At MDMA, we enjoy making websites; that is one of the ways we get our ‘high’. We love putting businesses and brands on the internet and over the years, we have kinda gotten good at it.
Usually a magician never gives up their trick but therein lies the rub; what we do is not magic. We have spent time and resources learning and perfecting what we do and yes we want to share that knowledge where we can.
In this article, we are going to be talking about 5 things your website must have if it is to be among the top visited sites in your field. That way, you know what to look out for when making your website.
CLEAR MESSAGE
We tell our clients that everything you do should be summarized into three lines tops. We know there is the need to put in sll information on your site (we’ve all been there) and you actually can but the thing is, not everyone has the time to scroll through your website the first time they visit.
So you want to make a header message and make it as clear as possible. Imagine a person only has 30 seconds to know all you do; create a short header with some subtitle text and make it as simple to understand as you possibly can.
RESPONSIVE DESIGN
This simply means that your website should look good everywhere especially on mobile. These days, more people will view your site on a phone that on a desktop so if you spend your time making a ‘killer’ site but it takes too long to load on mobile, or it is too small to be read on a phone, then you are shooting yourself and your business in the foot.
Consider all screens when designing a website and make sure you preview the look of your website on desktop, tablet and mobile.
CONTACT DETAILS
If possible, let these be on the front page somehow. Be it social media links, or a phone number, or a physical address, there should be a way for your visitors to reach you. When a person visits your website and reads about your awesomeness, they probably want to take the relationship further and when there is no way to reach you, then you are not far from a ‘heartbreaker’
Of course your ‘contact us’ page will be there but apart from that, sprinkle your contact information in other parts of your website. Don’t make your visitors have to search for it.
LIGHT WEIGHT CONTENT
You want your site to open quickly. A site that has its own loading time will push your customers away. Once your web address is typed, and the ‘enter’ button is hit, your site should display. Yes we are aware that in some places, the internet speed is not so sharp but if your site doesn’t load up quick, let it be that the internet is to blame and not your design.
Look out for heavy pictures and codes, when you find them, eliminate them. Make your message and pictures appear first and your javascript can load in the background. Look at your sliders and compress them so they load quicker etc.
SEO
This means search engine optimization. This ensures that search engines such as Google can easily get data from your website and show it to people who are looking for your type of business online. Not everyone knows your web address so they’d probably be on Google trying to find you so make it easier for them.
Things like original content and SSL (https://) boost your SEO ranking so try to have these on your site. A site that loads up quickly also helps SEO so take care of that too.
CONCLUSION
Being online is great when you do it right and should you be able to use the tips listed here you will do much better. Should you want to have more information, you know where to reach us. I mean… our contact info is scattered all around this site. #wink