Issue 18: Tips for an Effective Website
Westminster has been around for more than 18 years and the biggest marketing influence we’ve seen during the course of our company’s history is (you guessed it!) the internet. We’ve observed a tremendous shift in the last 5 years as companies are shifting their budgets to reach a different demographic — the online audience.
As a collective, internet users are as sophisticated as ever and expect websites they might potentially work with to be as competent and professional as any brick and mortar store or office space they might visit in the real world.
Since this may or may not be your forte, the folks here at Westminster have put together a primer on some best practice techniques that are often overlooked during the course of a website design process.
Clear Communication
The internet is a unique communications medium and if you understand how people use it, you can deliver websites to your customers that communicate effectively.
Internet visitors do not read text word for word as you might expect them to. They get the information they need through skimming and scanning, as you’re probably doing now. Web copy written with that in mind will often yield better results.
People also appreciate getting to what they want quickly and easily, so don’t bury web pages crucial to your business either. Consider the reasons why people are visiting your website and how you can make their experience as efficient as possible.
QUICK TIP
If you could have a website visitor do one thing. Not five things, one single thing… what would that be? Now look at your website and see if it is streamlined to facilitate that action.
Studies have shown visitors spend less than 5 seconds on a web page before clicking away. Don’t beat around the bush, be straight-forward with your content and capture your audience’s attention.
Usability Design
Usability can be defined as the overall ease of use of the website. The more complex a website becomes, the more crucial usability is because you are trying to induce a user to perform a task.
The easier it to use, the more trust you build, the more pages they visit, the longer they stick around and the more likely they are to purchase something. We encourage straight forward content that engages the user and communicates with them quickly and efficiently.
There are different ways of evaluating the Usability of your website. You can look at metrics, conduct user testing or solicit direct feedback from your viewers.
QUICK TIP
Pick an important web page in your website and write down the steps a viewer has to take to reach it. When finished, evaluate some of the steps involved to see if they are necessary. The less steps involved with an action will often lead to higher success rates.
Technical
There are many technical techniques a skilled web developer will incorporate during the course of a web project that are not sexy but will have incredible impact in the effectiveness of the website.
Two of the areas often neglected are search engine optimization (SEO) and content management.
With SEO, a knowledgeable web team will build a design that effectively uses keywords, descriptions, titles and alt text as well as take advantage of tools that the search engines provide to developers.
There are many benefits to frequently updating your website that range from keeping clients informed to SEO relevance. That’s why content management should be carefully considered from the start of the project. Whether using a Content Management System (CMS) or negotiating monthly maintenance agreements with the developer, a content strategy should be worked out from the start so that future updates can be taken into consideration and optimized for during the development process.
QUICK TIP
Pretend you are a potential customer and try to find the services or products you offer in a search engine without using your company name. Does your business show up? Does your competitor show up? What type of keywords are you using? Make a list of a the keywords you think your potential customers are searching for and ask your website administrator if they can help get better results.
Questions? Comments? We’d love to hear from you! And don’t forget to be social with us: FACEBOOK TWITTER
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