Most have heard the discussion, that in today’s digital world your business must be at the forefront of mobile. This still stands true and will only continue to become more certain with time. However, having a website that is mobile-friendly is merely one key to the success of building a great website.
Today we are sharing a few bits of expertise for guiding you in evaluating your businesses web presence. The below are focus areas that we at Cultiv8 Creative always take care to include and test in every website we develop.
1. SEO
Otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization, this metric is one of the most foundational steps to ensuring your website is ranked higher. The implementation of SEO involves the development of strategic keywords and meta descriptions for each page within the site. We say strategic, because it is important that the words and phrases used match the content that is being displayed on the page. Google doesn’t play tricks and they will recognize quickly any website that pretends to offer particular services or products only to increase their rankings. It is important to plan ahead in determining what the focus (keyword) will be for each page of the site and developing your content to match.
2. RESPONSIVE CODING
For those unfamiliar to the term, responsive means fluid. For your website to look great and read the same across a variety of devices – whether desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone – you must ensure that it is built with responsive coding. When Google announced in early 2015 that it would begin ranking responsive websites first, it become a definite priority for any website being built. The majority of sites developed now include this automatically. However, it is important to remember that having responsive coding is nothing without responsive design.
3. LOAD TIME
Our attention spans are short. If your website is taking too long to load you could be missing out on potential customers. There are a variety of things that could be causing load time issues. Two key items to look out for are large image files and system plugins. Both of which will quickly drain your site. The use of large image blocks that aren’t saved out for web can be a big hit on your load time. Additionally, if you are using a ton of add-on programs or plugins (especially ones that are large in size) these too will cause your speed to decrease. The functions that run your site are equally, if not more, important than the aesthetics. Because of this it is critical that your website use the best systems and hardwares to meet your needs.
4. FRIENDLY URLS
Though this item is lower on our list, it doesn’t mean it is any less important. What we mean by “Friendly URL’s” is that the URL created by each page of your site should match the title of your page. Let’s look at an example:
(A) www.yourwebsite.com/html_4563
(B) www.yourwebsite.com/our-services
As you can see, option (B) is a much “friendlier” way for displaying the URL of your page. In addition, URL’s in this format are better for increasing SEO efforts and will look less “scary” when your link is shared in emails or social media.
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Remember, the above metrics are foundational steps that can be taken to quickly and effectively enhance any website. If your website is struggling to meet the demands of today’s consumers and/or is falling short in search rankings then it’s definitely time to take action.
At Cultiv8 Creative our mission is to help your brand thrive with intentional collaboration and viable innovation. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.
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