Appearance
The first thing is appearance. A website needs to look good to engage the customer. It also needs to look good across
the different range of browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera). It needs to look good across different devices (Laptops, Tablets / Ipads & Mobile Phones). In fact, Google announced starting from late 2016 that if you are to search on Google through your mobile phone it would show you results of websites that are optimised for a mobile phone first and then the ones that are desktop optimised.
Logo / image design
When you think of a brand it usually is their logo that you think of. It is important to have a logo that looks good & is easy to remember. Most logos that you can think of are simple & elegant designs such as Nike, Apple & Google. It is important to have a high-resolution vector image of your logo. A vector image will allow you to make it as large as you like without losing any quality.
Images on your website need to be all high quality. For photos, you should use JPEG and for graphics, you should use PNG.
Relevant information
The information on the website needs to be relevant. How many times have you searched on Google looking for information, click on a website and find that it is not the one you are after, or you have to scroll down the page to find the information that you are after? How good would it be if, for example, you searched for Some Ideas for BackLinks and you were taken to the right section on the page talking about Some Ideas for BackLinks click here for an example.
Simplicity
A simple design is easier to use. Easier to update and if anything were to go wrong easier to fix.
For example
- A website that is not too busy with information, it is important that you have clear headings and white space to allow users to skim through your website.
- Most people want information that they can understand in simple words.
- A menu that is easy to follow, with direct links to the most popular pages on your website.
- Avoid annoying popup adverts that cover the whole screen.
Google preferences
Google constantly evolves and updates their search algorithms and will prefer websites that are up to date with their new requirements. For example, Google prefers all websites to be secure with https protocol. Another is for the website to be mobile phone friendly so the website can easily be viewed on a mobile phone.
Advertising
What is the point of a Great Website if no-one knows of it?
Every business can do with some advertising. There are many forms such as
- Radio
- TV
- Billboard
- Google Advertising
- Word of mouth
How much do you spend on Advertising? The answer is not a simple one, because you will have to spend some money on marketing as well to come up with a catchy advert.
I would start with setting up free advertising with Google My Business Page, then progress to Google Ads.
For a small business, I would start with an allocated monthly budget of $300, perhaps target local areas near your business as they may be more likely to purchase your product or services. Once the first month is up, you can analyse to see what adverts worked and which didn’t, then you adjust your adverts and your website to focus on the advertising that gets the most response. Increase or decrease your budget in line with your conversion rates.
Up to date
Everything on the website needs to be up to date. From the content on the website to the WordPress version, WordPress plugins, to the backend software such as Apache server, PHP / MYSQL and Linux Kernel with their latest security updates and the updated hardware.