Why do some websites fail, and others succeed? Does it all come down to having a good brand, or a beautifully designed logo? What makes a website “work”? And how can your business be confident that your website will deliver a return on investment?

These days, a vast portion of Australian businesses have websites. With so many agencies and web design professionals out there, it’s certainly not difficult to establish a website and enter the online space. The difficult bit is getting it right.

If you are re-designing your website, or entering the online space for the first time, here are 10 important tips to keep in mind.

1. Make everything about the user

A good website is focused entirely on the needs of the user. It doesn’t matter whether you’re building a Government website that provides information on public policy, or a small business that sells bricks to tradesmen. Putting your user first is essential.

Ensuring your website is user-centric involves:

• Thinking in-depth about who your target audience is – or who you want them to be.
• Considering what your users want from your website. Are they looking for information on your products or your services? Are they simply looking for contact information so they can call you directly – or will they be looking for greater detail?
• Making sure that the structure and design of your website reflects the needs of your users. The most important sections should come first in your navigation, and should be incredibly easy to find.
• Making general information about your company a low priority. Put information about your products and services – and what they mean to your user – in front of information about your company structure, history or values.
• Designing and writing your website in a way which appeals to your users. Address them in the first person. Show you understand their needs and problems. Show how you provide a solution.

2. Plan. Plan. Plan

Building a website is a lot like building a house. You can’t begin laying the bricks or painting the walls without having a solid plan in place, engaging the right team, or doing the background research.
Before you begin any development, it’s essential to speak to an expert agency, and have an in-depth brainstorming session. Think about what you want to achieve with your website, what’s important to you, and what’s important to your users.

Then, before any design or development work begins, you need to consider several key factors:

• How much content you have, which content is the most important, and how your website will fit together based on this content.
• How your brand will work online – or whether it needs to be adapted to suit the online space.
• How the various components of your site will work together on a page-by-page level. Which sections will link where? Will you be using forms or tools? How will they work?
• What technology platform and framework is right for your business. This will obviously depend on the technical sophistication of your users.
• When will you launch your website? Is there a key time that it would make sense to go live – such as the release of a new product or service?

3. Test. Test. Test (and as often as possible)

Too many businesses overlook this aspect – forgetting to test their website with users at any stage of the development process. Often, they then wonder why people don’t stay long on their site, or why no-one bothers to visit in the first place.

When it comes to testing, make sure you don’t leave it until your website is completely designed and developed to see how it resonates with your users. Test as you go.

To begin with, get a sample of website users together, and see how they feel about your proposed structure, design and page layout. Does it work? Would they change anything? Take their recommendations on board – and then test again. See if there is an improvement in how they feel about your site once it is modified.

Importantly, don’t be afraid of criticism when it comes to your design or content. It’s often difficult to see your business when you’re working in it day-by-day. This initial feedback from your users can help you create a website that genuinely gets results.

4. Choose the right team

When it comes to your website, it’s essential to get it right first time. You need to put your brand in the hands of a team like Big Click Studios. Too many businesses rush into publishing a website which ends up negatively impacting upon their brand – and having to re-build in a few years’ time.

5. Don’t forget about content

Lots of businesses forget about the content component of their website until it’s too late. Remember that people are visiting your site for information – and that the way your content is written and structured plays a key role in how they perceive your brand and relate to you. Make sure that every piece of content on your site adds value to your user.

6. Have a plan for updating your site

Websites should be living, breathing things – especially if you want your users to come back to your site again and again. As such, make sure you have the resources to update your website on a regular basis. Or, at the very least – make sure that you set up someone to answer and respond to any queries that come through your website – especially if it’s via a contact us form.

7. Be appropriate

Don’t get carried away with gimmicks or build functionality into your website simply for the sake of it. Think seriously about whether your business really needs eCommerce functionality – or whether your money would be better spent investing in quality photographs and descriptions of your products to help users do their research before they come into your store. For every component or piece of functionality that you’re considering, ask yourself – ‘will this generate a return on investment?’ and ‘what does this mean for my users?’.

8. Measure it!

Just as plenty of people forget to test their website, too many also forget to test and measure a site once it is live. To ensure the ongoing success of your website, it’s essential to review your site statistics. Look at who is visiting, how long they are staying for, and what they are doing on your website. Where are they coming from? Which pages are getting the most clicks? Are people filling out forms on your site, or do they start entering their information, and then give-up half way through?

By reviewing these statistics, you can make the necessary tweaks to ensure the long-term success of your site. If something’s not working, you can fix it. You can prioritise the pages which are getting the most hits – and de-prioritise those which aren’t.

9. Make sure search is part of your strategy

Today, it’s absolutely essential that your website is found by search engines. Otherwise, what’s the point? If you’re a small or mid-size business without a widely established brand, this is particularly the case.

To boost the rankings of your website, you need to determine which keywords are important to your business, and integrate these into your site in several ways. The ranking of your site can also be affected by the way it is structured, designed, and how it is linked to other websites.

Speak to the team at Big Click about how a search engine optimisation strategy can work for your business.

10. Promote it!

Importantly, once your new site is launched, tell people about it! Send an email out to all your contacts announcing your new site. Put your URL on the bottom of your email footer. If you’re on Twitter, LinkedIN, Del.icio.us or Facebook, call out your new site – and encourage as many people to bookmark your site as possible.

To find out how content can make a difference to your business – and about how Big Click Studios can help, give us a call on 1300 677 924.