With how fast the business world has been changing, it is not odd for a business without a website to wonder every now and then, if they are missing out on business opportunities. Well, the time to wonder and be uncertain is long gone.
Today, a business website is no more an accessory, it has become a tool for customer services and customer engagement, a way for online sales and the list goes on. However, luckily building and maintaining a website is not at all a demanding task that many us of consider it to be.
There are website development companies based in NYC and all around the world that assist you with monitoring of your website and identify what is working and what is not working for your website and they fix it for you.
However, running a successful website requires a few skills that one can learn over time and with experience. Hence, you need to learn the best practices in the market, self-educate yourself and keep up with the current trends. Here are few of the basic website development elements to be considered by all beginners.
Branding
Your website is the brand ambassador of your business that is available and accessible 24*7. It is one of the most important elements of your online branding. Hence, when going through website development process make sure the typography, content, images, videos and other graphics you use on your website compliment the overall brand image of yours. Some other website elements that can help your form a strong sense of branding are the color scheme you use, company’s logo and the tone of your message.
Website design
Your website design is the face of your website, your website design, layout, navigation, and content should be a good representation of your brand. Hence, when building and design your website make sure you have considered such website elements such as the placement of graphics, formatting, organization of content, the amount of empty/ white space and placement of call-to-action.
Website Coding
Coding is the technical aspect and at the same the core of your website. Hence, if you don’t have a technical background then you are most likely to need some professional assistance. However, some aspects of coding you should consider for website development are using canonical URL, using headers and sub-headers appropriately, avoiding any unsuitable frames, and optimizing your website to be as effective as possible.
Usability
When you are developing your website, make sure it effectively fulfills its purpose and objective while being useful for the audience. Your website cannot be successful if your visitors don’t find it to be effective and useful.
Moreover, some aspect of your website usability includes if your layout is easy to understand and trendy, if your website navigation is efficient and intuitive, if you are checked for browser rendering and whether all of your website content is semantically accurate and easy to read.
Website content
In long-run, your website content is one of the very few elements that can help you catch audiences’ attention and continue to engage them. The appeal of any visual graphic will fade away eventually and then the only quality of content will matter. Hence, make sure the complete content on your website is relevant, engaging, consistent, and accurate, of high quality and is regularly updated.
Keyword focus
You put in lots of time and efforts to continuous publish original and engaging content on your website. However, it is only smart thinking if you put in some extra efforts to make sure your content ranks high by making your content SEO-friendly, which will also help you increase your organic website traffic.
One of the best ways to do that is to include your industry-specific keywords into your content. Moreover, make sure you have smartly mapped out each of your keywords on different web pages and avoid keyword stuffing to be effective.
Social media integration
Social media integration with your website is one of the relatively latest trends in website development and it represents more exposure and engagement opportunities for your brand. Hence, when you make your website, make sure to integrate it with your business social media channels.
This will update your website visitors about all new activities and content being shared on your social media and you can even add your brand image and reputation by being more active and engaging with your audience.
Mobile
Today, your website is not effective or even complete unless it is mobile-friendly or responsive, as an increasing number of people are using their mobile phones to browse through internet and visit websites. Hence, for an effective website development, you will have to ensure that the layout, navigation, and content of your website are designed and organized in a manner to be responsive on smaller screens of a mobile phone.
Author Bio:
I am Kelly Adams and I am a full-time blogger. What started as a part-time hobby, now takes my undivided attention and focus. I really enjoy my job of coming up with trendy blogs that my readers enjoy. I write about everything and anything, like website development company NYC or online marketing automation.