Powerful Tips For Your Website Makeover

Your website is the face of your business online. Yet, not many people realize that making a good website is much an art as it is science. Yes, you need the technical infrastructure in the form of programming languages and a skilled developer to make a website. However, if proper thoughts, imagination and ideas are not brought together with these requirements, you only manage to end up with an obscure collection of HTML files that are uploaded on the internet for everyone to see.

So let us see what goes behind making a good website. Even if you already have a website, do read on to see what can be done to improve it:

An “About Us” page

This sounds stupid and downright old age. However, if any section of a company website stands the test of time, it is the “About Us” page. It is a picture of who you are, what you do, where you are now and how you started. Many businesses have this section on their website, but you would certainly recall several that have not updated this page in ages. This is where people get to know you, so make sure it is always relevant, interesting and always updated.

Make it visually appealing

A picture is worth a thousand words – this was true earlier and is true now. Studies show that people have a poor recollection of long texts provided on web pages, but they remember a lot more for a longer period if they saw an image. So resist the temptation for long paragraphs – instead, include pictures and graphics that convey what you want to say.

Consider the attention span of an average customer

People are always in a hurry and if you include too much information on a page, they are unlikely to get to the bottom of it and read everything. The first few lines of the website should be able to keep the reader engrossed and make them read everything. They need to feel like they have gained something from being there, rather than having wasted their time.

Define your outcome from the website

Be very precise with what you want to do with your website. If your motive is to drive sales, then an extensive section on all your products and services becomes compulsory, but if the idea is to just to inform people of your presence in their neighborhood, then a large website with a heavy budget becomes redundant.

Keep it short and simple

People visit a web page because the previous link seemed interesting to them. So, your web page should convey the story that brought the other person there and not distract them from their search. It should be updated regularly, and the central theme of the page should stay the same. The pages should load quickly, so avoid any fancy stuff that keeps it from loading fast.

See what other websites are like

It is always a good idea to see what your competition is doing, and it holds true here as well. Have a look through how the websites of similar companies are made. You may even want to look at the websites of businesses in other countries. Often, people in a community look through a similar lens, and in such scenarios, a fresh set of ideas can do you no harm. If you want to be remembered, be different.

Keep your end customers in mind

Once your website is in place, visit it, but from the perspective of a customer. See what comes to your mind and compare it with what you wanted to do in the first place. Correct the deviation. You may also ask friends and family for their opinions and compare notes. You might be surprised with how useful feedback can be from others.

Direct traffic to your website

Just having a website does not mean people will visit it. So hire companies that provide search engine optimization to place your website in prominent places – or learn how to do it. At the same time, never buy website visits, because if search engines detect this, they will block your website from appearing in searcg results altogether.

Engage with your web designer

Often people make the mistake of giving requirements to their web designer and then forget about it, until the website is done. Not surprisingly, a shock is awaiting them then, because it’s not what you wanted. The best thing to do is to keep communicating with the designer. That way, you both know where the other person is going. It’s also becoming more and more easy to design and develop your own website. It might be an option if your budget is limited.

Use a common platform

Do not choose a proprietary website platform because you may get tied to the person who made the website for its regular upkeep. Always choose a platform that is commonly talked about in the market because then you can shift to another provider if the first one did not meet your expectations.

Select a reliable hosting service

You can hire a website hosting service quite easily and well within your budget. However, ensure that it does not come at the cost of good customer service and a reliable guarantee. Erratic hosting issues can seriously cause problems for your business.