6 important elements you need to think about before creating website

Not too long ago having a website was a badge of honor and a sign of having a successful business.

It used to cost an arm and a leg to develop and set up a website.

But today, websites are affordable and sometimes free.

A website is your calling card, brand, and your 24/7 marketing machine.

To make sure you get the best out of your website, below are some of the important things to consider when creating website.

1. Responsiveness

Responsiveness is the latest buzzword in website development which refers to if your website is mobile friendly or not.

Just think about it.

When you are searching for something online, how many times do you use your mobile phone instead of a desktop?

Today, people go online using their phones, tablets, and other devices.

Therefore your website needs to be responsive such that it resizes to fit any device at any time.

content is like water — Your website should be like water. Automatically takes the shape of the device used to access it

If your site does not display properly on whatever device a person is using, that person is going to move on to the next website that means lost opportunity.

Statistics show that an average mobile device traffic accounts for more than 50% of website traffic.

Making your website easy to use via mobile devices encourages user visits and increases click-through rate within your website.

In addition,

Google modified its mobile search engine algorithm to include website responsiveness, as one of the key ranking factors in search results.

Google removes non-mobile friendly websites from mobile search results.

So if your website is not mobile friendly you are missing out big time.

2. SocialMedia

Another big player that determines how much your site is seen is social media.

Social Media is everywhere,

it has become a way of life and an effective way to reach and engage with your audience.

Social media is not just about playing games, exchanging jokes and pictures.

Its an active engagement and marketing that is happening now.

To fully benefit from Social Media your website need to be properly integrated with relevant social media platforms to enable sharing, commenting and tracking.

Tracking will help you know which social media platform is performing better and guide you in your social media campaigns.

3. Contact form

A contact form is one of the popular lead generation feature in most websites.

How your contact form looks like, the information it captures and how it performs is important.

Your contact form allows people to contact you directly. Online users are impatient, having a form make it easy for them to contact you.

If a person has to open up their email to reach you, you may lose them.

Having a contact form that is properly configured allows your potential customer to leave a brief message about what they want easily and quickly.

Plus, with some simple tweaks, you can track where your traffic is coming from and monitor your marketing.

4. Website management and updating

Gone are days when you would hire a website developer to update your website on a regular basis.

You need to be able to update it yourself without any special skill.

If your website is built on a Content Management System platform(CMS) like; WordPress or Joomla,

you can make changes whenever you want to meet the needs of your audience.

On the flip side,

You should also consider having a professional website developer/marketer maintain your website.

This will ensure continued development of your website, save time and cost of hiring a website manager.

5. Blog

A blog is a platform you use to speak to your audience.

You talk to them on valuable information relating to your products and services.

They key thing you need to remember about blogging is VALUE

Your blog post has to add value to your audience for instance,

If you sell shoes, you could write a post on “How to maintain leather shoes”

A blog is a form of indirect marketing If a visitor reads a brilliant article on your website on “How to maintain leather shoes”

S/he will view you as an authority and expert in that field and if you sell leather shoes, s/he will easily buy from you.

A blog is also a great way to boost your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) rankings.

6. Return on investment

A website is an investment which should give returns in short term and the long term.

Returns can be measured according to your KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) such as increased awareness, increased website visit, increased sales leads among other metrics.

At the very least your website has to be optimized to generate sales lead.

If you are not getting any leads from your website this is a sign your website is dead and need to consider website redevelopment.