1.     Visibility

2.     Credibility

3.     Usability

4.     Conversion

5.     Aesthetics

Now we all know that there are a lot of elements that go into an effective website. We are going to go over a few quick tips to help you better design your own website, or select a web designer that can adequately fulfill your needs to make your site a formidable business tool instead of a stagnant business card.

1.     Visibility – Your website needs to be easily found by search engines and potential customers. This means your domain selection is vital. Make it something easy to remember and communicate to other people when giving them your web address. Do your keyword research before beginning and think about possibly using those keywords in your site address. Make sure that you apply keywords in your meta descriptions, h1 and h2 tags, as well as your actual url names in order to effectively appear in search engines. There are many tricks that a professional can show you to best optimize these pieces for top Google rankings.

2.     Credibility – More importantly than getting new traffic to your website, is what they are going to see when they get there.  You need to make sure that your site has authentic and correct information, a professional and clean design, and certainly, NO TYPOS! That is the quickest way for a customer to see that you don’t pay attention to detail.

3.     Usability – Many people don’t think about this aspect when they get wrapped up in creating some beautiful website design but you must remember; there is a compromise between photo size and loading time. Be sure that when you are oohing and ahhing your audience that you are also taking into consideration how long it takes them to get there. People are less patient than ever and if your page is taking more than 5 seconds to load then you best believe they are getting their virtual fill at another internet pump.

4.     Conversion – One of the most overlooked aspects of a website. If you don’t already know what “above the fold” is then you can just about bet this paragraph is pointed at you. “Above the fold” is the term for the section of website real estate that people land on without scrolling or clicking anywhere. That means it is the first viewed section of your landing page without any movement. Type in your URL and don’t touch anything. That is what we are talking about and you better make sure that you see a strong call to action, a reason to use you, and an easy way to contact you all right there in that space or you can certainly bank on failure. The exceptions to this are specific strategies where you are attempting to get people to view a particular page, or an instance such as a photographer where design and aesthetics are your selling points and therefore trump the typical call to action on the front page.

5.     Aesthetics – Last but certainly not least, don’t forget about the aesthetics of your website. Some people say don’t judge a book by its cover but webpages are most certainly the largest exception. Your ability to properly place yourself in the mind of a consumer is often almost totally dependent upon what they see when they get to your site. Make sure that any photographs are professionally taken and be sure to “clean around the edges” of any graphics or images. Remember, a potential customer will pass judgment on you within the first 15 seconds so whether you think it’s fair or not… you better make it look good.

So whether you are tackling your own website design and search engine optimization or selecting a professional web designer to do it for you, make sure you ask yourself and them these questions before diving in. Remember, when you aren’t talking to potential customers, your website is… what is yours saying?