32 Website Tips Still Relevant in 2021
January 5, 2021//
Your Website Needs An SSL Certificate
If you don’t have an SSL certificate installed on your site, Google will flag your site as insecure. Even on a “simple brochure website.” The good thing is that most hosting companies work with Let’s Encrypt to provide you with a free SSL certificate to help you protect your visitor’s data.
Your Website Needs To Load Fast
Did you know that Google recommends that you optimize your website for speed? Every second that it takes for your website load means fewer visitors that will hang around to view your website. You can check your website loading speed using a free service called GTMetrix – http://gtmetrix.com/
Your Website Needs To Attract Humans & Bots
Everyone knows that your website needs to look great to be attractive to humans. But your website also needs to look great for search engines. That means being coded so that bots can understand the context of your website to give you credit in the search engines. If you view the source code on your website and there are huge walls of code, it may be time to rebuild with optimized code.
Your Website Needs To Be Mobile Friendly
Did you know that there are different search results for mobile phones? If your website is not mobile-friendly it will not even show up in the search results on mobile phones. Mobile devices account for 50% of all web search traffic.
Your Website Title Tags Really Do Matter
If you go to your website and view the text in the tab at the top, you’ve discovered your title tags. Every page should have a unique title tag that describes the page. It needs to make sense to humans because when you share that page on social media, this is the text that shows up as the title. If your home page simply says “Home Page” at the top, then you need to update your title tags.
Your Website Page Descriptions Show Up On Google & Social
Just like title tags, you can set page descriptions for each page. If no description is set, the search engines will use the text from the beginning of the page. This can sometimes be confusing and random so it is important that you set the page descriptions for each page. Not only is this search engine friendly, but it will also make your content more shareable on social media.
Your Website Images Need Complete Alt Tags
Every image on your website needs to have an alternative text attribute added to it. The alt tag needs to describe the image. For years, search engine optimizers have used this to enhance the context of the page but there is a more important reason for using the alt tags. When blind people view your website, a screen reader will read these descriptions to the visitor. If no title tags are set, they may just hear the name of the file which will make no sense.
Your Website Needs A Clear Message
Don’t confuse your website visitors with desperate and confusing messages. Your website needs to have a really clear purpose of what you want your visitors to know about your company. You also need to make it really clear on what you want your visitor to do next.
Your Website Is The Foundation Of Your Online Presence
People often neglect their website and do not realize the power that their website has on the business. If your business is not present online, you will not succeed. You have complete power and control of how your business is represented online. Other platforms like social media and ad platforms can change and restrict your message, but you have complete control of your website. Everything should flow out of your website to the rest of the Internet.
Your Website Needs To Be Easy To Use
Less is more. You don’t need to clutter your website. When you think about your website, consider the user of your website. What will their experience be like? You don’t simply build a website to throw information up. Use the website to inform and guide your visitor to your desired next step.
Your Website Needs A Way To Contact You
You don’t want to build a website that doesn’t connect your visitors with you. Decide how you want to be contacted by your website. Do you want more phone calls? Make your phone number prominent on every page and link it so that it can be pressed on a mobile device. Do you want to hide your email address but get messages from your website? Then you want a page with a form on it. Link to this page from every page on your website.
Your Website Should Solve A Problem
Your business is all about solving a specific problem. Your website should help illustrate that. If your prospect has a problem, acknowledge that problem and then address it with your solution. Your value comes from how quickly, efficiently, and affordably you can solve that problem. Your website should demonstrate that.
Your Website Needs To Build Trust
People are rarely going to buy your solution the first time they visit your website. Use your website to build trust first. Address common questions. Show examples of results. Share testimonials from satisfied clients. Always provide value first so that you can build trust.
Your Website Should Offer Valuable Content
People are looking to you to solve a problem for them. Whether they pay you for it or not. Developing a great content strategy is important for the success of your business online. Content is what attracts people (and bots) to your website. It adds context to what your business is all about and what problem you solve. Create content on your website, share it to your social media profiles, and invite people back to your website for more.
Your Website Should Tell Your Story
People don’t just buy solutions. They also buy into your story. Your story explains why you do what you do. Your story explains what you are fighting for. Your story shares the value that you bring to your customers. Your story helps your visitors imagine how that story is going to work for them. Do they want to be a part of your story?
Your Website Is Built Around Your Logo
If you want a great website, then you need a great logo. Web designers are heavily influenced by your logo. It sets the tone for the type of fonts, colors, and imagery that will be used on your web design. It will also dictate the structure of your website.
Your logo should not be huge on your website. Your content should be the dominant feature with the logo subtly in the background. But it all needs to work together and look like a complete brand.
𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝘁𝗶𝗽: 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿.
Your Website Should Ask For Contact Information
Whether your prospect is ready to buy or not, you can use your website to start gathering contact information from your visitors. Offer a bribe in exchange for their name, email address, or phone number. (By the way, no one wants to sign up for that newsletter that you’re never going to write.) Use your website to gather information from your visitor so that you can enhance their experience and build more trust with your business.
Your Website Address Should Be Easy To Remember
Domain names are getting harder and harder to come by thanks to cyber-squatters who have purchased every great and available name. But your domain name is super important. Always opt for the dot com because people will go there by instinct. Use complete words and avoid abbreviations. It’s ok to have a domain name that is different from your business name if it can be easy to remember and type.
Avoid hyphens, numbers, and confusing letter combinations. You should be able to clearly say your website address without having to explain it. (𝗦𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝘂𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻.𝗰𝗼
😆 )
Your Website Should Be Connected To Social Media
The purpose of your website is to inform and build trust. Further that trust by connecting to your social media profiles. Let people get to know you and see that you are active in your online community. This makes it easier for people to understand what you do and why you do it.
Your Website Should Have High-Quality Images
Avoid using stock photography if possible. Invest in a photographer who can take professional photos of you, your team, your equipment, your office…anything that you want people to see so that they can get to know your business. Help them imagine what it is going to look like when they work with you. Using the same stock image as everyone else in your market will not help you stand out from the crowd.
Your Website Should Be Geared Toward Your Ideal Prospect
Who is your ideal customer? If you said, “Anyone who will pay me money to do my thing,” then you will have a hard time making it in your business. You want to focus on a specific type of customer. It can be broad but you really need to hone in your message so that your content on your website speaks directly to them.
If your website is filled with vague content that speaks to a wide audience then you will not stand out from your competition that is speaking directly to their clients.
Your Website Should Have A Clear Call To Action
Does your website have a clear call to action? A call to action is a specific step that you want your visitor to take so that they can raise their hand and move on to the next step. We recommend having a primary and a secondary call to action. The primary call to action should be a button that is in the top right corner of every page of your website. We also recommend placing a secondary call to action across the bottom of every page right above your footer.
Your Website Should Answer Common Questions
If you aren’t answering questions on your website then you are not informing your visitors about their common questions. If you want to know what kind of questions your visitors may have, then check out https://answerthepublic.com/.
Enter some keywords about your business and get lists of commonly searched for questions in search engines. Then you can create content that answers those questions.
Your Website Should Be Optimized For Voice Search
Do you ever wonder how your virtual assistants like Google, Bixby, Siri, and Alexa find answers to your questions? It’s from websites just like yours that answer questions on their website in a format that is geared for voice search. This also sets the content to show up before any other results in search engines. Want an example? Go to Google and ask a question. You’ll see a result at the top. This is also the same result that voice search will use.
Your Website Should Offer Testimonials From Satisfied Customers
People want to see results from people just like them. This isn’t you bragging about yourself. These are actual people who have experienced your services and are willing to rave about you. If you are not capturing reviews from your clients, then you need to. Adding testimonials creates Social Proof which further builds trust in the mind of your prospect.
Your Website Should be Tracking Visitor Activity
People often launch a website and leave it at that. How will you know if it is ever going to be successful if you don’t data that you can analyze about your website? At a minimum, you should install Google Analytics so that you can track what is working and what is not.
𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝗧𝗶𝗽: You can generate and install tracking pixels from every major social platform including Facebook (which includes Instagram), LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. Even if you don’t intend to advertise right away, you should be collecting the data of visitors on your website. Chances are, your being tracked right now.
Your Website Should Not Have Big Blocks Of Text
The content on your website needs to be scannable. People are making an assumption about your business in a split-second decision. If your content is presented in a big block of text, people are not going to take the time to read it. You need to break your content up into chunks with headings, text formatting, images, and more. This is especially important if people are using their mobile phones to view your website.
Your Website Should Not Be Built With Flash
If your website is completely built with Flash or has any part of it using Flash then I have some bad news for you. As of 12-31-2020 Flash has died and it is not coming back. There is no doubt that Flash was beautiful. But search engines could only read Flash if they were coded correctly. Today, Flash has been replaced with HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly.
Your Website Should Not Have Videos That Autoplay
Videos are great on websites. However, I caution you to not make your videos auto-play as soon as page loads. The reason is that most people will view your website without any sound. And if they do have the sound on, they don’t want to be interrupted by your video without their interaction. If you do auto-play a video, do it in mute. Then give your visitor the controls to unmute and restart the video.
Your Website Content Should Be Clear & Natural
People read your website. Write content for humans. Bots will read your website and determine the context of your website. But you need to write for human beings. Write as if you are having a conversation with the person. Your content should be easy enough for a sixth-grader to read it and understand it. Check out http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ and find out how easy it is for your content to be read.
Your Website Should Be Built Around Your Business Goals
If you have a business, then you have a goal that you want to accomplish. Center the content of your website (and entire online presence) around that goal. This means having a compelling story, helping people build trust, and a call to action to help them get started on the path toward your goal. Goals change over time, so it is important to update your website to reflect those new goals.
Your Website Should Be Built Around Your Business Branding
Having an established branding guideline for your business will make designing, building, and maintaining your website very easy. Business branding isn’t just about your logo. It’s about colors that you want to use and not use. It’s about the fonts that you use. It’s about the type of imagery that you use. It’s also about the content voice that you want to use. There is a lot that goes into building a legit business branding guideline.
Posted in Website Tips