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Website changes should be easy and can be easy with effective planning. You can establish a great online presence by taking the time to: set your goals, build your brand, set a budget and evaluate the current structure of your website.
You don’t have to be a web developer or graphic designer to plan for a website. So don’t get over whelmed by the thoughts of coding or creating and managing content to be sure it’s done right. There is a way to make the process flow smoothly.
Although SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can come across as to broad to understand, relatively speaking to ranking, SEO is not that complicated. Again, there is a solution to getting great results.
It’s all about meeting the needs of the brand and the user. To provide you some guidance, here are 10 insights to help prepare for redesigning your website.
#1 GOALS
Know what you want by setting goals for your website. Decided what user goals your site should achieve and identity the elements your site is lacking. Create a call to action based on the purpose of your website, and position your call to action button for immediate accessibility. Take the time to monitor your analytics to see what’s working and not working for your website. Research your market and reference those goals throughout the development process to assure the website meets your needs.
#2 BUDGET
It’s important to have a budget before setting your mind on great ideas for your website. Plan for a minimum and maximum investment for your site to balance the leverage of making a final decision on a design; leaving no room for disappointment once the website is completed.
#3 BRAND
Use complimentary color(s) or fonts for your logo to add life to the redesign of your new website. Logo colors and typefaces are the first things to catch a user’s eye when visiting a website. Think of your brand as the opening act before the website performs.
#4 NAVIGATION
Thoroughly think through your navigation with your end user in mind. The structure should be based on the user’s needs which can require adding or removing pages for a redesign. Keep in mind you are providing a guest experience for your website. Users find it easy to navigate when sub-navigations are available within the site’s internal pages to provide content space for an easy read.
#5 CONTENT
For your redesign, rewrite your content or have a copywriter to assist you. Be mindful of writing concise content that educates or informs your visitor; and include quality imagery and video or infographics to help your user retain or digest your content.
#6 USE WORDPRESS
Manage your content by using Word Press as your content management system (CMS). Pages can be ordered as you prefer, it includes a media library to store graphics or photos; and house all of the templates and plugins that are downloaded for your website within a CMS. It’s also beneficial to have your CMS custom built for updating your site without the help of a developer, offering use of a dashboard that’s intuitively built for your comfort level. Moreover, be nostalgic and save your content in a word document or processor.
#7 SEO
In order for Google, Yahoo or Safari to recognize and rank your site for the best search results, your site must be coded correctly, which is already done for you when buy a wordpress template. After properly coding your website, consider making your content conversational with Q’s and A’s for those who are seeking information relative to your business or brand by conducting their search in a form of a question versus using keywords.
#8 RESPONSIVE
It’s very important for your website to be responsive without flaws in the functionality of the site. Test your widgets, plugins and social media integration several times before publicly launching your site. Take advantage of the option to make your site mobile or tablet ready to prevent having a difficult time navigating the site or reading your content.
#9 INNOVATIVE APPROACHES
Implementing new technology and fresh content strategies can add value to your user experience, however be careful not to add features that are not needed that works against the quality of your website. For example, a new advanced feature may not compliment the feel of your site. Focus on the quality.
#10 HOSTING PERFORMANCE
Confirm your server and hosting supports the latest technology such as updated html or plugins. You do not want to invest in a plugin you can’t use and have to switch hosting or incur unnecessary expenses purchasing a cloud server or additional security.
