Online presence is an increasingly vital part of any business’s success. The foundation of that presence is your business’s website. This is where customers and prospective customers will go to learn more about you and decide if they’re interested in your services, thus making your web design and development processes extremely important. Here are five key factors that can make or break the success of your site:
Webpage Speed The average internet user isn’t very patient when it comes to waiting for a webpage to load…can you blame them? Typically, users expect a site to load in less than two seconds. Anything longer than that highly increases the chance of page abandonment. There are many factors that could influence the speed of your website: server speed, traffic, graphics, and more. With the proper optimization and coding, these factors can be controlled to create a responsive website design that functions at optimal speed.
Search Engine Optimization An aesthetically pleasing, informative website isn’t worth much if your customers can’t locate it. SEO infuses your website with the keywords that customers are using when trying to find your services online. Including these keywords makes your site more likely to be at the top of their search results, preceding a long list of similar companies’ websites. The right SEO company can transform your website through copywriting and content development. Optimizing your website for search engines is a powerful way to make sure your website is consistently attracting new business.
Clear Navigation Roadmap The layout of your website has the power to determine whether a user stays engaged or leaves your site out of frustration. Navigation buttons should be organized and simple to use. Graphics need to be used strategically, contrasting clear and concise tabs and drop-down menus for the user to browse your website’s content with ease. Too many tabs will clutter your page and affect its readability. Smart web design and development can easily create the user-friendly navigation roadmap that will keep users on your site.
Social Media Integration Social media is one of the most crucial ways that businesses communicate with their customers. It’s important that users can easily find your social media accounts while they’re browsing your site. Icons for each platform are a common way of linking to social media accounts, and a live stream of tweets or Facebook posts somewhere on your page may also be appropriate depending on your brand. Directing the user to explore your social media accounts will encourage them to engage with you on those platforms.
Content Development Frequently updating your site with new content will keep it interesting for users and favorable for search engines. Instituting some type of blog with frequent updates creates an opportunity for you to share promotions, insight, and stories with customers. This allows your brand to be more dynamic to the customer, and the frequent activity on your site will be taken into account by search engines. Conversely, a lack of frequently updated content will bore users and decrease your sites visibility for search engines.
Ensure that your business is getting the most out of its website by contacting the best local SEO company in New Hampshire, Kirk Communications at 603-766-4945.
