5 things every successful business website needs to get right

You might think you know what glitzy features will serve your target customers best and make your website stand out from the pack, but have you even got the basics right?

Here are five of those basics that will account for the bulk of your website’s success or failure. You might want to talk them over with our web consultants in the UK.

1. A pleasing appearance

The right first impression is all-important.

• A site that is attractive to browse doesn’t need to be complicated, but it should at least look like something from 2018.
• That means ensuring the design of your site is responsive, so that it looks just as amazing across all devices — from the smallest smartphone to the largest desktop computer.
• You should also use easy-to-read fonts, incorporate eye-catching images and make your site’s video and interactive elements useful and tasteful.
• As with all the very best in design aesthetics, less is more.

2. The utmost clarity

Can your customers quickly and easily locate what they need from the moment they land on your homepage?

• The various navigational elements of your site are vital to improving clarity.
• It’s both large and small touches that make the difference.
• Drop-down menus can certainly make your vital pages easier to find, but even just ensuring there’s always a link available back to whatever page of your site your visitor was previously browsing can do a lot to enhance their experience.

3. Quick loading times

In an age in which so many people browse on their smartphones ‘on the go’, it just won’t do if your site’s pages load sluggishly on a mobile connection.

• Frustrated customers will just close their browser and look somewhere else.
• Slow loading times will hurt your site’s search engine rankings, too: Google will hit you hard if your site is slow.
• You need to do all of those little things that will help to speed up how quickly your site loads.
• Proven methods range from the optimisation of image sizes to the removal of auto-play from any on-site videos, which can be notorious for depleting data on mobile phones.
• Reducing the number of elements on the page, keeping Javascript to a minimum and ensuring the site is professionally optimised for speed makes all the difference.

4. A professional vibe

This isn’t quite the same as ‘appearance’. It’s about all the things that help to make your business website seem trustworthy.

• If your site doesn’t give the impression of a serious and reputable business, your visitors won’t convert into paying customers.
• Does your site feature positive testimonials from past customers or a page that outlines your company culture and values?
• Even simply using real photos of your staff team (rather than stock photos that so many of your site visitors have already seen elsewhere) can do a lot to make your website look like that of a real, established business.

5. A high conversion rate

Above all else, your company website needs to convert visitors into customers.

• Are you using clearly highlighted calls to action on your pages?
• Follow the philosophy of ‘keep it simple, stupid’: your visitors are unlikely to respond positively to busy backgrounds or complicated navigation. Instead, aim for simple, clean designs that all your visitors can get to grips with straight away.
• Show your company’s human face. Remember that ultimately, we don’t like to deal with faceless companies; we like to deal with human beings. That’s another reason to use authentic images of your staff team and you.

Just imagine the difference you could make to your existing site if you did all the above!

Consider how much more our web consultants in the UK could do for you. It couldn’t be simpler to call upon the web design professionals of PENNInk Productions: just complete our online contact form or give us a call on 020 8144 7931 today.

Originally published at PENNInk Productions.