What Makes A Website Successful?

We’re not going to focus on the design or the layout of a website, although we may mention some basic elements that will relate to the design, but more importantly, we’re focusing on how the website is structured so it can be successful.

There’s no question on arguing how a website can help you obtain a successful online presence and that it’s the most effective marketing strategy one can have as a designer or a company. A successful website should already have basic information where a site visitor can learn, identify and quickly understand how you can help. Essentially, a website provides a solution to a problem.

A successful website starts with a clear objective of what you’re trying to accomplish and a solid strategy and understanding of how to overcome it.

Before you start with anything, you need a solid plan to what your site needs to do and how to accomplish this, who the audience is, where and how will they be coming to your site, etc. Without any kind of information, making a site successful is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

As painful as it sounds, everything from site architecture, content collection, SEO, graphic design, coding and programming, and marketing and promotion has to be in place.

Here are some basic elements to keep in mind when aiming for a successful site:

Solid Plan:

Proper planning and a solid foundation is a major contributor to the success of any website. The more time you spend planning the site structure and architecture, the less time it take to build the site and there’s less of a problem along the way.

Typically, there’s a list of questions to answer and some of those questions could be as follow: why is there a need for website? Why do my customers need a website? What are the goals of the site? What is the budget limit? What kind of special effects or features does the site need? The list can go on but that’s not the point. The point is to be as complete as possible.

Ease of Navigation:

This is very important. If visitor can’t find what they are looking for, they will be looking for that back button faster than you think. Make the navigation prominent and easy to find. Carry that structure throughout the entire site to make it consistent. Also consider having text link of your navigation towards the bottom of your site in the footer to make it even easier to your visitor, and have a Back To Top link towards the bottom of your longer post or page.

Home Page:

A home page should summarize all or most of your services, products, showcase, etc. It is the most important page acting as the landing page into your site. This page usually will showcase or give a general sense about you as a person or company.

Typically this page sets up the overall look and general design and layout for your entire site. Keep it consistent across the entire site is also important. I’m sure you don’t want your site visitors to feel like they’ve landed on a different site when they go to another page within your own site.

Service Page:

This page explains what you can offer to your potential clients and clearly explains what you do. Keep it simple and lay low on the technical working of what you offer.  Use terminology that your audience can understand and not get confused.

Testimonials/Client List/Portfolio Page:

For most corporate sites, having a credible looking site and a site that looks trustworthy will gain your visitor’s trust and confident that you are the solution to their problem. Having real and honest testimonials from your clients makes them feel like they can build a trust and feel confident in going forward.

Think if it this way, if you’re a firm, testimonials become very important. It builds trust and credibility.

For corporations that are involved in the technology or creative industry, show high quality work that you’ve done (and don’t show your entire portfolio. Leave a little for wanting more!) or even show off your products that you intend to offer or currently offer. Also leave some case studies or reviews and ratings to go along with your products.

Contact Page/Information:

Try to provide your basic contact information like your phone number, toll free number and email address on every page of your site.  Put it up in a location that will stay consistent from page to page and won’t change location. It goes to show that you care about your site visitor and won’t mind a quick message or phone call if they have any questions.

In addition to that, have some sort of contact page with contact forms, driving directions, full address and full contact information. This page should clearly be just your contact page. It should also be simple and clear.

Interesting Content:

The saying, “Content is King” still holds true even for the sites with heavy graphics. Content plays a very important part of any successful website. Content should be regularly updated and fresh, geared towards industry and your visitors. Regular updates to your content keep visitors coming back for a reason and once they do that a few times, they will continue to visit the site over time for the value that they get from your content.

Another reason why content is important is that it helps out with your search engine rankings. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo! favor websites with regular content that’s been updated over time.  

Search Engine Optimization:

Most site visitors will probably arrive on your site through some search engine and what got them there is probably the information on your site that they searched for. People search most of the time for a solution to their problem so the success of your site depends on making sure your site is searchable and floats to the top of the search results among thousands of others results.

Usability:

You want your site to be easy for your site visitors. Visitors should easily be able to find the information they are looking for. Avoid animated graphics or huge file size. Large graphics slows down the performance and load time of the site. To the frustrated customers, they will leave and chances of returning are slim unless they are a repeat visitors and something was just wrong with your site on that particular day.

Marketing:

The site isn’t going to sell itself. SEO will help a little, but that can only go so far. Having a nicely designed site won’t guarantee success. You have to market your site both online and offline.

Here are some ideas for online marketing and offline marketing:

Online:

Sky’s the limit on this one.  There are various opportunities for your site to get big and be known. A lot has to do with search engines and how it ranks your results/site. Try paid advertising like pay-per-click(PPC).  Get discovered through social media/networking sites and use them to your advantage in marketing your site by spreading the word about your site.  A lot of businesses are going with some of the familiar social sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. (<--Click on each link to check out our social profiles and connect with us!) Also, there are things like listing your site in free directories throughout your industry, creating an email campaign, throwing your site URL in your email signature. There’s a lot more you can do as the sky’s the limit on this one.

Offline:

Put your web address on every piece of printed literature you have. From business cards, letterheads, invoices, monthly newsletter, printed advertisement, etc.  Besides that, spread the good word about your website among friends and colleagues, other businesses, local events and communities.

Measure Your Results:

Your  site “looks” successful but is it really successful? How do you measure the success of your site? This information is just as important as any other information in this post. You won’t know how successful your site performs until you take a look at the measuring tools that’s used to help track your success or until you take an action towards it.

One of the best free tools available comes from Google, and it’s Google Analytics. Although this tool may confuse some of you and be a little much now or overtime, at least you have some way of measuring your success, objectives and site goals. You have the ability to view what links people click on most throughout your site.

In conclusion, the success of a site takes some planning and continuous work even after the site is up and running. With a solid foundation and clearly laid out plans in the beginnings along with a marketing plan for online and offline, you’ll see that your site will gain a little popularity and success is around the corner.