Incredibly Useful Website Checklist for Beginners

Building a website is apparently the first step towards setting up a business online. Technically, this is one of the most important things you need as the success or failure of your business depends on it. However, developing and designing a website is not that easy and involves quite a complicated process that needs a lot of time to progress. Sometimes, when businesses launch their website, they can somehow forget the most important aspects in their eagerness to make it live. Having a checklist is beneficial to check on final touches you can do before you officially announce your website to the public.

Whether you’re a startup or an established small business, having an online presence can clearly make a huge difference for your brand. But having a website is not enough. You need to have a website that converts your visitors into customers. Here’s a checklist that will help you to ensure that the essential components are present on your website.

Impressive Website Header and Logo

This is normally the first thing visitors will see on your website, and you have only less than 5 seconds to impress and establish their trust. Make sure that the logo is perfectly placed right where most visitors expect it to be, which is on the left-hand side of the header. For a lot of businesses, the header is the perfect place to effectively and efficiently describe what your website is all about and what your business can do.

Consider keeping your headline as simple as possible and only include your logo and a simple tagline to maintain the header area nice and straightforward. Invest in creating a great logo that has meaning and makes an impact.

Easy Accessibility

The first step is getting people to your web pages. How and when do you browse the internet? Some of your customers might do the same, but not all. A mobile responsive site means that your page content is easy to read and navigate no matter what device they use. Give them a choice to view your website on any devices.

Ease of access also relates to loading speed. If a page doesn’t load in a second or two, we start to get impatient. One simple mistake is all it takes for someone to click onto another competitor’s page, or give up their search altogether. There are a lot of ways to speed up the time it takes to load your pages, but a simple design will always help.

Visible Contact Information

The most efficient way to establish credibility for your website is to include your contact number, business address and other relevant details on your contact page. This way, people can get in touch with you no matter what. By sharing this crucial little detail, you are establishing the fact that you are real and ready to provide them with your products or services. If you want to make it more enjoyable, you can always put a map to your address to make it easier for people to locate you.

However, we all prefer ways of taking action. Some of us might not be confident talking on the phone. Others might need some time to work out what they want to say in an email. Most people want to have face to face advice and others only want to make a purchase without even speaking to anyone. That’s why having different options makes it easy for everyone to take action in their own preferred way.

Easy and Smooth Navigation

Website navigation needs to be spontaneous and easy to use. But it doesn’t need to be boring. Remember that when it comes to navigation, it should be as smooth and as easy for your users to navigate. You can always place the navigation bar right below the header so your visitors can jump effortlessly from one page to another. Try to avoid overloading your navigation menu with too many links. Have a clear, precise and focused navigation menu for best results.

Creating an efficient website navigation is an essential part of ensuring the usability and the overall success of a website. A great navigation should be easy to use and can instantly help your visitors to find the right content they’re looking for quickly, without any interruptions.

Continuous Blog Creation

A blog is crucial for any website. This is an excellent platform and a great opportunity for you to connect with a broad range of audience while establishing your business and build credibility. Blogging also helps you get discovered through social media. Every time you write a great blog post, you’re creating content that people can actually share online like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and much more. These platforms help expose your business to a new set of audience that may not know you yet.

If you cannot do blogs that often, you can always hire a content writing team to do it for you. Use this as a marketing technique to drive more traffic to your website.

Functionality Checks

Before making your website live, make sure you check all the features correctly. If there’s a contact form on the website, test it yourself and see whether it directs you to the right page. You can also get help from others to check the website. You should also ask users from your target market to give you a general feedback. Also, be sure to look at your website from a user’s perspective and not just from the designer or developer’s perspective.

Other standard features that you need to cross-check includes the search functions, the contact form, any log-in areas and if necessary, those shopping baskets. And always remember, you must test all the features of your website on different browsers and platforms.

Proofread Everything

Proofreading content is an absolute must. But it’s more than just correcting those mistakes. It’s also about connecting with your audience. Avoid trying to sound too technical and boring. What you can do is to write content that is simple and easily understood. Read everything about every page. You can also get someone else to read it for you. Eventually, there’s always something you’ll have to remove and have to change.

Try to reduce the amount of text by keeping it simple as possible. Break up large texts into shorter paragraphs and add clear images throughout the page. You can also use lists or bullet points so that users can easily scan them.