Websites have evolved hugely over the past few years as users demand greater functionality and features than ever before. Earlier websites were essentially brochures used to showcase the products and services a company offered on the internet. This is no longer enough in the highly competitive modern world, especially if the website is to perform at its best and appear prominently on search engines. Now sites need to be marketing hubs that offer content that consumers will find useful. This will encourage them to keep returning.
The change in consumer demands and the function of websites needs to be factored into the design. There is no use creating a beautiful site that is static and acts like a brochure. This may perform well in the short term, but it will struggle to keep up with other sites that change their content and publish new content and information regularly.
When a site is initially created, it is crucial to consider the content at a very early stage so it can be displayed effectively. Many businesses don’t take into account the relationship between design and content. This can result in a site that looks great, but fails to attract regular visitors.
Search engine optimisation is now driven by quality content. If you are looking to get your website in a good position you definitely need to pay attention to what you put on it, how it is displayed and how easy it is to access. The structure of the site and the design need to be focused on providing value to visitors rather than purely looking good.
Whether you are launching a brand new site, or plan on re-designing an existing one, there are a number of steps that need to be taken if you want to stand a good chance of being successful. First off, do some research to see what types of information your consumers are looking for. This will give you an idea of the type of content you need to offer. In turn this will also play a part in shaping your design.
Written content is essential for a website but it takes skill to write it in such a way that consumers and search engines will find value in it. Your focus should always be on the end user, but it is also important to include the content that search engines want to see.
Including different types of content on your website will help it to perform. Images and videos offer an element of interactivity and can be used to effectively break up text. PDFs are also useful because they can include a lot of relevant information that visitors can download and keep. When they do this, they’ll be reminded of your business every time they view the materials. All of these various elements can also be tagged to increase their SEO value. If you need any help or advice on web design and improving the performance of your site, get in touch with our team of Middlesbrough-based web designers.