In the early days of the Internet, websites were simple. A business was considered to have a good online presence if they had a one page site with a logo and contact information. However, this is no longer the case—simple landing page sites have a difficult time ranking in search engines and often don’t provide the information users are seeking. Additionally, website design styles have evolved beyond colored text and clip art to include graphic design elements and animation. Want your site to stack up in the modern age of websites? Keep reading to learn how to rejuvenate your site and improve your business’s online footprint.
Content is King
While many things have changed, one thing remains the same since the early days of website design—content is king. Having good content on your site will not only help your search engine rankings, but also engage your audience and keep them on your site longer. Content comes in many forms, such as blog posts or videos, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Writing up your company’s history, descriptions of your products or services, or even customer testimonials can all provide quality content for your site. Including photos or videos will push that quality even further.
Once you have a good collection of content, you’ll have to decide how you’d like to structure it. This is where having multiple pages comes in. Dumping everything onto one page can confuse search engines about the site topic. If the engine can’t categorize your site, the site will not get ranked highly. To avoid this, break your site into pages by topic. HostGator recommends a minimum of five pages: a homepage, an about page, a products or services page, a blog page, and a contact page. However, there are plenty of options for additional content, such as FAQs, testimonials, news articles, and more! Any pages that are relevant to your business will do. Just be sure that each page has unique content!
Style is Personal
Once you have your quality content ready, you can begin to think about how you’d like the site to look. As previously mentioned, web design style standards evolve over time, but there are a few basic rules that will have your site looking professional and organized.
Consistency: However you choose to style your site, stick with it on every page. While there may be some variation, keep it minimal—for example, choose a few colors to use throughout, and a consistent font for headings with a complimentary font for body text. These simple visual cues will help users understand the layout of your site.
Easy Navigation: No matter what colors, fonts, and other visual elements you go with, there is one feature that must catch a user’s eye—the navigation bar. Adobe suggests no more than seven links in your main nav bar, with clear labels and familiar phrasing. Have more than seven pages? Utilize links in your footer to include nonessential menu items.
Responsiveness: In the golden age of the smartphone, it is imperative that your site functions on a smartphone as well as on desktop. Mobile traffic is up over 200% in the last eight years, and only increasing with major retailers putting out the latest and greatest mobile models. Choose a template on your content management system that is already built with responsiveness in mind to easily make your site phone-friendly.
Business is Online
Having a well-designed and content-rich website can bring in more traffic, more prospects, and ultimately, more business. Are you ready to move past a landing page to a multi-page site that search engines will love? Contact us today to learn about our website development and management services. Enhance your marketing investment with Media Venue!
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About Our Blogger
Sarah Kelley is the newest member of the Media Venue team and brings with her a wealth of insight. Her specialty is using SEO best practices to cultivate your business’s online presence. Her in-depth knowledge of website content and design allow her to constantly implement new and effective practices in her work.
