Having a website is almost a prerequisite for a business nowadays, at least if you have any real hope of expanding. Many people also have a personal website–for a variety of reasons that could include having a blog or merely keeping in touch with their friends. No matter what motivation you may have for maintaining a website, it’s a good idea to make it as interesting and attractive as possible. Following are a few ways to make your website look better.
Update Your Site Regularly
It is accepted within the business community that return customers are what keeps a business going. New customers are needed, of course, but it is the ones that continue to come back that make a business thrive. One way to do that is to offer them something new, something they haven’t seen before–at least not in the same way. If your website hasn’t changed in awhile, the old customers may not bother returning, and you could run the risk of eventually losing them. Updating your site on a regular basis will help keep returning customers interested. It’ll give them new things to look at, and hopefully make them want to come back later to see what else is new.
Be Grammatically Correct
Nothing Is more of a turnoff Than to read the content, on a website and have grammatical errors jump out at You? It’s not professional. Spelling and punctuation errors are distracting, as you no doubt noticed in the first sentence of this paragraph. Simply using spell check may not catch them all–their, they’re, and there are all pronounced the same, yet have vastly different meanings. If you’re unsure of how to structure a sentence, or have problems with grammar or spelling, employ the services of a professional writer or editor to enhance your website’s content. You won’t be sorry.
Include Contact Info
What is the sense of spending all that time and money to produce a good looking, functional website if you do not provide a convenient way for interested people to contact you? This is especially true if you’re trying to sell something. Your website should have a way to contact you, preferably by e-mail–because you’re online, a way to contact you via the internet is imperative. The method of contact should also be easy to find on your website, and you should monitor your e-mail to see if you need to respond. This is essential if your website is business related.
Reduce the Size of Images
It seems like it takes forever for some websites to download. It can be very frustrating. If your website has a lot of content or images that slow the download time, it could be because the images are too high in resolution. If you reduce the size of the images, it will speed up the download time of your site. People may return to your site more often if they don’t have to wait for it to download.
Make Sure All Links are Operable
In redoing a website, you may overlook the fact that some of the links you included previously are no longer operable. From time to time, you should check each link on your site to make sure it is performing the function it was intended to do. If it’s not, either remove the link or redirect it to the right place.
Don’t Use a Cookie-Cutter Template
Cookie-cutter templates are fine if all you want is to have a presence on the internet. But if you would like your site to stand out from others, to be noticeable, and hopefully provide an income for you, then it might be to your advantage to create a custom website. Use your imagination, or hire someone who is familiar with the process, to make your website stand out from everyone else.
Use the K.I.S.S. Principle
The K.I.S.S. principle states: “Keep It Simple, Stupid,” or “Keep It Short and Simple.” The more complicated your website is, the harder it will be for people to navigate around it and find what they want. Many internet users have an extremely limited supply of patience when they’re looking for something online. If they don’t come across what they want immediately, they may go on to another site. If your website is difficult to understand, it could drive people away. By using the K.I.S.S. principle, you ensure people will be able to find what they’re looking for quickly and efficiently.