website must haves
Not every website is created equal. Everyone has experienced using a website that kept them from pursuing the use of a business or joining an organization.
The information you need is too hard to find, and you do not have time to read every part of the site.
The shopping experience is too complicated, and you must scroll through too many links to be able to pay for a product or the final cost is not clear.
The images are low quality, and you associate it with poor effort and quality on the part of the seller.
The information is a jumble of wordiness, and it is impossible to determine the next step.
To have a successful website that users want to spend time on and get to know you and your business or organization, here are some important must haves to include in your new or improved website.
every website needs to consider
call to action
A marketing term that refers to the next step a marketer wants its audience or reader to take toward a desired action such as purchasing, signing up for something, or downloading something.
A call to action can be used in diverse ways such as clickable text, buttons, images, or pop ups. It is a directive used in marketing to steer an audience toward a desired behavior. Calls to action can be direct such as a button that says, “Buy now,” or a more subtle directive like “Read More.”
To figure out a beginning website’s call to action, you need to think about your goal for having a website. Do you want to get customer’s attention to call you and schedule an appointment? Do you want to increase the number of subscribers to your email or newsletter? Deciding what goals, you want to accomplish for your business or organization is an important first step to figuring out what calls to action you would like to include in your website or marketing.
images
Website designers require images from customers to effectively design a website as images are integral to the overall appeal of a website. No one wants to look at a boring bunch of text. Having high quality, relevant images from your business or organization is important to personalize your website and make it have a more professional look. Professional photographers can create a variety of images like product shots, team photos, location images, and images that align with your brand’s aesthetic and overall message to the public.
Content
Website content is any written text, audio, or visual content that appears on a website such as text, images, videos, infographics, blog posts, or any other creative elements on a site. While images are its category, the rest of your content is just as important to get your message to the audience. The purpose of the content is to keep visitors on your page and if it is done correctly, you can keep them on your site longer and it helps turn them into customers or participants in your organization. A website designer will be able to help guide you into creating appropriate content that is engaging and helps boost traffic to your website. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is a process that improves the quality and quantity of traffic a website receives from search engines. SEO helps search engines understand a website's content and helps users find the site through search engines.
User experience
Mobile-first design is a website and app design approach that prioritizes the mobile user. Often people are using their mobile devices to search for businesses or organizations on search engines. Designing your website with easy-to-use navigation and concise information is the best way to ensure that your intended audience finds what information they need quickly and performs the call to action that you hope that they will. It is also important to break the content into sections to support equal access to people with diverse abilities. For example, screen readers use the headings on your website for visually impaired users to navigate through the content.