Ten Must-Haves for Your Website (Part 2)
This is the second part of a series on the10 must-have components for your website. View the first five must-haves for your website here.
As we continue to work with passionate, purpose-driven businesses and entrepreneurs to elevate their website and overall brand, we are reminded of the essential components of a high-converting website.
Keep in mind, this is not an article about trends. While website design trends are fun and interesting, and important to stay on top of, we can’t over-stress the importance of these must-have elements of a website. These are five of the website must-haves that you can no longer get away with not having:
Cohesive branding
Fast loading speed
Accessible content
Search-optimized content
Actionable analytics
Cohesive branding
As an experience, your website conveys what your business stands for through visual design, copywriting, user experience, and features. Gone are the days when you could get away with whipping up a webpage and expecting customers to convert. So in order to clearly and efficiently communicate your offerings, values, and results, you’ll need to prioritize cohesive branding.
What do we mean by “cohesive branding” exactly? On your website, cohesive branding looks like a consistent and intuitive application of your visual system (color palette, typography, photography/images, graphic elements) and verbal system (copywriting). It also extends to an intuitive use of your header and main navigation and your footer. Each tiny impression and interaction adds up to the overall experience they have with your business - which is what a brand is. Remember, a brand is not what YOU say it is, it’s what YOUR CUSTOMERS say it is.
Fast loading speed
Remember waiting for websites to load? Yea me neither… We are simply not accustomed to websites taking more than a few seconds to load.
If you are noticing that your website is loading slowly, don’t fret. There are ways to fix it. Some things that slow down your website are: large files such as photos and images, custom code, or your hosting platform. Be sure that your images are web resolution (usually 72 dpi) and only as large as they need to be to look crisp on your site, usually no more than 2,000 pixels wide for a full-width photo.
There are many free tools that help you check your website speed. My preferred site lately has been SiteChecker.pro. Simply type in your URL and get a fast, free estimate of your load time on both mobile and desktop. Check out Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
Another trick to deal with those few seconds while the website loads is to add an animated loading screen for the first 1-2 seconds. I don’t recommend having the loading screen last more than 2-3 seconds or the customer might assume that’s all there is and try to scroll, or worse, leave your site. Plus, they are a nice opportunity to emphasize your branding and logo.
Accessible content
Digital accessibility refers to how usable a website, app or other digital experience is by all possible users, regardless of their ability or disability. So imagine if a user has a visual or audio disability, how would they interact with your website?
There are entire courses and industries in digital accessibility, but if I were to give you the most basic/important tips for businesses to consider, I’d focus on these:
Clear & obvious links: Don’t use “read more” or “learn more” on multiple links. Be specific. Use “learn more about us” or “view our services” etc. Let the user know where the link leads.
Image alt text: Wherever possible, add alt text to your images so that people using screen readers know what the image is. Squarespace now has a built-in alt text option for images (finally!).
Closed captions: If you use video on your website - or anywhere for that matter - closed captions are essential. In fact, they enhance the viewing experience for hearing and non-hearing people alike.
Color contrast: It’s estimated that 1 in 12 men are colorblind, and 1 in 200 women. Be sure your site is easy to view by ensuring there’s enough contrast between text/graphic colors and the background. Coolors has a super easy color contrast checker.
My previous employer, Harvard University, has a great website on digital accessibility. It was created for Harvard affiliates but it’s useful for everyone!
Search-optimized content
In my opinion, Search Engine Optimization is part art and part science. As long as you know your audience, you can easily get a start on optimizing your website content for search. Start by asking yourself, if someone was looking for services or information that we provide, what would they type into Google? Start typing that in yourself and search. Notice what page titles, descriptions, and content tend to show up at the top of the search results pages. Then review your own website content and see where you can naturally fit in common keywords.
Use these tools to check your website’s SEO performance and track against competitors:
*We also offer SEO audits and optimization packages as a part of our website design services.
Actionable analytics
Do you know how much data you have at your fingertips as a business and website owner? While you might be able to ask friends, family, and colleagues about your website, the best user insights you can get are from actual, direct interactions. And the way to see those is through website analytics platforms.
Google Analytics is a must. It provides detailed acquisition, behavior, and conversion data. And it’s free. You can also enable Google Search Console to get more data on what words people are using to search for your site.
HotJar has been another recent favorite for its heatmaps and screen recordings. With the free version, you get unlimited heatmaps, up to 35 daily sessions, and over 1,000 recordings per month.
