Three Website Components You Need
You are probably one of many who believe their new invention or special video talent deserves to have a website, but the idea of starting one for the first time can seem a little overwhelming because there is tons of information you need to know. You may even feel like you need to learn a whole new geeky language and some of the things you find out there are way to complicating especially since you have no idea how to even go on Facebook!
The truth is you can get some clarity once you begin to understand certain aspects that go into any website even without a marketing company or web designer explaining it to you.
Of course there are millions if not thousands of details to make up any type of website, but once you understand and have the knowledge of the big picture, the little pieces will be a whole lot less intimidating to think about.
When you actually take the time to think about it, there are only about three main components to building a website:
Site Appearance
If you see two websites with basically the same content or products it is of course natural for any visitor to lean towards the one that looks more appealing. Having a good website design will make anyone’s reading experience much more enjoyable and probably potential buyers will identify your site with professionalism and value. It may seem obvious that having a good web design is a priority and if you have a small budget to work with, it is a good idea to search around and do your research to look for the best. A website that has a superior design to it has an advantage already because it most likely will steal visitors from other sites, even if it has good content or better products. In order to have a good web design you should provide a clear guideline to a web designer so they can bring your vision to life – Take the time to create a rough outline of how you would like your site to look.
Content and/or Products:
In the first minute a user visits your website they should know right off the bat what information you are trying to convey and or what products you are selling. Having a visual representation is important, but it only affects the user for a few seconds. Your site could have a good first impression, but the user would like to know what your site can offer for them. Your site should have opening sentences that are focused, concise and clear to the user. Think of it this way, if your website has an award winning design that had cryptic sentences full of grammar and spelling errors; most likely your site would be useless because users would not take you seriously. Your headings need to scream exactly what you want each user to hear – Go over your text 100 times if you have too or even hire a qualified copy writer. It is not a good idea to drown a new visitor to your site or even a potential buyer with an endless stream of puzzling, beyond comprehension narrative story about your idea, business or products. Make sure you choose the text colour and font of your site cautiously – You should have a certain contrast between the font colour and background so that visitors can read with comfort. Do not put vibrant pink on a yellow background; even white text on a black background can be hard for some readers regardless of the contrast. Sometimes a small font can be hard to read and even sometimes having extremely large text could make your site look unprofessional.
Website’s Performance
You would not want your small child waiting outside of school for over 20 minutes would you? Well, it truly is not acceptable to have your new visitors waiting; not even for 5 minutes! You need to keep in mind that your website is not the only available option; if you keep your users waiting for over 5 minutes, they will just go to a different site. Basically you need to have a fast website in order for visitors to stay and potentially even buy something. I mean of course not everyone has a fast DSL broadband connection. Even if you have several web elements not many people will be able to use your site immediately. If you have a custom CMS built in with your site be sure the code is efficient so it will reduce the server load.
So all in all the appearance, content and speed of your website will determine whether your visitors would like to continue going to your site and become a potential buyer. People always search the web for information or certain things they would like to buy and often there are several sites to choose from. If you cannot impress those people within one minute of being on the site, chances are they will hit the back button in a matter of minutes or even seconds.
