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Whether you’re launching a business while working from home, or have been working on your brand for several years, it’s important that you set up a website for your company. This is because a good website can:
● Introduce your brand to new customers across the globe.
● Increase your revenue.
● Promote your products/services to a broader audience.
● Provide customers with more information about your company/brand.
However, throwing up just anything on the web isn’t the move. You must put the necessary time and effort into designing your website. A poor quality site will only turn customers away.
With that in mind, here are some tips for designing the perfect website for your company or brand.
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1) Do some market research.
The first step towards designing the perfect website is gaining a deeper understanding of your brand. Different websites will have different aesthetics depending on the audience they’re targeting or the services they provide. For example, a website selling luxury household goods should look very different from a website selling children’s books because their target audiences are very different.
Take a look at other websites that offer similar services to yours. DO NOT copy their designs, but you should be able to gain an understanding of the kind of look you should be going for. After your research, you should be able put together a few simple designs and maybe even host a focus group asking your target audience what they think.
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2) Include a variety of content.
You shouldn’t overload your website with hundreds of pages, images and text but you need to be sure that it isn’t empty and bare either. If you included a sales page with no information about your company or brand your site could appear untrustworthy and would not encourage customers to make a purchase. Instead, you could include the following pages on your site:
● A “Sales page” (Clearly advertising each of your products).
● A “Review” page (Featuring positive reviews of your products/services).
● An “About us” page. (Providing customers with a more personal insight into the company, and how it got started)
● An “FAQ” page (Covering any important topics about your products/services).
● A “Contact” page (Featuring a phone number, email address and social media links).
● A “Blog” page (Covering topics relating to your brand/company).
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3) Nail down the design.
The next step towards putting together the perfect website is ensuring that your design is up to par. If you are designing the website yourself, make use of available templates on sites such as Canva. Alternatively, you can bring in a web designer like me to do the hard work for you. No matter which route you take, be sure to stick to a cohesive color scheme for a sleek, professional finish.
You should also use the same font throughout your website. This ensures that it is clear and easy to read. While a handwriting style font may look great for your logo, it could be hard to read large blocks of text in this kind of font. You should also ensure that your brand’s name or logo is featured on every page on the site.
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4) Make it accessible.
When you’re designing your website, you may imagine that customers will access it from their laptop or PC. However, customers may be shopping from their phones or tablets so you need to be sure that it is compatible across various devices. To achieve this and test the overall design on your website, you can use a click testing tool. This will help you evaluate your website in its early stages, focusing on users’ preferences.
You can also boost the accessibility of your site by ensuring that users can change the size of the font or the background color if necessary. This can make it easier for visually impaired users to browse your website.
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5) Include plenty of photos.
Whenever you’re shopping online, you can’t see what the product looks like before buying it. This can be a bit of a risk. You need to ensure that you provide your customers with plenty of product photographs before they hit that purchase button. The pictures should be clear, sharp and unedited. If possible, you should also include videos of the products. This could positively impact your credibility.
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6) Update the website regularly.
Once you have your website up and running, the job isn’t done. You must update it regularly. This is a great way to keep your customers up to date with any company changes, but it also means that you are staying on the cutting edge of technology. This helps to reduce the chances of the website malfunctioning. Never neglect site maintenance.
Looking to get started on your website? Book your free consultation here.
