20 Things You Need For A Successful Website

On August 6, 1991, British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee launched the world’s very first website. The site is text only and might seem quite boring, but at the time, it was a huge step forward for digital technology. In fact, you can still go and check out the site at info.cern.ch. It’s safe to say that websites have come a very long way since 1991. Colour graphics, videos, hyperlinks, deep architecture and structure; the websites of 2022 are a far cry from the early days of the web. The team at SponsoredLinX are Brisbane’s digital marketing experts, and we’re here to help bring your website as close to 2022’s cutting edge as possible. These are our top 20 must-haves for a brilliant website. There’s no particular order; they’re all vital components of a stunning website. 

A Lead-Grabbing Piece Of Content

When people come to your website, offer them something as a means to collect email addresses. It could be a free guide, a book, a monthly newsletter, or a discount code. You’ll soon have a bunch of great leads to follow up on. 

Responsive Presentation

More and more people are using their mobile devices to browse and purchase online, so you need to make sure your website is 100% responsive across all devices and platforms. Get in touch with the team at SponsoredLinX, and we’ll assess your site’s current SEO. If your website isn’t mobile-responsive, it’ll be flagged in our audit, and we’ll make suggestions to optimise your site to attract traffic. 

Lots Of Interesting Content

In 2022, content is king. However, you can’t simply create a whole heap of meh content to spread across your site. Instead, you need to invest time into developing engaging, highly relevant content loaded with keywords, links, and information. Google is very good at identifying human-focused content, so you won’t be able to get away with AI-generated garbage. From blogs and videos to infographics and reports, your site needs to be jam-packed with content your audience will find interesting, helpful, and engaging. If you’ve got no time to create new content, go back through and update older articles with fresh and relevant information. We’d suggest keeping a running inventory of all your content as well as future content ideas. That way, you can go back and refresh old content easily when the topic arises again!

What Sets You Apart? 

The modern consumer is far more conscious of their purchase decisions than ever before. So, you need to outline exactly what sets you apart from other companies. Outline what you stand for, what you believe in, and what you want to achieve. For example, in 2021, 32% of consumers were highly engaged with adopting a more sustainable lifestyle. So if sustainability is at the core of your business, you need to make sure your website reflects that! Tailor every aspect of your site, from your copy and images through to the site map and infrastructure, to align with your organisation’s beliefs and values. 

Tell Us A Story

Companies may be able to copy another company’s colour scheme, font, images, and tone, but there is one thing they can never copy; your story. Consumers have shown a marked distrust of companies over the last few years. They have come to value authenticity quite highly. Your customers want to know there’s a person behind the brand. So, make sure you maintain transparency, honesty, and integrity when telling the story of your business. Your ‘About Us’ page should be interesting, personal, and memorable, and you should weave the personality of your business through every page of your site. 

Video, Video, Video

While many marketers claim that video is innovative and cutting edge, it isn’t a new concept on the internet by any means. Consumers are watching more videos online than ever before, and the amount of online video content consumed has almost doubled since 2018. Not only is video content engaging, but it helps your audience better understand your product or service. 54% of consumers want to see more video content from brands and businesses they support, and it’s often ranked as consumers’ favourite type of content to see. If you’re wondering how to include video on your website, here are a few ideas; 

• Create a video introducing the members of your team
• Include a video that outlines the story of your company and how it all began
• Fill your FAQ page with instructional how-to videos or demonstrations of your product or service
• If consumers have created YouTube reviews of your products, ask them if you can embed the link into your site
• Create a stylised video that embodies your brand’s tone and personality. Have it playing the moment someone clicks onto your site. 

So, what are you waiting for? Get some video content onto your website!

Self-Selection Tools

Your website should be your very best salesperson. Although, you don’t want to make your entire site seem like an over-the-top advertisement. Modern consumers don’t like the sales pitch. However, they do want everything they need to make a seamless purchase at their fingertips. This is where self-selection tools come in. ‘What are self-selection tools?’ you might ask. Simply put, they are interactive features on a website that customise the user experience of your site to each individual consumer. For example, Function of Beauty sells custom hair care products, and they offer a hair quiz upon entry to their site. When consumers finish the quiz, they input their email and they receive a list of tailored, recommended products. Other examples of self-selection tools include price calculators, a DIY build/design tool, or onboarding/sign-up tools. Essentially, you want to find a way to give your customers control over their experience on your site. If you feel that the self-selection tools we’ve listed are a little too advanced, you can bring it back a bit by creating individual web pages for certain groups of customers. For example, if you’re an accountant for small businesses, create separate pages for the different industries you work with (beauty, food service, retail etc.). 

Simple, Effective Architecture

You’d think by 2022, most people would know that their site needs to be user-friendly. However, there are still so many websites out there that just don’t make sense! Your site should be so simple to use that it feels instinctive. It needs clear menus, easy-to-read pages, and responsive search features to create an enjoyable user experience. If your site has lousy architecture, it’s not doing its job as an effective sales and business tool. 

Top-Notch Security

Security and privacy online are at the forefront of consumers’ minds. You need to make sure your website is 100% safe and secure. This is especially vital if you handle private and financial details. If you need to collect data, specify why you collect it and how you plan to use and store it. If you aren’t sure where to begin with website security, don’t stress. The team at SponsoredLinX can have a look at your site and advise you on steps you can take to make sure your consumers are safe and secure online. 

User Tracking And Analytics

Your website is home to an incredible array of data that can tell you exactly what your customers are looking at, searching for, and interacting with. User tracking and analytics help you understand your customers’ behaviour. You can use this information to tailor your content and website architecture to maximise traffic and eliminate weak spots. When you harness the power of data with user tracking, you can offer your customers an enhanced user experience and keep your website performing at the highest level. If you don’t understand what the data, statistics, and charts mean in the backend, SponsoredLinX has your back. Our team are the experts in deciphering all that information to help you make more informed web development decisions. 

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Google is fussy. It won’t just show any old website at the top of a Google search. You need to understand how the search engine operates and what it looks for within a website to take advantage of the algorithms. Once you know what you need, you need to optimise your website to meet those requirements. That’s where SEO comes in. There are a lot of different SEO techniques out there, and not all of them are necessarily above board. Google and other search engines will see straight through techniques like keyword stuffing, so don’t waste your time with them. You need to invest in high-quality SEO, and fortunately, you’re already looking at the site of some SEO experts. The team at SponsoredLinX can run an SEO audit, identify gaps or areas of improvement and create a plan to get your website to the first page of a Google search. 

Long Scroll

In the olden days of web design, websites would put their best, most striking content ‘above the fold’ at the top of the main page, with the rest accessible by scrolling down. However, now that more people are using mobile devices to browse online, scrolling is the standard, so you can spread your content out a little more. A striking image or page layout ‘above the fold’ can lure your customers into scrolling down, providing a compelling, deep experience where you can show off all your brilliant, beautifully displayed content.

No More Stock Images! 

We get it; stock images and icons are easy shortcuts for many websites. They allow you to build your site quickly and affordably so you can start getting traffic and conversions sooner. However, the downside is that stock images are so unoriginal, and they date really quickly. Plus, most consumers can pick a stock image from a mile away. As a result, many sites are now ditching their stock elements in favour of using their own images and icons. When you use more organic elements, you can make your website look more exciting and unique, and your site will reflect an accurate representation of your brand’s personality and values. 

A Blog

We’ve already mentioned that content is king, so think of your blog as the keys to your kingdom. Google loves regular content updates, and keeping a consistent schedule of blog posts will keep the algorithm happy. Make sure your articles are interesting, fact-filled, and relevant so your audience will genuinely want to read them. We suggested earlier that you keep track of your content, and your blog content should be no different. Start a spreadsheet that includes the keywords used, the title, and the date posted. If you’re ever struggling for ideas, you can go back and refresh old ones with more up-to-date information!

A User-Friendly Contact Page

The whole purpose of your website is to generate leads, so a contact page that’s easy to navigate is absolutely crucial. You need to make sure your details are listed, accurate, and up-to-date, and those details include a phone number, email, physical address (if applicable), trading hours, and links to social media. We also suggest including a phone number, email, and contact form on every page of your website, so your customers know how to contact you quickly and easily. Any page that includes a phone number or email should have a ‘click to call’ function for mobile devices. Another simple thing you can do to make contacting you simple is creating and updating your Google My Business page. If you’re not familiar with Google My Business, it’s the box that appears above search results or on the right-hand side of the screen that captures the address, contact details, and trading hours of a business. If you have accurate Google My Business information available, your customers won’t even need to click on your site to get in touch with you!

Dedicated Services Pages

Ideally, you should have one tailor-made page for each product or service you offer. The home, about, and contact pages can take care of everything else to keep your site neat and clutter-free. By segmenting all your products and services, you have a far better chance of converting relevant traffic from paid and organic searches. 

Sharp, Relevant Graphics And Great Design

There are plenty of great DIY website building platforms out there, but just because the tools are good doesn’t mean you’ll be the best person to use them. If you don’t have any experience with web design, you might want to look into hiring an expert to make sure your site looks incredibly and functions properly. Trust us when we say that there is no place for poorly designed websites anymore. You’ll see the benefits of having an aesthetically pleasing, functional website first-hand, so invest the money and reap the rewards. 

Show Us How Good You Are

If your website makes claims about the quality of your products, services, or skills, you need to back that up with some proof. Preferably, proof from other customers. Customer testimonials, reviews, and case studies help illustrate the impact of your products and services on real people, giving you way more credibility and authority and increasing traffic to your site. Another simple yet highly effective way of demonstrating social proof is to incorporate social media live feeds into your site. If your customers are tagging your business in photos or videos, make sure to display them on your site! If you’re wondering how you can use social media to your advantage, have a chat with the team at SponsoredLinx. We’re the experts at social media marketing in Brisbane. We’ll help you leverage your platforms and social media presence to boost traffic. 

Fast Loading Times

You can get your loading speeds to almost lightning speed levels if you have a professional designing the site. Images can be compressed, you can introduce a content delivery network to help serve your website data, and you can include more animated graphics rather than bulky unnecessary videos or GIFs. A fast website means more interactions, which means more leads for you and better results in the search engines. 

Micro Interactions

When a website uses prompts, messages, effects, and movements to give consumers an enhanced experience interacting with content, they are using micro-interaction tools. These tools are brilliant for giving users a feeling of realness and control over their experience on your website. Whether you’re thinking about integrating a pull-to-refresh animation, animated loading screens, or real-time visual feedback in the form of notifications, micro-interactions keep your users engaged and interested in your website. 

If You’re Ready To Make Your Website Look Incredible, Get In Touch With The Team At SponsoredLinX, Your Local Brisbane Digital Marketing And Google Ads Agency

The marketing experts at SponsoredLinX are passionate about seeing our clients succeed. We’ll do everything we can to help you utilise the very latest in digital marketing strategies and optimise your website to attract maximum traffic, leads, and conversions. So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch with SponsoredLinX, your friendly Brisbane digital marketing professionals today!

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