requires a lot of research so that your customers can find you easily. A professional web developer is skilled in SEO and can design your website more effectively. Even if you know the basics of SEO, this might be a task to leave for a professional since search engine rankings are very important for your business.
2. Not as professional: Marketing and designing a website are not the same, so if you want to build your own website, you’re gonna have to put a lot of work into it. Having a website that screams amateur, your customers will not think twice about questioning your credibility.
3. Time-consuming: Let’s face it, designing a website, whether you do it yourself or hire a professional, takes a lot of time. By building a website yourself, you have to learn new software, make sure it looks attractive and is easy to navigate. You have to learn a lot when you decide to do this on your own. Still, when you learn these things, this knowledge stays with you, and you know all the details of fixing the bugs and making the site better.
If you’re still not sure whether to hire a professional or tackle this task yourself, go through the pros and cons again. Think about them, make notes, decide on the budget and think about what your company wants to achieve long-term. Then make a decision that will work for you.
Best Online Web Builders to Use?
We went over the pros and cons of building a website on your own. Let’s assume you decided that you don’t have the funds to hire a professional web design agency at the moment, and you want to build your website on your own.
Where do you start? You first have to decide which tools you’ll use to build your website. Websites used to be coded, and there was no way to build a site without knowing HTML. Luckily, we live in a time where consumers have many different web builders available. All you have to do is pick the one that fits your needs and follow the instructions.
Before we go through the best tools available, let’s first discuss the difference between CMS and website builders. These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but they aren’t the same thing.
CMS is short for a content management system. It’s software that runs on a server. It is used to create, store, and manage content on your website. You can add a theme on top of the management system and create a complete website. Some of the most popular CMSs in the world include WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.
If you want to use a CMS you’ll need to take care of hosting, register the domain, and find a suitable theme. The best thing about CMSs is that a lot of them are free. That means you’ll only need to pay for hosting and domain to get your website up and running. CMS is definitely the right choice if you want to build a website with a lot of content.
Website builders are tools that were made to simplify building websites. Most of them have drag-and-drop functionality which means you can build a complete website without even seeing any code. They are very user-friendly and easy to use.
Most website builders offer a complete package, which means they take care of hosting, maintenance, security, backups, and all the other things you have to manage if you decide to use a CMS. You can also expect better support and training from website builders.
They are best suited for small sites that aren’t content-heavy. The main downside of website builders is they cost more than CMSs. The most popular website builders in the world are Squarespace, Wix, and Shopify.
So, which one do we recommend? It depends on what kind of website you’re building. We’re going to present the five most popular systems in the world. We’re going to use both CMS and website builders in the list. We will explain what they are best used for to help you decide which better fit your needs.
Let’s jump straight into the list with WordPress, the most popular CMS in the world.
WordPress
The stats say that over 35% of the websites in the world are built on WordPress. That makes WordPress the most popular system used to create websites. Why do people like WordPress so much?
First, WordPress is open-source software. That means it’s entirely free to download and use. You can build a website for free, but you’ll need to purchase a custom domain and hosting if you want to launch the website to the world.
The way WordPress works are you have themes and plugins. Themes are your starting point. You can customize them, but the options are somewhat limited. If you want something special you might end up in the backend playing with code.
You add features to the theme with plugins. You can choose between free themes and plugins and paid themes and plugins. While you can build a website with free themes, we suggest you invest in a professional theme that also comes with support.
Because the system is open-source, anyone in the world can create themes and plugins. That means you have millions of different options you can choose from. While having options is great, it also means that everything can quickly become overwhelming.
You do need some technical skills to build a website with WordPress. But, we believe that everyone reading this article can build a simple website with WordPress. It’s not as easy to use as website builders, but it offers a better platform to build upon.
You can also try web builder plugins available for WordPress. The most popular options include Elementor and Beaver Builder. These plugins turn WordPress into a drag-and-drop website builder with similar functionality as Wix and Squarespace.
We suggest WordPress for people looking to build content-heavy websites. It’s the best option for bloggers as it offers SEO-friendly functions.
You can also use WordPress to build an eCommerce website. The best thing about the system is that it’s free to use. Keep in mind you’ll have to purchase the domain and hosting separately.
Wix
Wix is the most popular website builder in the world. You’ve probably heard of it since the company runs a lot of marketing campaigns targeting people looking to build a website.
Wix just might be the most beginner-friendly web builder in the world. It gives you total control of the website. You have the power to build any website you want. You can tailor it to your precise needs without touching a code.
Everything is truly customizable with Wix. They use a simple drag-and-drop editor that changes in real-time. This means that every change you make is instantly visible on the screen. Another advantage of Wix is that it comes with amazing support. They have a huge library of articles that will help you build your website. You will find all the answers you need on the Wix website.
They are also constantly evolving and adding new features. While it used to be best suited for simple websites, you can now easily use Wix to create very content-rich websites. You can also use Wix to build an online store and easily integrate your products on the website.
Every project on the Wix platform starts with a template. You have over 800 different, professionally designed themes to choose from. You can change all elements of the template or keep them as they come. It’s totally up to you.
Wix also helps you optimize your website for search engines. The SEO tools and apps they offer will make sure you’re website is visible and easily searchable.
So, who is Wix for? We recommend it to complete beginners. If you want a website that will look great and won’t be hard to create, then Wix might be the right choice for you if you’re ok with the prices they offer.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a popular website builder that is sophisticated and easy to use. This web builder is very popular with creatives that are looking for quality designs and easy to use interfaces. Their main selling point is their templates.
Squarespace isn’t as feature-rich as Wix. The drag-and-drop editor offers a lot of customization. What makes Squarespace better are the templates you can choose from. All templates are extremely clean, minimalist and they look amazing. That’s the main reason why creative people love using this website builder.
We have a detailed Squarespace review that goes in-depth about every aspect of the web building platform. You’ll find everything you need to know about Squarespace in the review.
Another advantage of Squarespace is the knowledge base on the platform. They offer the best collection of text, images, and video guides that will help you create your dream website. They help navigate you from start to finish. Everything you need is included in the knowledge center.
You can use Squarespace for simple portfolio sites, you can create presentation websites, or you can create content-heavy websites with blogs and other types of content. The integrated SEO tools will help you prepare your content for search engines. Squarespace also comes with analytics tools and email marketing capabilities.
We already mentioned that Squarespace is best suited for creatives looking for amazing website designs and a web builder that’s easy to use.
Shopify
Shopify is a popular website builder that helps you build online stores without needing to touch any code. In fact, you don’t even need to have any technical knowledge to create a beautiful and highly-functional eCommerce site with Shopify.
Shopify powers over 800,000 different businesses, which makes it the most popular eCommerce builder in the world.
Shopify offers multi-platform selling. It’s easy to sell across different channels when you build a website with Shopify. Social media channels, Amazon, and eBay. You can monitor all your products in different channels from a single platform.
Every project starts with a template. You can choose between free and paid templates for your shop. You can even build one from scratch if you can’t find any that fits your needs. But that’s not an approach we suggest for beginners.
Shopify offers different features through the use of its apps. They offer a huge selection of apps and third-party extensions that will add any feature you need on your website. Shopify also supports over 100 different payment options. This makes it easy to collect payments from buyers across the world.
You can learn more about Shopify by reading our detailed review of the platform.
But, while Shopify does offer amazing features and support, it’s not for everyone. We suggest Shopify for businesses running larger stores. The software isn’t as easy-to-use as Wix and Squarespace in comparison.
So, who is Shopify best for? We can recommend it to businesses running large websites.
Wix and Squarespace have eCommerce capabilities that are more suited for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
GoDaddy
Most people know GoDaddy as a domain registrar. But the company offers a lot more than that. They also have a very capable website builder that is popular amongst people that want to quickly launch a nice-looking website.
We believe GoDaddy is the fastest website builder in the market. The design assistant they offer helps you create a website from scratch. All you have to do is enter your details and let GoDaddy do the rest.
The web builder offers simple layouts and clean designs. It also enables you to add specific elements to the website. The whole process is as simple and as straightforward as it gets.
The simplicity of the builder means it isn’t the best choice for people looking to build complex and content-heavy sites. You also can’t customize all the elements like you can with Wix.
The great thing about GoDaddy is that it’s run by a big company and they are constantly adding new features. In fact, the online scores of the GoDaddy website builder have gone up every year. And while new features make it a lot more capable, it’s still best suited for people looking to build a simple website quickly.
You can use GoDaddy to create a simple online shop. But we’d probably recommend using Wix or Squarespace if you want more functionality but aren’t looking for something as complex as Shopify.
If you want a simple website that’s easy to create and if you aren’t looking for advanced features, the GoDaddy website builder just might be the best option for you.
Other Notable Mentions
Of course, the list we went through doesn’t include all the options available to you. We wanted to keep this guide as simple as possible, and the five options we shared with you provide you with everything you need to build a highly-functioning website. We want to end this chapter by mentioning a few other CMSs and website builders you can try.
Besides WordPress, the list of popular CMSs includes Joomla, Drupal, and Magento.
Other website builders you can explore are Weebly, Zyro, Jimdo, Dida. SITE123, Strikingly.
We also suggest BigCommerce and WooCommerce for online stores.
Everything You Need to Build a Website
We covered the difference between CMS and website builders in the previous chapter. We learned that you have to take care of web hosting and domain on your own if you decide to use a CMS. But that’s not all you need.
In this chapter, we’ll go over different things you need to build a website from scratch. We’ll mention what’s absolutely essential, what’s good to have, and what only matters in specific situations.
We’ll also give you our recommendations for the tools and services you can use to build the website. Keep in mind we can’t cover all available options. We’ll only mention the ones that we either use, or we have a good enough reason to believe what we’re recommending works as promised.
Let’s start with what we mentioned a few times already – web hosting.
Web Hosting
This is something you don’t have to worry about if you decide to use a web builder to create your website. Squarespace, Wix, and GoDaddy all include web hosting in their web builder packages. But you absolutely have to find a web host if you want to use WordPress or any other CMS.
Web hosting is an infrastructure that allows you to publish your website. It stores all the information about your site and shares it with the world. There are thousands of different web hosting providers in the world and it quickly becomes overwhelming when picking the right for yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing.
We suggest you focus on three things when searching for your web hosting provider.
- Uptime guarantee
- Speed
- Storage
- Support
Uptime is the percentage of time your website is online. Most reputable web hosting providers will guarantee 99,99% uptime. This basically means your website will always be online. GoDaddy is known for its superior uptime.
The speed of your hosting provider determines how fast your website loads. The faster the website, the better. In fact, web loading speed is an SEO factor that every site owner should monitor and optimize for. Cloud hosting providers like Cloudways provide the highest speeds.
The storage determines how much space the web hosting company reserves for your website. The more content-heavy your website is, the more space you’ll need.
Some web hosting providers specialize in WordPress hosting. We recommend SiteGround and WP Engine if you’re building a WordPress website.
And finally, we have support. You want to pick a web hosting company that’s known for its reliable support.
You can find the list of all the web hosting companies we recommend at this link.
Web Domain (URL)
Your URL is the web address that you use for your website. It’s the handle that’s written in the search bar at the top of every web browser.
We recommend you use web domains that are directly related to your business name. It doesn’t make much sense to use different names for domains and businesses.
You will have to use your domain extension when registering your URL. The domain extension is the part that we use at the end of URLs. The most popular domain extension is .com. You have hundreds of different extensions to choose from. We always suggest going with .com if you can find it.
If you learn that the .com domain isn’t available, you can either go for alternative extensions or use modifiers. Modifiers are short words we add at the be beginning or at the end of names to get available domains.
We suggest you use our business name generator when looking for the right domain or business name. The generator is very easy to use and it will help you generate different options for your business. All you have to do is input a few seed keywords and let the generator do its thing.
Images
Every website needs images. There are two ways you can find them:
- You can take them or use software to create them
- You can use royalty-free images you find online
We live in a world where we have very powerful cameras on our phones. This means anyone can take good pictures. You can definitely do that for your website. Just make sure you’re images look professional. The last thing you want is to make your website look amateur.
The second option you have when it comes to web pictures is royalty-free images you can find online. We suggest pexels.com and unsplash.com as good starting points for your research. Make sure you avoid using images that are too common. You don’t want to look like every other website in the world.
You can also hire a professional graphic designer if you have a special look in your mind. Keep in mind this won’t be cheap.
Basic Design Skills
If you decide to create the website on your own, you’ll have to learn the basics of web design. You have to make sure that you’re using the right colors, fonts, and button placements. We have a special section at the end of this article where we share five simple design tips to help you build professional-looking websites.
Themes and Plugins
These things are very important if you decide to use WordPress as your platform of choice. You’ll first need a theme and later plugins to add certain features to your website.
There are two options when it comes to themes – free themes and paid themes. You might be ok with a free theme if you’re building a very simple website. But we always recommend going with paid themes if you want to create a content-heavy website.
Paid themes come with more functionality and the creators also provide you with support. That’s something you don’t get with free themes.
Register A Business
The last thing we need to touch on is registering a business. You can launch a website without having a business. But you should definitely consider registering a business if your website is of commercial nature.
Luckily, registering a business isn’t as hard as it used to be. You can even outsource the project and hire a professional agency to do all the paperwork for you. We created the list of best LLC services that can help you get started in no time. Click on the link and start working on your business today.
Website Copywriting Tips to Help You Write Web Content
Your website needs good, clear, and well-written text. The website is a window to your company’s values, so you have to make sure your customers see why they should give your company a try. There’s a fine line between being annoying and pushy and being informative. That is why a good copy on your website can make all the difference.
In this chapter, we want to give you five copywriting tips to help you write amazing web content for your website. Let’s start.
1. Research
Before jumping into writing about something, you have to make sure you know as much as you can about the topic. That means you will have to look a bit deeper than just reading a few paragraphs of the first article you find. Being a good copywriter means having an insight of the topic you’re writing about. When you understand the topic, it will be much easier for you to write about it. If you’re writing about something complex, it doesn’t hurt to include sources to back up your claims and establish credibility. That way your readers are going to know they can trust you.
2. Emphasize what’s most important
If you’re writing an essay for school, it’s appropriate to have a long intro before getting to the point. In copywriting, this is not the case. If anything, you don’t have enough space on your website to put long intros. Include the most important information about your product or service right at the top of your page. If a visitor on your page finds the information they are looking for at the beginning, they’re more likely to scroll around your website and find out more.
3. Your customers need to be your focus
Knowing your audience should not be something new for you. It’s the basis for everything your company does, even for your website. You have to keep in mind who’s reading this copy so you can speak directly to them and have more effective communication with them. To get to know your audience even better, try using Google Analytics. With this tool, you gain insight into your demographic, and it helps you learn about your audience, who they are, what they like, how old they are, and so on. Based on this information, you can adapt your copy to make it more interesting to them.
4. Titles that grab attention
The title is the first thing any visitor sees when they open your website. We don’t have to explain that if the title is bad, no one will open it. The title should accurately represent the content but also be interesting so that visitors will be intrigued to find out what you have to say. Usually, the best way to create an intriguing title is to start with numbers, for example: “5 beginner-friendly tips to better copywriting”, “10 most influential people in the world,” and so on. Just don’t say something like “100 tips for better copywriting” because this is going to be too long for anyone to read. Some of the best titles can start with “quick tips for …”, “how to create …”, and “5 simple ways to …”.
5. Make it short and sweet
No one really wants to spend hours reading through information. We are used to breezing through the pages and clicking on something that grabs our attention. Make sure your visitors can find what they are looking for just by quickly going through your page. Your copy has to be written in a way that people can scan in quickly and find the information they need. To make your visitors quickly find what they need, try using several headings and subheadings, create bullet points, bold the text, underline it or color it, use pictures and even write single-line paragraphs.
Design Tips to Follow When Building A Website
You would probably want your website to wow the visitors with some awesome design, good articles, and fine color choices, right? If you don’t know where to start, we’re here to help. In this final chapter, we will give you some design tips for you to follow to help you design an attractive website.
First things first. Your website has to stand out from others. But that is easier said than done. In order to create a website that makes sense and also attracts your audience, you have to make smart design choices.
A good start would be to make a rough sketch, try to imagine what you would want your website to look like. Imagine the colors, fonts, and headlines. We put together a few starting points for you to keep in mind when designing a website. Here are a few tips and tricks:
Think about the colors:
In a sea of different shades of colors, choosing one that would represent your company online and offline can be difficult. We all have our favorite colors, but you shouldn’t pick the color of your website based on personal preference. Think about which color would best represent what your brand stands for. Did you know that colors increase brand recognition by 80%? That is why first impressions are everything, and according to researchers, a whopping 94% of people said that web design is the first thing they notice. Colors always stand out. What the visitors see on your page when they first open it is how they will see you as a company. Choosing the right palette of colors can have a positive impact on your visitors.
When you choose the right colors for your brand, include those on your website. It’s important to be consistent. Just try not to have a lot of colors on your page. About three different colors would be more than enough; otherwise, your visitors can’t focus on important things you want them to see.
Consistent typography:
The same as choosing a color scheme for your website, choosing a type of font can be a bit of a drag. Choosing the right fonts can make a huge difference for a visitor as it affects the readability of your content and it can also have a strong psychological impact on them. Fonts on your website complete your website design. Being consistent with the type of font and font size you use creates a sense of order. As you might know, online visitors are quick to judge. Some research showed that 94% of online users judge website design in just 0.5 seconds. Different fonts can convey different messages, so be careful when choosing one because it can affect your company’s trust, stability, strength, and creativity.
Be mobile-friendly:
Over 50 % of your visitors visit your website from their mobile devices, and most likely, they will order something from their phones too. They use their phones because they are more convenient than turning on their computers. If they have found you on their phone and want to purchase the product, they will want to do it right away. So, a responsive and mobile-friendly website is a must. Make sure your website works perfectly on mobile devices.
Call to Action:
Try including CTA buttons in different places on your website as some of your visitors don’t act right away. Some of them want to get more information before clicking on a button. Your goal has to be to persuade them to make a choice. And remember, putting CTA buttons at the end of every paragraph might be a bit too much. Keep it simple, don’t bombard them with buttons. You don’t want to look intrusive.
Simplicity is key:
Speaking of keeping it simple, don’t put too much information in front of your visitors. Yes, they do want more information but there’s a fine line between drowning them in information and getting them the right information for them to make a choice. Focus on one thing at a time and let them explore your website on their own. That way, they will become more engaged and more likely to make a good decisions.
Conclusion
There you have it. We covered everything you need to build a website for your business. We went over different platforms you can use. We compared CMS and web builders. We reviewed the five best web-building platforms and gave you suggestions on which to use.
We shared design and copywriting tips with you and we mentioned everything else you need to take care of when building your website.
Your website can be simple or complex. In both cases, you have to make sure you build the right foundations. We suggest you keep returning to this article when building your website to remind yourself of all the things you need to consider while working on your website.
Good luck building the perfect business website.