Building a website

Key tips when building your website

Website Checklist...

1. Don't forget your audience - your website isn't just for you... it's more for the people you want to attract so make sure it speaks to your potential customers and gives them a tool to easily find what they are looking for.
2. User experience is key - how many times have you given up on a website as it is too difficult to find information or just doesn't work?
3. It MUST be mobile friendly - it's heartbreaking to see a beautifully designed site on a desktop that just doesn't work on mobile - over 60% of website visitors now look at websites on their mobile and not a desktop.
4. If you don't have a logo - creating one can be simple using tools like Canva (although if you can afford to it is best to go with a designer) but remember this represents your business and should be used consistently on your digital presence (website, social profiles etc) as well as printed materials. Read the useful article on branding from My Teal Giraffe Design on this website.
5. Images are more important than you think... in our busy world people want to consume information quickly and a picture certainly does say a thousand words so it must represent the quality of products and services. You should also update the 'alt text' on images as that is used when searching for images on google etc.
6. Tell your story and reassure potential customers that you know what you're doing - it's sometimes difficult to write about yourself but maybe ask friends and family to let you know what they think your good qualities are and you can present them without being arrogant!
7. Reviews are so important and often missed on a website ... review sites generally offer a free plan that you can link to from your website. Try to get your customers to write reviews and post them so people can see they are genuine - you can do this on Facebook and Google too.
8. Contact information should be easily found on the site and in the footer so it appears on every page as well as the contact page. This means if people are struggling to find what they are looking for at least they can get in touch.
9. Link to all your social profiles so that visitors to your site can click on them and follow you to be kept up to date.
10. Case studies can be a powerful way to provide reassurance of the quality of your work and don't have to be long and complicated.
11. Make sure your page titles, descriptions and content is relevant and up to date as that is what search engines look for. If you have a physical location or service area - mention this on your site too so when people search for 'near me' or have their location settings on - google will return your website.
12. Update the 'favicon' on your site - that is the little icon on the browser tab - a lot of people forget this and ends up being a wix or weebly logo!
13. Submit your site to Google Search Console - this tells google you exist and the pages you have on your site.
14. Create a Google My Business account - this is where you can control what is shown on google when people search for your site and if you have a physical location you can mark exactly where you are as well as have a place for your customers to write reviews.

I hope you have found these tips useful... if you need a website get in touch and get it done with PM Getting It Done.

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