Navigation – The Key to a Successful Website

The key to a successful website is navigation. In order to achieve this success you must make sure that your website is very simple and easy to use. In fact the more ‘idiot proof’ it may be, the more likely the websites rankings and traffic will improve.

A logical mind is what will aid this navigation in order to earn success. Without clear and logical steps, the website won’t be user friendly and will therefore become a waste of time. So, what do you need on the homepage?

Well, this is essential for first time or returning viewers to your website. Everything that the visitor needs to see or could possibly be looking for should be shown all above the fold. You must have clear icons explaining what the company does; this is always important as it has been shown that virtually every visitor will always look for this and read it. You must have contact details available, whether online chat, email address or telephone number; if all are clearly displayed you will have more chance in maintaining a successful site.

It all depends on what sort of website you have. For an ecommerce site, it is absolutely vital that it is easy to use. All instruction should be clearly stated right from the word go. You must make sure that buyers can clearly ‘add to basket’, press pay and have no worries in entering card details, by offering paypal services and other means of payment will also be beneficial.

Now navigation to all products or ideas on your website must be very easy to get too. You need a list of all key products that the visitor can see and select, there then must be a filtering list that is of course very easy to use.

It is useful to allow for previous visitors who may have made an account on your website, to access it straight away with just one click. It is also handy to promote any delivery services or special offers.

Now for non-ecommerce sites, it is still all very similar. Everything must be easily navigated with relevant links and relation to each page. All basic areas such as ‘about’, ‘contact’, ‘account’ etc. must be written clearly on the top underneath the H1 tag so that it is clear and concise.

Common Mistakes People Make With Their Website

First time creators of their own website all tend to make similar mistakes. The basic mistake is that they will completely over complicate everything and there is absolutely no need too.

So starting with the homepage, a common mistake here is that too much information is sprawled across one page. Despite the illusion that the more detail you put on; the less time a visitor will take in clicking through various drop down lists, this is wrong. By having too much on the opening page, it can ultimately scare people away. The homepage should be clear, concise and simple; it should promote exactly what you are selling or whatever opinion or view you are creating the website for.

The homepage should contain only important and vital information, for instance contact details and what the site does. It’s also important to put all this information above the fold, as usually a common mistake is to appear rather fancy on top and then leave all the necessities behind.

Another mistake that tends to be made is the insistent over use of colour and fonts that are just too unclear. The website will be pointless if Google or other search engines do not recognise it, and they will be unable to read the writing if it is ‘too much’. Another thing search engines cannot read is flash and images, these take a lot of time to load which of course results in a slower website. Now despite looking relatively impressive and pretty, this will appear to search engines that you do not have much or any content on your website. This is so important to make sure that the content is written clearly and completely unique in order to achieve some success.

A popular mistake regarding content is that people don’t always hire a content writer or go direct to an agency; they usually use templates of other peoples work and change a few words. This is a complete waste of time as the search engines will recognise that the words are elsewhere and not even visit the site again, rendering it pointless.

In order to avoid major mistakes when creating a website, it is probably best to go direct through a web design agency or company. These will specialise on every part of your website that will aid in its success, from content to search engine optimisation; by placing your website into their hands; you no longer have the worry.

DIY Websites and Why They Are Probably Not Right for You

Now it is all well and good attempting to create a brand new website from scratch, however a DIY website may not be the best option.

First time creators tend to make similar mistakes. They tend to cram a vast amount of information onto the homepage; this will therefore not get what is actually needed over to the visitor and the bombardment of words and colour may be a little too much. First time website creators may also not understand the importance of some features, such as the fold and how everything above that should really be everything the visitor needs handed on a silver platter.

DIY websites focus a lot on the aesthetics, just because a website or webpage looks good; it doesn’t actually mean it’s good at all. A lot of people tend to put a lot of flash and videos onto the website in order to promote and impress. However, as search engines can only read words, these animations will not only slow down the loading time; but it will appear to the search engines that there is no relevant content on the pages.

Unless you are a search engine optimisation expert along with conversation rate expert, a content writer and a rather good web designer, using the DIY website will be rather useless. Without a website being started properly and professionally, it will never really be likely to gain any success.

Now going through a web design agency will be the best option to eradicate any faults on your website. With a budget in mind, you can contact an agency and discuss the steps that need to be taken in order to get your website up and running. You must know what your target audience is and exactly what you intend to get out of your website as it is finished.
If the price of the web design company scares you away, then that is your prerogative; however if you are serious about building this website then you need to let the professionals take control. In fact overall after attempting to complete all the aspects of website creation yourself, or just paying content writers and search engine optimisation experts, it will really all be rather tiring either way.

It will definitely be worth; in the long run simply handing the website over to an agency to take a look at!.

 

How Does the Right Content Affect Your Rankings?

The perfect kind of traffic to your website will cost you nothing. Off page Search Engine Optimisation is a method of improving your websites rankings; by building quality on theme backlinks. It is important that the links stem from relevant or similar sites to your own. By building poor quality backlinks from spam or irrelevant sites, it may have a detrimental effect on your rankings. This is due to the recent Penguin update.

Now off-page search engine optimisation is achieved solely by building anchor text rich backlinks from relevant content written. These links should always stem back to the relevant pages on your website. There are a variety of different ways to obtain these links, such as from content on a forum or posts on a blog. The keyword or phrase anchor text needs to be repeated and clearly accessible by Google so that it can be placed in a local directory. This will also allow for more and more visitors to your website as you will be a registered site, have information linked back from various websites and will ultimately allow for your website to rank higher.

In regards to content for your website, it is just as important off page as on! Third party articles containing backlinks will boost site rankings drastically. The content can be as specific or ‘out there’ as you like. As long as it contains at least some relevance and links back to your website; you have the freedom to appeal to a wider audience through various themed articles.

Press releases are also an excellent way to increase the exposure of your site, whether you are promoting an idea or selling a product. A good press release will expose your website to the media and supply you with, if done well, tons of free publicity.

Now the use of H1 tags and content is absolutely vital. These tags will be what the search engines will read in order to recognise exactly what your site is about. The content below must be short and clear and basically expand from what the title tag has already stated in a nutshell. If search engines are able to clearly read the H1 tags and the content, and also if there is a recurring theme throughout your website, Google for example will notify this and drive any searches towards your site.

Content is essential, It must be unique, interesting and be clearly written to your desired target audience.

Why Is Planning So Crucial For a New Website

Planning for a brand new website is absolutely crucial, without careful planning and structure the website will simply fail.

The most important thing that you must do during the initial making of your website is to think about what your target audience will be. You also have to think about what the point of the website is, what message are you trying to get across? Are you selling something? Without a clear target and goal the creating of the website will be rather difficult.

If you are aiming for an ecommerce site then you need to think about if you need a marketing strategy to promote your site in order to actually sell something. You will have to have a shopping basket feature and allow for products to be paid online. You need to think about what content you will need on your website. You need to target keyword based articles, blogs, product descriptions and general information pieces of the best quality and all unique.

You will need to prepare all of these perhaps simple things in order to continue, as long as the basics are recognised; some things can be altered later on.

The navigation of the website is also essential; you need to work out what you want to have on the homepage and how many links off you require. It is best not to cram so much information into the homepage as it will all become just a little too much.

So the design must be addressed, the developing of content, promotion and where all the links will come from and where they link too. If this doesn’t seem to flow first time round, then it’s back to the drawing board for another go.

Once you are pleased with the overall design, you can test your website and all its tools on a test server. This will show you whether all links placed in the texts actually link, it will show you how easy the navigation is around your website and it will highlight any changes that need to be made.

You need to plan out how the site will get traffic; this will need to come form on site and off site search engine optimisation. When will the launch date be for the website? Also if you are preparing a website solo, you must be aware of everything that needs to be done, and if you are a part of an agency; all responsibilities must be taken on and completed in order to gain a successful website.