Having a website is not enough, today. Effective online presence is equally important.
Here are 10 essential characteristics of a website, to achieve an effective online presence.
1.Clear Navigation:
Good navigation is one of the most important aspects of website usability. Clutter-free navigation is more than just a 'menu'.
Try to limit the number of menu items as far as possible. A drop-down menu or sub-navigation may work better on a large site with many sections and pages.
2. Simplicity:
Don’t make site visitors, to work for the information, they are looking are for. User Experience (UX) plays a key role in helping visitors use, understand, and stay on your website.
Your site should satisfy both ‘searchers’—coming for something specific, and ‘browsers’—just looking. Help users accomplish their tasks quickly with onsite search and keep them engaged by suggesting related content and minimizing dead ends.
3.Content:
Content is the king. Be it succinct, interesting, and new. Use simple language that makes sense to your audience—avoid jargon, corporate-speak, and acronyms.
Be accurate, be relevant, and update regularly. Blogs and social media updates are great ways to add fresh content, which keeps visitors returning and helps SEO strategy.
4. Call to Action :
If your site asks nothing of visitors, they will surely do nothing. What is the purpose of your site? Is that purpose clear to visitors? Even informational sites want visitors to read and share articles, follow the company on social media, download toolkits, join mailing lists or learn more about the organization. Include an ask on each page.
5. Reliability:
Is your website reliable? If I apply for a job, does your website send me on-time notifications and messages to keep me posted with updates? Can I access your website whenever and wherever? Is your website up and running 24/7?
Do you have sufficient infrastructure to support your website and its visitors? A website should be able to scale to the number of potential visitors. Not only should the website's user interface be scalable but the back-end database, APIs, and services too should be able to scale.
6. Security :
Security is a major concern to today’s web visitors. You need to make sure that your website follows industry standards and guidelines. Ensure that the website is secure and uses SSL encryption.
7. Social Media Integration :
Think of your social media strategy as a relationship with your target market. To become more effective, you need to take that relationship to a new level, and this can be done through social media marketing and interactions. Interact with people through business social media accounts to not only get the word out but to gain trust and credibility too. Integrating social media with your website is a sure way to improve the efficacy of your online presence.
8. Mobile Ready:
Today there are no excuses, your site must look great and work well on any platform. The growth of mobile and tablet devices is not slowing down and you just don’t know what your next visitor will be using. Optimizing for mobile will improve both the experience of your visitors and your SEO Rankings.
9. FAQ Page:
FAQ page Saves Your Customer/Prospects Time by Putting Answers in One Place. It Allows You to Show Some Personality.
10.Good Domain Name and Hosting: complex
Apart from all these, a good domain name is required. Too complex and fancy names kill the interest of the user. Good hosting plan, required to accommodate the number of visitors and maintaining the site speed.
Comments