A company’s website is the only marketing tool and storefront that is open 24/7/365. Websites allow a business to provide quality, honest information about their products and services, while showcasing their expertise and giving potential customers options for gaining more information. A well-designed, optimized website can significantly impact the success of a business. A website is not just a place to showcase your products and services; it generates interest and tangible return-on-investment.

Below are tips on designing a website that is attractive and easy to navigate for your target audience.

1.   Focus on the User Experience

If you’re looking to grow your business, one of the most important features to focus on is the user interface and experience (UI/UX) of the website. The website does not need to be complex, beautiful or feature a lot of bells and whistles, but a poor UI/UX can make it difficult to convert website visitors into customers.

Your website is critical to your business – it is the face of your company. It’s where your prospects can interact with your brand. So, your website needs to be optimized for performance. It also needs to have a clean and easy-to-use design that’s appealing. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, difficult to navigate or has too many distractions, the business will suffer.

A well-designed and easy-to-navigate website has several elements. Appealing call-to-action buttons and call-to-action text, along with a good-looking design will help you grow your business.

2. Use Responsive Website Design

A responsive website is a one that responds to the way people view it on different devices, including mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers. An optimized website is essential because it allows the site to look good and be searchable on every device.

Optimizing a website also adjusts visual elements to adapt to different screen sizes. This gives pages a consistent look. A responsive design also helps improve how the site loads on these different devices. The less time users spend waiting for a page to load, the more likely they are to stick around and engage with the content or make a purchase.

A good rule to follow is making each device’s experience tailor made. This doesn’t necessarily mean making multiple versions of the website, but the headers, footers and other elements can be edited to appear properly. Mobile users expect an app-like experience, so anything that looks too much like a desktop site will be a turn off.

3. Update Content Regularly

Website content is important for any business. If you have a lot of visitors to your site, and not a lot of conversions, the content might be a key cause of a low conversion rate. A visitor who lands on the site may leave immediately or stay and get what they need. As a result, the more traffic the website receives, the more important it is to optimize it and keep it updated.

If you can’t update your content regularly, it may negatively impact the customer experience and drive people away. To avoid this, check your content’s health. You can use tools like Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool and Google Search Console. Then, run a manual test of your website’s performance on both desktop and mobile. As part of the monthly hosting fee, all Sweet Tea Communication sites are tested for speed, health and performance.

4. Get Your Website Indexed ASAP

First impressions are everything and for a business. This means you need to ensure the website is indexed and ranked by Google and other popular browsers on time. If you wait too long, you risk losing potential customers to your competitors who have already been listed. As soon as we launch a website, our friends at Circle City Web Design, immediately get it indexed with top internet browsers.

Search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo are constantly improving their algorithms. These can better identify what you and your customers want. So if these search engines don’t index your website, it means people aren’t finding your content. Even worse, you might be getting penalized in search results because your site is outdated.

5. Improve Website Traffic (SEO)

A website is the most powerful marketing tool for any business. To reach more customers, you need a website that converts the right way so you can capture leads and generate more sales. If you want to increase web traffic, then there are several options.

A great way to improve a website’s traffic is by setting up e-newsletters to send to customers. This allows the business to provide a constant stream of updates to visitors and subscribers while keeping the content fresh. However, when creating a newsletter, it’s important to remember that you are not providing your customer with a free advertisement.

Only email out useful, helpful information that readers can use from the site. The main goal should be to increase the amount of time visitors spend on your site. You can do this by creating a good experience for them and offering them relevant content.