Is your website not receiving enough traffic or conversions? Chances are it may not have the components it needs to be successful. That’s why we outlined nine key essentials every website should have, including:
1. Responsive design
The world these days is increasingly becoming mobile. Multiple studies show that consumers now use their smartphone more than any other computing device. If your website does not look good or load well on mobile devices, then you could be losing out on a lot of potential traffic and customers. Make sure you invest in an responsive website design to keep people visiting your site and buying your products and services.
2. Simple, clean design layout
Research shows website designs that are complicated and difficult to navigate usually end up having a negative impact on sales and bounce rates. That’s why many companies today are adopting a simple, clean design so consumers can easily find what they’re looking for.
3. SEO
Search engines will bring in more traffic to your website than any other method if you incorporate an effective SEO strategy. You’ll want to make sure you have the right keywords in the best places. You’ll also want to check that your site loads quickly and that your content is engaging. These factors and many more will help improve your rankings on search engine results pages.
4. Online ads
While SEO can bring in a significant amount of traffic, online ads can also help bring in a lot of people if they are done correctly. You’ll want to make sure your ads are targeted and that they appear in the places on the web that your audience is most likely to see them.
5. Engaging content
No one will stay on your website or download or buy anything if there is no content there that piques their interest. If you don’t have one already, make sure you implement a blog and post at least two to three articles per week. Write only posts that your audience would be interested in reading. This definitely will require a lot of research into the interests of your audience and some trial and error to see what works and what doesn’t. But once you know what your audience likes, then optimize each article for SEO, share them on social media, and even use online ads when necessary to drive the highest possible traffic.
6. Integrated social media strategy
Besides search engines, social media is often the first place where people will see and interact with your content. This is why you should post all of your articles to social media. Be sure to include social media sharing buttons on all of your articles as well so your website visitors can easily share your content with their friends and followers.
7. Landing pages for promotion campaigns
If you’re offering a promotion, giveaway, free download or some other kind of freebie, you’ll need a landing page. Landing pages are separate pages on your site that provide information about the promotion, download, giveaway or freebie and feature some kind of call-to-action. These call-to-actions are often email captures that ask the visitor to enter their name, email address and any other pertinent information. This allows you to re-market your audience so they can buy future products and services from you.
8. Web analytics tracking and goal setting
To accurately assess the performance of your website, you’ll need to implement web analytics software and establish some kind of goal setting process to go along with it. This will allow you to see what’s working on your website and what improvements will be needed. Goal setting will help you set benchmarks so that you can accomplish what you need to in order to be successful.
9. Hire a team of expert professionals
All of the elements above might seem like quite the exhaustive list to include on your website to ensure success. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or don’t know where to begin, there is help. Leave a comment below or contact us to see how our team can help you get your site up and running and/or make any improvements.
