So you’re thinking of launching a new business website? Make sure you include these 7 elements, so visitors can find your new site — and they’ll want to stay and look around once they find it!
- Clear navigation. Your navigation should be easy to understand, with links to the most important parts of your website. Navigation bars are usually along the top, along the side of the site or both. Sometimes websites will have a main navigation along the top, with a sub-navigation bar below it that changes based on which category the user is in.
- Tagline. This is a short statement that concisely conveys the value that your users can gain from your website. It should be stated on your homepage in an easy to understand manner. What does your website bring to the table? What can people learn from being on your website? Why shouldn’t they click away and go to a different site?
- ‘About me’ page. What makes you credible? What’s your back story? An about me story gives your users a chance to get to know you better. By the time someone clicks on your about me page, they’re already interested enough in your work to learn more about you. You’re not forcing your autobiography on your readers, but you’re putting it in a place where they can find it if they’re interested.
- Contact information. How can users get in touch with you? If you can include a phone number, along with your personal email, not only will that make it easier for people to reach you, but also increases your credibility. At the very least, have a contact form that sends you an email when they fill it out.
- Social media buttons. Make it easy for people to share your work on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. Each of these platforms will give you small bits of code you can put on your website to create “Like” buttons, “Follow” buttons and so on. Put these on the bottom or side of every post or article to spread your social media reach.
- Title and Meta description tags. These are not visible to human visitors, but search engines use these to determine where (and if) to display your site’s webpages. The title tag is the most important on-page SEO element on your page. It should contain the page’s main keyword, and the topic of the article or post. The Meta description tag can play a large role in influencing how many people click on your listing in Google. It’s usually the snippet Google displays in the SERPs (search engine results pages) just below the page’s title tag and URL.
- First class content. Finally, your website should have world class content. (In an ideal world, your site contains only content that’s better than anything else on the internet.) The content should be unique, with unique ideas and concepts that people can benefit from. Make sure you have at least 10 articles on your site when you launch, so the search engines can have something to read.
These are some of the most common and most important aspects to include in your website. Many can be easily installed in WordPress using plugins.
The items below are optional. Depending on the size and complexity of your site, they might be nice to add.
- Additional navigation. A search box in the upper right corner can really help users get around larger websites. A breadcrumb system, where users can see where they came from and what category they’re in (example: “Home > Category 1 > Subcategory 1 > Current Page”) and easily navigate back to previous pages.
- Testimonials, or Proof elements. Testimonials from clients, or photos of results, or radio shows or TV shows that you’ve been hosted on can increase your credibility? Place them where your site visitors can easily see them.