10 Signs of an Effective Website

Is your website taking you to the top of the game or is it invisible to the world? Many business owners make the mistake of kicking their feet up once their websites are up and running but the job doesn’t end there. In any case, the fun’s just beginning!

Nothing is more important to a business these days than a website that brings leads. Since your website is your company’s front door, it shouldn’t just be “good” but should take you to greater heights by converting viewers into loyal clients and brand ambassadors. That’s our definition of a great website.

The fact is that there is more involved in running a website than what you see on the screen. And with all the hustle and bustle of governing your business, it’s quite easy to get caught up.

Gladly, Stack Mode Marketing Group is always at your service. Our inventive and gifted web designers and marketing team will ensure your website is always up to par.

Let’s run you through our list of the signs of an effective website so that you can check them off your to-do list. Does this sound like a solid plan? Good, let’s begin.

1. Your Website Is Up to Speed

Website speed matters a lot. Even Google declares that website load speed is a major determinant of a quality site because it concerns its search algorithm, so it’s worth taking note of. However, it’s not only Google. We all hate slow websites. Therefore load speed matters to your users as well.

So how do you increase your website speed? There are several ways to speed up your site.

First, and foremost, yours truly, the number one web design company in Reno- our site management team will monitor, analyse and optimize your website to maximize its output, including speeding up its loading time. We do this using subtle design tweaks to supercharge your site such as switching over to SSD Hosting.

SSD, short for Solid State Drives is the ulterior data storage. Compared to traditional drives, SSD packs 100% electronic componentry, much like how electric trains run at lightning speed in comparison to steam trains.

So if you want a reputable and fast way to heighten your website’s speed at an affordable cost, you should go for SSD Hosting.

2. Your Site Is Mobile-Receptive

More individuals lookup websites using their phones than with desktops or laptops. This means that setting up a mobile-friendly website is not something to consider but a must-have at this point.

To add to that, Google issued a warning that it won’t accept non-mobile-friendly sites on its mobile listings. This is more than enough to tell you how serious this issue is. You can assess if your website is mobile-friendly using Google’s mobile checker.

If it doesn’t pass the mark, you can address the issue using two options. The first option is to look into a mobile website builder. This offers you a side by side version of your site that pops up when your website encounters a mobile-based browser.

Option two is to enlist for a full Responsive Web Design (RWD). RWD is a kind of web design method where your website aligns perfectly on any sort of device as it reacts to the browser. Because this option is somewhat costly, you might want to consider option 1. So you don’t burn a hole in your pocket.

3. Your Website Has A Services Page

Do you have service-specific pages? Does it list the services you provide? If so, do the services have individual pages? If your answer is no to the third question, then your website hasn’t quite cut it. Most sites spread themselves thinly by not having individual serviced pages.

Say you do a search on “digital web services in Reno” and Google has to weigh between two pages- one on “digital web services” and the second on “web services”, chances are the first-page option will win. So consider casting a wider net and offering Google more specific content for it to index and rank.

However, don’t confuse creating specific content with keyword stuffing- you can’t outwit the system for sure. For instance, don’t start developing pages like “Affordable Instant Delivery Approved Digital Web Services Reno”. It is not only nonsensical but can also damage the chances of your website ranking. The best thing to do is to make a list of each service you offer and create a unique page for each of them.

4. Your Website Is Secure and Reliable

Another Google ranking gold card is reliability and safety and this comes from using HTTPS Hosting. HTTPS requires securing your website through the use of an SSL certificate.

Now simply applying HTTPS isn’t instantly going to make your site entirely safe nor will it give you a tremendous uplift on the rankings. The key though is to offer your users even the slightest form of security as they are browsing your website.

However, if you want to take your website security measure a notch higher, go for Web Application Firewall. It helps by constantly scanning your site for any security issues and restricts Malware from encroaching into your site.

Often these measures are delivered with a Security Shield, which when reinforced with a secure HTTPS will show your viewers that you take safety seriously.

5. Your Pages Are Favorably Long

Imagine you’re delivering a sales pitch to your potential clients. You want to be as thorough as possible, therefore, you take the time to explain the ins and outs of your products/ services and answer the tons of questions being shoved at you. At the end of the meeting, they will definitely be convinced that you know your stuff and boom! You have new customers.

The same concept should be applied to your service pages. Are they detailed enough? Do they answer some prime questions your users may have as they are perusing your website? If not, you need to solve this.

First, because your visitors and potential clients will highly appreciate the extra mile you’ve taken to inform them so that they make a sure decision.

Second, because Google takes note of this as well. Google surely notices when a page is nicely detailed to keep viewers glued to your website. Google interprets this as a reduced bounce rate, which serves as a positive signal that your page delivers exactly what your visitor is searching for. A lower bounce rate means a higher ranking on Google’s search engines.

“So how long should my pages be?” You might ask. An effective web page is between 500-1000 words. If content creation doesn’t come naturally to you, lucky for you it is one of the many web design services we provide. Our content creators are always on their tippy-toes to create the best page content that’ll get your site’s ranking skyrocketing.

6. You Utilize A Client Relationship Management System (CRM)

Still using email or spreadsheets to monitor clientele data? Huge mistake.

We recommend setting up HubSpot CRM, it stores every single interaction between your business and both potential and current customers. This includes all your phone calls, emails, and live chats (hoping you are using Live Chat!).

The problem with these traditional means of consumer data storage is that they have proved to be extremely time-consuming and disorganized. With Zoho CRM you can share information quickly, attract more leads and monitor all your statistics.

Additionally, introducing an element of automation in to your business allows you to send emails automatically or set reminders that you can follow up later. This guarantees that nothing gets lost between the cracks.

This high level of specialty is what distinguishes an exceptional business website from an amateur one.

7. All Your Pages Are Optimized

Just because you have a captivating website doesn’t mean your work ends there. Optimizing all your site’s pages is equally important. By this, we mean Metatags (Meta title and Meta description), Heading, internal linking and keyword-rich URLs. Top-performing websites usually have well-optimized pages.

Details such as indicating the location and niche in the Title Metatag and using Headings rich in keywords (especially H1 and H2) help you distinguish yourself as the best in class from the mediocre business.

8. You’re Getting Frequent Reviews

Statistics show that the most successful B2B websites have twice the number of Google reviews than lower ranking websites. If you’re a local enterprise, Google Reviews should be particularly important for you.

Obtaining Google Reviews is quite simple- just ask for them! Start with your loyal customers; you already know who they are. Don’t go overboard with getting hundreds of reviews in a single day though. Just form a habit of asking for reviews consistently, and the best time to do so is when you have a happy and satisfied client in front of you.

Begin this exercise right now, determining to get several reviews each month without fail and you’ll start to see its positive impact on your website.

9. Your Website’s Content is Top Notch

Your site’s content is just as important as its design. Imagine that 95%of the web’s information is in the form of a manuscript. With this in mind, a beautifully fashioned website filled with quality content is a match made in heaven!

• First, great content meets viewers’ expectations. For example, if your website is for real estate, most users will expect to see your property listings and directions to where each unit is located.
• Second, meaningful content is trustworthy. Trust is the ultimate key to persuasive power and it makes visitors believe in what you are offering.
• The best way is to include some testimonials on your website that serve as social proofs of your products/services genuineness. This will bolster passers-by confidence in your offerings.
• Third, is your text optimized for scanning? It’s important to adjust your content to visitors’ browsing tendencies. It’s a well-known fact that viewers don’t read everything on websites, they just sweep through.
• When a new user searches a website, the first thing they do is survey the content and categorize it into comprehensive pieces of information. By doing this a viewer is assessing if a website’s content meets his or her needs thus worth reading.

Here are some tips to make your content easier for user scanning:

• Optimize your content layout for the “F pattern.” Research on eye-tracking has shown that viewers scan pages in an F design. They only read the first few lines then start to skip lines down the page. This is why it is crucial to front-load your text by putting the most important information first so that it catches the eye.
• Break text blocks using images. A page with unending blocks of texts is most likely to be skipped. It is better to break up a text using images, headings or bullet points.
• Fourth, the best site content has minimal distractions. Mobile objects like video ads and animated banners easily capture attention but not in a good way. They offer an annoying and distracting experience. If you want a lower bounce rate of your website, then reduce such distracting objects.
• Fifth, make it easy for visitors to contact you. It may seem rather obvious but contact details can be easily overlooked. Contact information such as email addresses and phone numbers should be easily visible.
• Lastly, high-quality videos and relevant images are visually appealing. People grasp concepts quickly when they are delivered visually. A web designer who understands the meaning of the conventional phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” always provides exemplary imagery on their websites.

10. You Utilize Live Chat

If you are serious about your business growth, then Live Chat should already be among your site tools. And block out any voices of doubt in your mind that tell you customers don’t like to chat. The truth is people love to chat, some even more than phone calls because it feels less intimidating. We have adapted to chatting through apps such as WhatsApp. So don’t overlook this incredible tool as it offers so many benefits it’s hard to name all of them at a go.

Well, for starters, a Live Chat says that you take customer delivery seriously. It offers a fast channel to get your prospect’s contact details. It’s anonymous, free and fast to the client’s advantage. It is also efficient as one can chat on several platforms at the same time.

Finally, if your website is getting traffic, then Live Chat is the best mode of measuring the Return on Investment (ROI) in a short time.

Live Chat makes business running so seamless you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it!

11. What Can Affect Your Website's Success?

How then do you make your website meet users’ expectations? You may have applied all these ten steps but still unsure if your website is effective.

Well, you can’t just assume- you need to assess your web design to see how visitors interact with it as well as their emotional reaction to your design.

TETO Test

We advocate the TETO (test early, test often) module to evaluate the success of your web design project.

• Gather qualitative feedback. Observing and interviewing your users gives you answers to many ‘why’ questions such as why do users hesitate to fill out the payment form. You can fix some drawbacks that make your website’s navigation hard to deal with.
• Accept that you possibly won’t build a perfect product from your first attempt. Product design is a continuous journey for both you and your prospects. This means that you design a product, test it, redesign it and test again.
• Use approximate testing to get the finest solution for your visitors. If you have many remedies to a particular problem but uncertain of which one applies best to your product, you can utilize A/B testing to confirm it. You can then compare users’ response in one scenario against another and see which design works best.

The Re-Design Trap

Eventually don’t fall into the complete re-design trap. All too often web designers recommend the total overhaul of a website in the notion that it will lead to a more successful web experience.

eBay’s redesign disaster should be a great reminder of why users react strongly to drastic and huge changes. A dramatic redesign that offers extremely different visuals and an interaction layout might be overwhelming and produce a negative impact.

Rather than investing in a large scale redesign project, our web design team proposes focusing on subtle improvements. Make baby steps- progressive changes that can enhance conversions over time without users having to feel ambushed.

Wrapping Up

These days a huge chunk of marketing is done online. And amid all the activities you pursue online is your website. The fundamental concepts we’ve mentioned above are what will set your website apart from mediocre ones.

In any case, whether it’s creating a CRM, setting up a live chat or ensuring your website is speedy, secure and cross-browser enabled, Stack Mode will certify that you have a winning website.

Book your free consultation today!