Many new businesses and organizations falsely believe that building a website is simply about putting up some information and hoping for the best. But ensuring that your website is effective—meaning it can be found online, visitors stay for a while, and eventually convert, takes more intentionality and skill. When people visit a website, they love fast load times, easy to find information, and links and ecommerce stores that work. If you’re building a website from scratch, here’s what you need to know to give your online visitors a great experience, and maybe even land a few new customers.
Pay Attention to the Server
One of the things that can turn website visitors away is a slow website. And the server it’s located on is often the source of a sluggish site. While shared servers can of course be an affordable option, getting dedicated server hosting can make a big difference. When you are on a shared server, your site will be competing for upload times with other websites and files. This can create unpredictable speeds and also leads to more down time.
A dedicated server gives your site more room and that means that it won’t need to compete with other websites for speed and reliability. It allows for better security and a smoother experience overall.
Create a Site That Can Adapt
A challenge that often comes with DIY websites is being able to create a seamless experience across different devices. Your site may look great on mobile, but struggles with functionality on a laptop. Or vice versa. Creating a responsive design is incredibly important for multiple reasons, and when you’re building a site from the ground up, it should be a priority.
The good news is that there are many companies who specialize in this kind of thing. Web design firms like Adchitects, for example, know how to create sites that have a consistent look and feel no matter what kind of device you’re on.
They focus on great design, but also the overall user experience. Design companies like them make sure that everything works no matter what kind of device you use. This makes things more appealing to customers, which means better conversions for your business.
Optimizing Website Speed—Because Google
While dedicated servers are one way to optimize speed, it’s important to understand the why behind a fast loading website. While of course, you don’t want to frustrate users with a slow site, having faster load times also improves ranking with Google. When Google ranks sites, it uses information about how long visitors stay on the site and overall performance to decide which websites will come first in searches. When you want to get better ranking for search engines like Google, you need to make sure your site loads as quickly as possible.
Some other things that can help are compressing images, using lighter coding options, and even leveraging better caching. When you also leave unnecessary plugins off your site, it can also boost the load times.
Easy to Navigate Pages
People don’t just care if your website looks pretty. They want a site that’s easy to navigate and helps them find exactly what they want more quickly. Focus on creating intuitive navigation that helps users find what they want more naturally. If you have a store, make sure they can find the link to access it right away. Make your website searchable as well. People want to get to the right information or product without needing to click too many times. The more streamlined your navigation, the better results and conversions you’ll have.
Follow SEO and Security Best Practices
SEO is an art and a science. It’s what helps people find your stuff more easily through search engines. A site that’s SEO friendly will have good metadata, optimized headings, clean URLs, and really great content that your followers will love.
In addition, your site will be fast loading, mobile friendly, and even have a secure HTTPS. Security is especially important because it protects you from hacking, malware, and other data breaches. Focusing on good cybersecurity can protect both you and your customers. When you are building a website from scratch, these practices are crucial to implement. It helps lay the groundwork for building an effective business and helping people find you online.
Building a website from scratch takes a lot more groundwork than many people realize. But when you focus on the back end functionality and security, you’ll find that it’s easy to add design elements that also appeal to your client base. The best practice is to get this stuff right first so that it’s easier to build your business empire.
