What to Do and Not to Do When Building a Website
Whether you are trying to create a website from scratch or you are redesigning the one that you already have, there are number of things that you should and should not do. The primary thing that you should do is think of your customers before yourself. You can do this if you will take the time to understand there Psychographic Profile, which is comprised of variables that influence their purchasing decisions. These variables include lifestyles, attitudes, interests and opinions. If you have the complete Psychographic Profile of your target market, then you will be able to structure your website using this information, rather than focussing on just your products or services.
Here are a some tips that will show you what an effective website is and what it is not. Always remember, focus on the needs and wants of your customers, that will lead you to make the best decisions in building your website.
Do This When Building a Website
Research the Competition
It doesn’t matter if you have hired a web designer or if you are planning to make your website yourself, the first thing that you need to do before starting on your website is research the competition. This does not mean you should copy what they are doing, in fact the opposite may be true. You should also go to the sites of complementary businesses. This can be a goldmine of ideas that you could introduce to your industry. For example if you are designing and selling jewelry, it may help if you looked at sites of boutiques that sell fashionable clothing. I suggest throughout this process you take down notes so you can either show your web designer or keep as your own guidelines.
- In researching the competition, there are several areas that you should pay attention to. These include the navigation buttons, the colour scheme, the call to action messages and the text. All of these aspects of the design should cater to the ease of use for your target market.
- For the navigation, make sure your customers will find their way easily to what they are searching for. Make sure your navigation buttons or panels are easy to see as soon as clients log on to your website.
- When it comes to the colour scheme, be aware there are certain colours that will either attract or repel your target market. These colours evoke a certain emotional response from your prospects thus making them want to do business with you or run the other way. Other considerations regarding colour schemes include their capability to provide a high level of visual contrast so they make it easy for people to read the text.
- The call to action (CTA) is a vital element of your site. The factors to be considered for this include the nature of the CTA and whether it is a soft or hard offer. Depending on what you are intending your prospects do, the CTA could appear as plain and simple text or be a graphic button.
- These days most of us are time poor so text should be simple and easy to read. Consider the text-alignment, font sizes, colours and space allocated. Use bullet points where you can and make sure paragraphs are not too long.
Content is King
Since the realisation that large volumes of content is more likely to bring you search engine traffic, many people have worked towards that, adding any content they can to their website. Make sure all the content in your website is relevant for your target audience. You must understand who your customers are, so you can cater to their interests and give them what they want. Veer away from using jargon. If you want your prospects to understand your content, they must be simple, short and to the point. How do you want your customers to respond to your content? This should help you trim the fat. Never forget to give your visitors the chance to contact you. Your website should bring in prospective clients, and be a way of building rapport with existing customers. This is done by communicating with them and answering their concerns.
Structure is Queen
Make sure the functionality of your website does not frustrate your visitors. Provide an area for feedbacks so clients can make suggestions for your business and site, when you listen to people and involve them in your activity you will build loyalty and trust toward your business. I would suggest you stay away from using annoying things like resizers and popups. Always provide easy to use and see buttons, prospects wont waste time trying to work out your website. Never let your love for animation get the better of you. While using some animation may catch the attention of your target market, overdoing it while your prospect is trying to read your content is likely to drive them away.
Don’t Do This When Building a Website
When building a website, there are certain things that you should avoid. Here are some of them:
- Stay away from web designs that are not created to sell your products or services. Your website is a sales channel, never forget that fact. With the proper management and monitoring of your website, you will be able to constant improve your website.
- Don’t just create a visually stunning website without having a strategy and purpose behind what you are doing. Building a visual brand online is important however if you are basing it around your own artistic preferences you are likely to miss the mark when it comes to attracting customers. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, complete our Psychographic Profile if you want to improve your website results.
- Stay away from a web address that is hard to remember, say or spell. Always think about the ease of use with everything you do on your website, even its web address. Stay away from acronyms and abbreviations where possible. It is better if you use a web address that means something to your prospects and customers.
If you are in the process of building or improving your website, then the tips mentioned above are the best do’s and don’ts that you could follow. I’ve not included any technical aspects of website design and development that will help with cross browser access and search engine traffic. These area of website are best left to the experts (like us). I would suggest you make sure you select a website provider that understands the technical side of website development so your site performs well and produces results for your business.
