There are 1.9 billion+ websites today globally (as of September 2022). While most (80%+) aren’t active, there’s still stiff competition online. If you choose to establish your own site today, you’ll still have thousands of competitors to deal with, even in the most unique niches. How do you make your website stand out? How do you get attention from your target market and make them buy whatever product/service you are selling?
We’ve compiled the factors we think are essential for a successful website today. Here’s what you should do to establish a website guaranteed to reach and convert your potential customers effectively.
1. Have a clearly defined plan
To have a successful website, you must have a plan from the onset. This includes having a preferred niche in mind, an ideal target market, a budget, a mission, vision, and goals. You need a concrete plan on how you intend to do everything. Your plan also needs to have a differentiating factor. Since there are bound to be websites like yours, how do you differentiate yourself?
The best websites satisfy pressing needs in unique ways. For instance, while there are many social media platforms, the most successful ones are unique in distinct ways. For example, Instagram stands out for sharing videos and photos, while Twitter is renowned for sharing news and trends globally. Your site needs to be different from others, and this should be defined from the start.
Your plan should also include a budget and how resources will be deployed. Successful websites feature balanced budgets where the spending on design and development matches the spending on marketing and other essentials. Resources should also be deployed strategically.
2. Get the website design and development right
Successful websites have several design and development aspects in common. They are engaging, beautiful, fast, easy to use and navigate, and have good hosting and technical support. The sites are also highly responsive (function great when accessed via all devices, including smartphones).
Your website users will appreciate good design when it is coupled with usability and engagement. If you get these aspects right, your website visitors will want to revisit your site and purchase whatever you are selling.
As an additional tip, keep in mind that Google favours websites that have users in mind. The usability and user experience must stand out for you to have a great website. This starts by understanding your target audience and designing a site that serves them perfectly. If your target user is tech-savvy, let this determine how sophisticated the website design features should be.
3. Perfect SEO
Google still dominates internet traffic. Over 90% of people who use search engines (4 billion+ people) use Google to find information and products/services online. On a daily basis, Google processes 8.5 billion+ searches. For your site to be ranked on page 1 of Google search results, you must perfect SEO (search engine optimization).
SEO has highly technical aspects. For instance, Google ranks fast websites highly. Designing a fast website requires some technical know-how on code bloat (the presence of unnecessary code), responsive web design, crawlability, and indexation. A website’s speed is a key ranking factor that definitely influences a website position in organic search results: the faster a website loads, the better it performs on a range of marketing and SEO metrics.
SEO also goes beyond technical aspects. For example, Google considers the quality of content on a site. It definitely takes a few years of experience to be able to do extensive research and create high-quality content that search engines can’t ignore, or you could always hire a company to help you understand those industry-specific tricks and tips. Either way, having high-quality content that offers value is as important (if not more) as having the right keywords (or search terms) on your site pages.
To do effective SEO, you must also think of the kind of search terms (keywords) your potential customers use on Google. This requires a deep understanding of keyword research to pick relevant topics/keywords with the ideal competitiveness and search volume. Search engines will also look at backlinks (links from other sites to yours) with emphasis on links from authority sites.
As you can see, cracking the code of SEO might not be an easy task, but we can assure you it is very effective and rewarding. Perfecting an SEO strategy and having a site that ranks on page 1 of Google’s search results for multiple competitive keywords will really make a world of difference on the success of your website, which is why this is one of the most important first steps you can take.
4. Ensure you have trust signals
Great website design and SEO aren’t enough if your site visitors don’t have the confidence to buy whatever you are selling. Website conversion is the true test of a successful website. If you can get most of your website visitors to complete the desired action (like making a purchase, signing up, or filling out a form), you are bound to be successful. While conversion rates differ by industry, having over 10% of your website visitors take the desired action is considered successful. One of the top determinants of conversion rates is trust signals. People will give you their email addresses or buy something from your site only if they trust you.
Successful websites have some elements that create credibility. Among other things they include: blogs, social media profiles, partners and certificates, physical locations/detailed contact information, verifiable testimonials/reviews, and website security certificates (SSL).
If your website visitors can’t verify your legitimacy and credibility with ease, they aren’t going to buy anything or trust you with their email addresses and other personal information.
5. Use ads
SEO is a great website marketing strategy. However, it should be supplemented by other strategies, especially when the goal is to enjoy an unmatched competitive advantage. Online ads such as Google ads and social media ads are quick ways to get your business in front of your target market. Unlike SEO, where it takes some time to start generating traffic, ads have an almost immediate impact.
Although running a successful Google ads or social media ads campaign might be hard for most people, we don’t think it is impossible. You can definitely do some online research and try to figure out the best way to create a compelling, effective strategy. Ad campaigns that optimize ROI (return on investment) are all about a great design and run. It is also important to make sure your ads are directing website visitors to a great landing page, capable of converting. This is where the perfect website design and development reappear, combined with the excellent content you must have on your landing page. See how everything is connected to ensure your website’s success?
The internet is a great tool that could potentially allow you to figure all of this out on your own. If you think you can do enough research to attempt to master these tips and get your website to the next level, we’ll cheer you on from the sidelines! However, there is no harm in offering our expertise, right? Let us give you a hand. We are an expert digital marketing agency that can take this off your plate so you can focus on your business.
For example, there are other tips for creating a successful website: you must aim to continuously learn and improve your website, and keep up with the latest SEO and other website marketing strategies. Using customer service channels, website analytics, and other website data points will help you monitor progress and improve continuously. For you, this could be easier said than done, but for us? It is basically second nature.
Seeking help from a full-stack digital marketing agency like ours, Nomadic Advertising, is your best bet. After all, we are experts in website design and development, social media advertising, and SEO – the most crucial fields for establishing and running a successful website. Contact us to book a free 30-minute strategy session and see everything we can do for your business. Capitalize on our years of experience setting up successful websites, and avoid trial-and-error with web design, SEO, search ads and social media ads. Claim your FREE consultation today.
