Top 6 Most Important Factors for a Successful Website

 

Winning Formula in Website Design

Learn the Best Ways to Get your Website Seen in Knutsford

 

Before we get to the “Top 6 Most Important Factors for a Successful Website”… let’s make it clear to all local businesses that CreativeOpolis is actually based in Knutsford, whereas so many other website designers that you may come across on the top of Google 1st page one are absolutely and most definitely not located in Knutsford. It may seem as though they have an address in our town but it doesn’t take long to find out that they are either a website designer in Warrington or a web designer in Northwich etc. Some even use a different website address (url) to make you think they are located in OUR town, but they are mere infiltrators. Competition can be healthy, but nobody tolerates liars, and if they lie to you from the outset, be warned that they’ll probably hoodwink you throughout #avoid

 

The Top 6 Most Important Factors for a Successful Website

If you are starting a business or are an existing company, here’s something positive we would like to share with our local Knutsford businesses: Do you know the six most important factors of running a successful website? No? Well, read on because here they are…

1. A modern and appealing website

Surely, you don’t think something that a design similar to the style from the early 1990’s is going to convince a potential customer that they should open their wallet with you, do you? Do you honestly believe that a colour scheme that looks like it’s been hacked together in Word will be a roaring success? Today, people across the Internet are so used to, and have been spoilt by, beautiful designs with appealing colour schemes and well thought layouts. Do you know which colours are more important buying colours than others? There’s an entire psychology behind design, and we know how to use it on our client designs. There is nothing more to add except that you should find a reputable web design company in Knutsford who is able to both take care of your web design goals and support our local economy.

2. Interesting and relevant content

From your landing page and product pages to blogs and beyond, substance is going to win the day. Producing relevant articles and interesting information that people and local Knutsford businesses can utilise to their advantage will have more chance to gain new business than simply playing around with keywords and phrases on fakery pages. If an article is written well it won’t need to be optimised and played around using trickery that tears apart the English language. And, the more pages you publish, the more chance you have of getting seen on Google. If you don’t have the time or you don’t know how to write, contact Creativeopolis who will be able to produce appealing pages for you.

3. Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Going above and beyond a well written article, there will still be some key components in how a webpage has to be set up if it’s going to be a hit with Google search results and create traffic. For example, have you added images to break up the page and add colour (people are drawn to photos and diagrams)?; have you added Alt Text and a Description both for Google AND the visually impaired? Have you used an H1 and H2 Headings (see below for more). You see, when it comes to being found on Google, there’s more than meets the eye with SEO techniques… but CreativeOpolis can help all Knutsford businesses, including yours.

4. A trustworthy designer

Website designers come and go so quickly that clients often don’t know who to turn to in their hour of need when someone fails in business and thus fails to support their needs. Being self-employed sounds attractive, but too many individuals don’t know how to sell or run a business and thus disappear within a few short weeks, never mind months! CreativeOpolis built their first website way back in 1994 which, in this particular industry, is regarded as unfounded, but it also means that we CAN be replied upon and that you really shouldn’t waste your time with anyone who has started a design business in Knutsford since the turn of the century for our SEO knowledge is unparalleled and design experience unmatched.

5. A reliable hosting service

There is no point owning a website if it is constantly out of service; your customers won’t be able to see what you have for sale and thus go to your competitor. Aaaaargh! It’s also extremely frustrating when your emails don’t work… hands up who has experienced that little nugget?! Double aaaaaargh! So, firstly, you have to make sure that you use a UK-based hosting company who provides stable and secure servers (non-crashing and unhackable), and secondly, make sure they offer super-fast speeds and a reliable architecture which provides room to grow your business. CreativeOpolis provides everything you need when it comes to setting up a website and new business. Contact us today…

6. Social Media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook etc.)

A website doesn’t drive itself and you can’t always rely on the search engines to give you what you need either. You need to work your business from all angles, especially with Social Media Knutsford. Some people use Twitter, some use Instagram, some Facebook, Pinterest yada yada yada… which means that you should create accounts for them all so to cover all bases. And what you must NOT do is send a link from one social media account to another because that just annoys customers; instead, what you MUST do is send people directly to your website. No pussyfooting about; get them where you ultimately want them to be, using a shopping basket and getting out their credit cards or making contact with regards to what you have to offer them. You are in business to solve a problem, so do it efficiently.

 

Bonus Material

Okay, as a bonus for getting this far, here are three technical factors to help your website rank well and get onto the first page of Google… and up to the top!

7. Layout code

H1 & H2 headings, anchor text and intrusive interstitial popups are all regarded as being the best Technical Factors a Knutsford website designer should be focusing on for their clients.

• As mentioned earlier, use hierarchical headings. There are more landing pages with an H1 and H2 in the source code than ever before, and thus there has been a strong correlation found between the use of at least one H2 and a higher rank. But please make sure never to bombard the visitor with too many H1 headings; they look really stupid and Google will hate you (penalise your website). End.
• Exact-match Anchor text still has a strong influence on Google rankings, but you may risk a penalty if your links appear unnatural or spammy (relating to the Penguin update). Ensure your backlink Anchor text is diverse, organic and semantically relevant. Anchor text amounts to just 1% of links but they STILL amount to a large number that people click on. Conclusion: Do not forget about Anchor text.
• In keeping with Google’s emphasis on ‘mobile-first’ optimisation, the search engine is cracking down on intrusive interstitial pop–ups (and who doesn’t hate them?!). Any page with an advertisement or ‘click through action’ that covers the main content or quickly sweeps users to a new page upon clicking might just… suffer a penalty. Exceptions to this include login dialogs, small banners that are easy to dismiss, and legally-required interstitial popups (age verification etc.). It is recommended to remove all intrusive interstitials from your mobile website for they inhibit ALL navigation and thus forces the closing of the entire browser tab. A surefire way to never see that visitor ever again!

8. Encryption

There is a very strong link between HTTPS websites and first page Google rankings with 45% of the top websites all using HTTPS encryption. Make the switch whenever possible because it won’t be long until Google starts to disown your entire website if you are still using the unreliable and hackable http. Don’t forget also, that the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) padlock is a trusted icon that people like to rely upon, and without one you could and will (eventually) lose sales. SSL is a must if people are making transactions on your website. Encryption is everything to both the customer AND you.

9. Design for mobiles with AMP

More and more people are using their mobile phones to access the Internet these days, which means that websites have to be optimised and laid out for ease of use AND download speed. This means that you should use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). Ask a web developer at CreativeOpolis to construct an AMP website so you can be found on SERPs. ‘Accelerated’ means fast, and they’ve used that word for a reason; don’t get left in the dust, especially because Google is starting to rank websites according to their stance with AMP. Knutsford businesses are advised to make use of this relatively new technology / requirement if they wish to get found on Google.

Take Home Message

SEO is an ever-evolving industry so try to follow the Google updates and suggestions made by the top global SEO influencers. In the past few years, we’ve seen Google make a steady push for rich content, quality links, and a perfect mobile experience; they control how the market is heading, which means we sort of have to bow down to their stringent parameters… or we don’t rank well in Knutsford. Other design factors are certainly important and will play a vital role in your Google rankings, but if you prioritise improving elements of your website related to these particular factors, then you’ll come out ahead of the competition. Or so the gurus say…

…Oh, and not forgetting to avoid websites who try to market themselves as being located in Knutsford. Especially if they’re actually located in Northwich or Warrington. Enough said. Life is too short, so avoid the hoodwinkers. That’s a given!

Why not contact us today so we can start work on your SEO goals?