One question our prospective clients often ask us is, which item is most important for a successful website design? Many developers have different answers to this question, but the answer is not so simple.
We have been developing websites for over 15 years and I can tell you that there is not one single thing that is most important. I suppose you could say your site being uploaded and available on the World Wide Web… but that seems to be implied.
When I think about my response to the question when asked by our clients, I can think of a list of items. That list might change a little from client to client based on their business and individual needs for their website. But overall, there are hundreds of things that you should focus on when building a website.
So, what is the answer to the question which item is most important for a successful website design?
The not so simple answer is having a well-designed, well thought out website built with your visitor in mind. A more detailed answer is, approach your website from the eyes of your visitor as well as from the eyes of Google. To get started, try focusing on the following:
- Keyword Research – Always start with the keywords that make sense for you content. What good is a website if it cannot be found when someone is searching for your product or service? There are numerous Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Services your web developer can provide for you but this one should be the first and most important one. If you are trying to build the site on your own, you can find dozens if not hundreds of tools searching google including their own Keyword Planner in Google Ads.
- Create Original Content – After you gather your keywords, write quality original content that relates to your product and service and features all the quality keywords you discovered while doing your research.
- Create a user-friendly design – Again, think of your visitor and layout the site in a clean and organized manner. Make sure your website is easy to navigate and that users can find what they are looking for quickly and easily. Also, make sure to test your website on various screen sizes as well is on multiple devices. The last thing you want is for your new website to render poorly on mobile devices or tablets.
- CMS Platform – We use and highly recommend WordPress to build your website. It has many benefits including ease of use and flexibility not to mention the SEO benefits it offers. There are hundred of options out there from Square Space to Wix and everything in between. If you choose to use a hosted service, make sure to explore all the features as many are very limited and some might hinder your Search Engine Optimization efforts.
- Hosting – If you choose a hosted service like I mention above, you will be locked into that service, and they will host your site. If you are using WordPress, having a quality Web Hosting account is key. Hosting services from Nexcess or Liquid Web, both of which we use, will offer you great features and stability. They also have some of the fastest site speeds which is important as site speed is now a Google ranking factor.
This is a quick outline of five things to help you get started when planning out and building a website. It is important to point out that there are a bunch of other things to consider when building your site that we have not covered in this article. Things like SEO Optimization, page layouts, themes and much more.
There are so many things that can affect your website but if you keep it simple and focus on visitor intent, you will be off to a great start. If you want to get moving faster and need help, contact Surdej Web Solutions at 716-404-9343 or at in**@su****.com. We would be happy to discuss the things that are most important for you to have successful website designed at an affordable price!