Website Design and Development – dos and don’ts

Kirk Team
By:  |  December 9, 2011
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One of the first things most people will do when researching a company is visit their website, this means that today web design and development is a very important marketing tool. When developing a website you want to keep in mind why you need a website and what your goals are once your site is live. To help the web design and development process we put together a quick list of the top dos and don’ts

The Dos:

  1. Learn as much as you can about SEO. Your web design and development company is there to help you and offer expert advice when it comes to SEO. Like anything else the more you understand about SEO the more you will be able to help your SEO Company create the best ROI for your business. After all SEO has one of the highest ROI’s in marketing.
  2. Set realistic goals that you are able to measure. Examples of these are increasing sales, generating more leads, increasing conversion rates, and improve brand awareness
  3. Build a mobile strategy. It is worth taking the time to research how many of your visitors are using mobile devices to visit your site. Although all websites should be accessible via mobile devices it might make sense to build a separate mobile version of your website if you have a high number of visits from smart phones or tablets.
  4. Content is key. One of the most time consuming aspects of web design and development is the process of getting content. All your content should not only explain what you do, but should be written with SEO in mind. To steam line this process and ensure you’re using content to improve SEO we suggest having a writer who specializes in SEO create your content.
  5. Write with calls to action in mind. Remember that a call to action is an easy way for your customers to decide what they want to do next.
  6. Ask yourself how often you will want to update your content. If you see yourself adding or changing content on a regular basis, which by the way is very good for SEO, than you might want to include a CMS system on your site. This would allow you to easily change and update content on your own.
  7. Check out your competition! Visit the sites of a few of your competitors and write down the things you like and dislike about their sites. This will help your web design and development company create a site that works best for your business
  8. Trust the experts! Your web design and development company knows best, it’s what they do.  We have found that when people enter the web development process with an open mind we are able to build a site that not only meets their expectations and goals but also exceeds them.
  9. Ask Why! If you want your customers to do something specific on your site tell them why they should do it.  For instance is someone follows you on Facebook how will they benefit from it? If it’s daily updates on your products or access to discount it will always help to remind them why they want to sign up.

The Don’ts

  1. DIY! Do it yourself websites often look outdated and shockingly like you built it yourself. Since your website is typically the first experience people have with your brand you want to create the best possible experience that conveys the most professional feeling.
  2. Use flash.  A site built entirely in flash is not SEO friendly and can’t be viewed on most mobile devices. This means that not only can people not find your site but also a lot of people won’t be able to view it even if they do.
  3. Use vague testimonials. Testimonials can build credibility especially if your customer can relate to them. Having a writer contact the individuals giving the testimonial will allow the writer to ask specific questions. This will enable them to put together a testimonial that is specific and easy for our customers to relate to
  4. Make people think. Most people visiting your site know exactly what they want, it could be as specific as info on a product or as basic as wanting to learn what your company does. If a visitor can’t figure out what to do next within 3 seconds you need to rethink the ease of use of your website.
  5. Expect Customers. We often see people who assume that driving traffic to a website involves nothing other than putting a site up. This is not the case and often times creating traffic on a new website takes along time, SEO or course can help to speed up the process and create new visitors.

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