Now we’ve outlined the costs involved in building a new website in our guide to wise web spending, let's take a closer look at the best practices of building a website that not only meets your budget but that engages with your audience and coverts.
Here we’ll cover all the essentials like the hero area, CTAs, lead magnets, trust building features, website security and scalability with the objective of ensuring your new website stands the best chance of success.
A truly successful website takes into account aesthetic appeal, but not at the expense of user behaviour, SEO best practices, or technical prowess. As you design and plan your new site, make a list of all the key elements that need to be considered. With the help of an experienced web development team, you can then devise a winning strategy for each element.
The Essential Ingredients for a High Performance Website
Designing and building a website that connects with your ideal customer will incorporate the following elements:
The Hero Areas
The hero area is the section of your website that is displayed at the top of a website above the fold. It’s where the prime real-estate is because it’s where the eye is drawn to and is the area that will naturally be engaged with first.
The goal here is to create a fantastic first impression with a high quality image or graphic and some accompanying text that persuades the visitor to remain on your page and explore your site further.
The text here should be clear and to the point, it should resonate with your brand and overall messaging, and it should contain some form of call to action (CTA).
Essentially, this is the area to distil what problem your product solves, and why it is the best solution for the job. Videos can accompany images, but the same rule applies to all content; concisely highlight your USP and give a clear call to action.
The Call To Actions
Speaking of call to actions; let’s look at these a little more closely. CTAs are the go-to tool for interacting with your visitors. They should be placed in areas that guide the user into taking the next step and they should give them a reason for taking action at that moment in time.
It is really important to convey a sense of urgency with your CTAs, this could be a time-sensitive deal or other offering that highlights the value of taking action right now. Use engaging and dynamic language that evokes emotion, rather than dry factual statements; save those for your copy.
Place your CTAs at key points throughout your content where they will be impossible to miss. You can make them pop even more by choosing contrasting colours, bold fonts, etc.
The Art of Trust-Building
In order to sell a product or service, the prospective customer must have trust in your website, your brand, and your offering. Whether you like it or not, visitors are continually (and often subconsciously), attempting to qualify you in an attempt to determine whether or not you are worthy of trust.
You can instill trust through a number of tangible methods. You can add security certificates to your sites, as well as official accreditations. You can mention other household names and brands that are affiliated with you, and you can add press articles / reviews that feature your brand and products. Testimonials are very powerful forms of social proof and are great to pepper your site with, reinforcing trust as a customer travels through your site.
The Value of Lead Magnets
Lead magnets are a form of CTA and they encourage a prospective customer to engage with your site, by inputting their email for example, in order to gain access to an exclusive deal, or other incentive.
Use language that your ideal customer uses and offer them genuine value, or you can risk losing trust. As with CTAs, lead magnets can be dispersed throughout your site and can be in the form of contact fields and pop-up boxes.
Messaging is very important once again, so remember to be concise, clear, and not ask for too much from the customer to begin with.
The Importance of Web Security
Your website needs to be fully secure and up-to-date as you can’t afford to risk losing trust, or even a financial penalty, for being lax with data. SSL certificates are the most basic form of web security and can be easily obtained from your hosting provider. Depending on how complex your site is and how data is handled, you might need help from a web development agency to get it all up and running correctly.
A Web development team will also help to make sure your platform has the relevant security plugins and web application firewalls to help protect your site from the countless hackers that are sadly out there. Remember that any security system is only as strong as its weakest link so ensure that all team members are kept informed about your current security strategy and chosen practices.
The Suitability of The Various Platforms & Architecture
The platform you choose to build your website on, together with its architecture, will determine its overall capabilities. You will likely have 3 or 4 main platforms to choose from, and WordPress, for example, is a flexible, easy-to-use solution ideal for smaller sites, whereas Shopify is more suited to e-commerce sites.
Think about the services you offer now and intend to offer in the future to ensure you can scale according to your chosen platform. Some platforms offer advanced features suitable for specialised sites, and if these are relevant to you, then it can make the decision process even easier for you. Architecture describes the codebase and database of your site and if you’re new to web development, this might be an area where professional consultation proves invaluable.
Mobile-Friendly Experience
Today, the majority of visitors to your website will likely be using a smartphone, so it is therefore vital that, from the very first stage of your web project, you consider the functionality, navigation, and user experience of those who will be accessing your site using a mobile device.
If you are successful at designing and building a mobile-friendly site, not only will you ensure that you are providing a good user experience for everyone who visits your site, but you’ll also be improving your site's SEO ranking, as the search engines favour mobile-friendly sites and increase their rankings accordingly.
The End Result
Once you’ve carefully considered and planned for the various elements we’ve covered in this piece, you’ll have a strong footing going forward. There’s no single magic bullet when it comes to effective web design and increasing the customer base; stick to the fundamentals, and you’ve got the very best chance of attracting and converting new prospects.
