
There’s no denying that having a website opens up a wealth of opportunities to you. It’s the perfect way to increase your brand awareness and sell direct to your customers. Websites also offer a cost-effective form of marketing to businesses and organisations.
Are you thinking of getting a website soon? If so, there are six essential things you need to do about having one set up for you. Keep reading to find out more:
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Make sure you choose the right people for the job
You wouldn’t pay a plumber to build you an extension on your home. Nor would you pay a racing driver to service your car. That’s why it is crucial you only choose a professional web designer to build your site!
Say, for example, that you get your web design by Thomas Design. As they’re experienced designers, you’ll end up with a high-quality site. But, if you end up paying some random person a small sum, you’ll end up with something pointless!
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Think about what you want out of a website
The thing about setting up an online home is that it can serve a variety of purposes. It’s important you think about the ones you want your site to offer.
A photographer might have a portfolio-based website for their work. A retail store will want an e-commerce solution where they can sell online. A company may wish to have a brochure-like site. Make sure you know what you want before you hire anyone to build you a website.
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Make sure your homepage grabs people’s attention
There’s nothing worse than to visit a website’s homepage and find it’s just full of boring text! You only have a couple of seconds to grab your visitor’s attention. You need to make sure that your homepage design achieves that goal!
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Make sure everyone can view your site
There are a few prerequisites you need to consider for your brand new website. First, avoid using Adobe Flash animations. They don’t work on iPhones, iPads and most modern Android devices. Second, your site design should be “responsive” and work well on mobile platforms.
You’ll also need to consider disabled users. For instance, blind people might use screen reader software to “speak” your content. Don’t make most of your content out of images, or you’ll end up alienating your visitors.
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Find out how you can view your site’s statistics
One of the best ways to learn of all visitor habits is by installing tracking code from Google Analytics. Your web designer should set this up for you, and they should also show you how it all work.
The last thing you want to do is have a website and not know where all your visitors come from or why they visit!
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Ensure your site gets hosted on a fast server
Last, but not least, you need to make sure your website takes seconds rather than minutes to load! You can achieve that by ensuring it gets hosted on a fast server. Here are some of the hand-picked best hosting companies out there.
Make sure that the physical server is in the same country as you or your target audience.