4 Must Have’s For A Successful Website
With the times changing, it’s become essential for your company to have a website no matter which industry you’re in. That being said, more and more Create-Your-Own website services have been emerging left and right so that companies can market their services to the wide audience known as the internet.
Although, we [still] don’t condone creating your own websites without having extensive design knowledge, we can’t stop those who still wish to follow through with creating their own sites because they can have full control.
If you plan to not work with a design agency and want to create your own website, at least make sure you know the essentials for a good website.
1) Navigation
You would think this is common knowledge, but it really isn’t. I’ve come across websites with navigations that are too complicated, or just awkward on a website. I’ve even seen websites that don’t have a navigation bar at all! So yes, it isn’t common knowledge unfortunately, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow through with this major web design faux pas.
Truth is, visitors don’t want to have to spend time figuring out your website. They want to be able to go to your website, find what they need, and move on. When planning out your navigation, make sure you consider the goal of the website. Do you want clients to see a portfolio? Become a member? Call to speak with someone? Place an order? Whatever the goal is, make sure that is determined prior to designing your website and make sure to incorporate it in your navigation.
2) Contact Page
This is just as crucial as having a proper navigation. Visitors need to know how they can contact you if they are interested in your services and hope to inquire. But they can’t do that if they have to search your website clean before they find it. To avoid that, having a prominent contact page is your best bet. Here, you can put your email, phone number, and even your address with an attached Google map (or Bing…your choice). Provide a contact name if you can, but it isn’t crucial and a simple info@mybusiness.com will suffice.
3) About Page
This is a given, but again, some sites don’t have it. If you want people to know what you’re about, provide them with some information! Not everyone that visits your site will already know what you do and with search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing, people can stumble upon your website by accident. Give them a little taste of your company, maybe they’ll want to get involved whether it’s business to business or business to consumer.
4) Social Media Integration
We live in a social media world. Even if you’re one who wards off all things social media, it doesn’t matter because the rest of your market is involved. Start off with a Facebook page, which we explain how to start here, and then you can venture off onto other social media sites like Twitter, Pinterest, or LinkedIn. If you don’t know which social media site to use, we explain which businesses can benefit from which site.
Of course, there are several other great components to add to a website, but these are just the fundamentals.
What else do you consider to be essential for a successful website?
Source: MSM DesignZ, Inc. is a Westchester based NY web design firm specializing in social media, mobile apps, SEO, web and graphic design and much more.