A website can play a very critical role in your business regardless of its size and type.  You may be running a small local business or an eCommerce platform to sell products and often, the key to expanding your reach is to build a great website. A dedicated and regularly managed website provide a steady source of information to potential consumers and lets you influence their buying process by allowing your business to showcase all the products and services the way you want.

If you are designing, developing, or updating a website for 2023, the following   guidelines will provide you with everything, from planning and setting up your website to launching your website and attracting your customers

 

 

1. CHALK OUT A SOLID PLAN FOR YOUR WEBSITE

 

To make a good website for 2023, you need to have an effective

plan in mind, that will get you ahead of your competitors.

As Dale Carnegie had said “An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing”. At this stage you need to consider about your website design, content, images to put in, color scheme, etc.  Preparation gives clarity to what we need to do to have the effect we want. That is why, it is essential that when you’re developing your own website, you have a proper plan ready at hand. It will help you design the important elements of your website that you cannot afford to forget to get the results you want from your website. A word of caution, websites need to evolve and change over time. What works in 2023, may not work in the later years, so it’s best to keep things simple and not overcomplicate your website design planning.

 

Easy steps that can help you plan for your website in 2023

• Study the website of your competitors in detail.
• Document the outline of the pages that you want to include on your website.
• Take notes about the keywords you want to target.
• Perform SEO research on relevant keywords and incorporate them into your website to drive more organic traffic.

 

 

 

1. CHOOSE YOUR DOMAIN NAME

 

A domain name is a website’s address or URL (Universal resource Locator) such as Aryabhconsulting in ‘www.Aryabhconsulting.com. You use the domain name to locate a website. This domain name is mapped to Internet Protocol (IP) address or machine-readable address that is stored in the Domain name system (DNS) along with the domain names. The DNS is a naming database where these domain names get translated into Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. So, when you type the name of the domain in the browser, the DNS maps the domain name to the IP address that a computer uses to locate that website.

 

Choosing “the right” domain name can be a stressful endeavour as it is one of the most critical decisions you’ll make as a website owner. It is as important as your business’s logo and brand name since a poorly chosen name can hurt your brand’s reputation.  

 

Here are few tips that may help you in choosing the best domain name for your business

 

• Choose Your Top-Level Domain (TLD) Extension Carefully:  A TLD extension is the last part of the URL (as in last part of ‘www.Aryabhconsulting.com’) that comes directly after the domain name of your website and the dot (‘.’). Some of the most popular TLDs are .com, .org, and .Net.
• Incorporate Targeted Keywords: Search engines use your domain name to determine what the subject of your website is about and help determine search rankings. Therefore, it  is essential to include the keywords wherever possible. The keywords you choose for your domain name should relate to your website and targeted to your audience.
• Make Sure Your Domain is Easy to Pronounce and Spell: While word-of-mouth advertising is powerful, it only works when people can pronounce your domain name. This also makes the name easier for viewers of your website to remember, thus increasing the odds that they will pass the site along to their networks.

 

• Pick a Flexible Domain Name: While it is important to be specific to attract an audience, you do not want to be so precise that it limits both the growth of your website and your business. Keep your long-term vision in mind when selecting a domain name as both your business and website will evolve over time. So be careful that you do not get stuck with an incorrect domain name as your business evolves

 

 

 

• Avoid Hyphens and Doubled Letters: Using hyphens make the domain more difficult to type and tough to express verbally. The same goes for doubled letters as they are difficult to read and even more difficult to type correctly.  Best to have a domain name that people can easily remember.  

 

 

1. DESIGN YOUR WEBSITE

 

As the saying goes, ‘the first impression is the last impression’, a website too can make a similar impression. If designed well, it can leave a positive impression on a potential customer’s mind. Therefore, you cannot afford to compromise on your website’s layout and design.

 

To design a perfect website for 2023, we recommend the following:

 

• Make sure your website is Mobile-Friendly: In 2023, we can safely assume  that most of your website users will be using their mobile phones when visiting your website. to . So, it is important to keep this in mind during the website development process. It needs to be responsive to mobile devices. Studies have shown that 74% of all website visitors that visit a site become recurring if the website is mobile-friendly. That’s because most people spend around 70% of their time online on a mobile device. Also, with short attention span of the average viewers, you want to make sure that your website is not only fast but very responsive.  One way to do that is to add relevant CTA (call to action) button. This is designed to prompt an immediate response or encourage an immediate sale.

 

• Pick colour scheme: A good website design must have a professional and eye-catching colour scheme For choosing a color scheme, pay attention to your brand or industry perspectives including opinions of our target audience demographics. Your visitors can form an opinion about your company based on the color palette and fonts you choose

 

• Typography: It is a vital component of user interface design. Good typography establishes a strong visual hierarchy, provide a graphic balance to the website, and set the product’s overall tone. This means, the text, fonts, style, appearance, and structure in your website should be legible, clear, and visually appealing to the reader.

The effect of Typography can be profound on users as it influences the way users digest and perceive the information conveyed by the text. Typography that is Eye-catching is more persuasive than weak fonts that fails to reinforce the message of the text. In other words, a well-arranged typography makes your website alive.  

                                                                             

• Fast Loading Time:   Make sure your website loads fast and page to page navigation is smooth and quick.  53% of users leave a mobile website if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds which amounts to more than $2.5billion loss in business every year. This is the reason why your website needs to load pages fast to retain leads and customers.

 

• Navigation: Navigational elements can exist in a site’s header, body, and footer, to direct your visitors as quickly as possible to their desired information

 

 

 

 

1. DECIDING THE PAGES, YOU NEED

 

As mentioned in the earlier paragraph, your website is a critical element to your business growth.  You will likely lose potential customers and miss out on revenue without it.

 

While every page in the website has a purpose to serve, there are  5 pages that are  most important and more valuable than others. These 5 pages on your website will give your customers a virtual welcome  

 

5 Pages Every Website Needs

 

• Homepage: Your homepage is the first thing visitors see; hence when designing your homepage, you must think from the customer’s perspective. Make sure the design is compelling and direct your visitors to the necessary pages using a fluid navigation structure.

     You can measure the success of your website based on time spent by an individual around your page The homepage should exude your brand identity well. Mention who you are and what you do and include your Business name, Company logo and other brand differentiators, such as a mascot character.

• The ‘About Us’ Page: The About page is an opportunity to elaborate on your brand’s vision and accomplishments. Tell your audience what you do, and discuss how your goals will help customers.  Having your team’s photo is not a bad idea. It tells visitors that your company has real people, not machines and are the driving force behind your company. This is where you want to consider highlighting your mission & vision, the core values that drive you, and how you started your business.
• The Products or Services Page: A good website provides its customers with necessary information about their products.

     Know who your target audience are and then craft your  product or service page accordingly. Tell the full story to help buyers understand how the product or service will impact their lives. Discuss benefits of your product or services in length. Be clear and concise and use natural language tone. Use power words that can sell; show off your expertise, relevant experiences and accolades.    Make sure the descriptions of your product and services are easy to scan and are optimized for search engines. Pictures worth a thousand words so use good images.

• The Blog Page: The blog page is as important as your homepage. You can drive traffic to your website for 2023, Just as homepage is a front door to your business, your blog page adds color to your business. Therefore, a well-designed blog page is a good way to attract your customers to read the content in your blog page. It  is a major platform for your brand to talk directly with customers. This is where you can feature product updates, discuss about the latest trends, and respond to buyers’ FAQs. It’s also important that your  blogs are written with customers’/readers’ persona in mind such that they add value to them, help them perform specific activities, and solve particular problems.

• The Contact Page: Your contact page is a virtual tool for customer support.. The design of this page should be able deliver a superb service, regardless of the intent of your website’s visitors  You need to make it easy for your audience and clients to reach you. Hence your contact section should include details like, your phone number, Email address, business postal address with your business’s social media accounts.

 

Conduct thorough market research and evaluate your competitors’ websites to identify other important webpages that may be essential for for your business.

 

 

1. SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA OPTIMIZATION

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is one of the most fundamental elements of building a successful website. A good website for 2023, needs to be SEO friendly. A strong SEO strategy enhances the user experience as it helps to establish and build trust among new visitors and prospective buyers. Data show75% of people never scroll beyond Google search’s first result page. So, you cater to only the remaining 25% of the audience if you’re not on the first page. Boosting your website’s search and social media optimization can significantly increase your reach and online visibility with any target demographics or audience you intend to reach.

For additional impact on your search engine ranking, you can do the following:

• Good Page Title choices: Should be strong but relevant
• Good Meta descriptions: helps with for extra impact
• Accessibility of information: you want your site to be crawlable so that it can be appropriately indexed
• Good Backlinks: You should be able to link your website to another with an anchor text.  This feature is valuable for SEO. The high credibility backlinks helps to generate traffic as they give credibility to your content.

 

 

1. INCLUDE HIGH QUALITY IMAGES

 

Images play a very important part in making your website look attractive. Quality of the images greatly affect the look and feel of a website.Blurry or low resolution images, or overindulgence of stock images can make your website look  amateurish. The images should high quality,  relevant and descriptive and should add value to the readers.           

1. LAUNCH YOUR WEBSITE

Hurrah! Finally, you can go ahead and send your website out into the world! Give yourself a treat, you’ve earned it! Now your target audience can enter ’website's url  and find your website easily.

 

1. EMAIL MARKETING

 

It is important for every business to communicate with its customers on a regular basis. And the best way to do that is Email Marketing.

 

Here’s how you can practice Email Marketing

 

• Set up your professional email account and create a custom email
• Test Your Emails Before Sending.
• Gain your audience’s trust.
• Measure the results.

 

If you have not designed and launched your website yet and are hesitant to do them on your own, give us a call or text us at 15169726824.  We have affordable plans to cater to small businesses.  Our digital marketing team can also help drive traffics.