You run a small business with a strong local customer base. You have a website, but you are not sure if it’s doing anything productive. Everyone you’ve talked to, including a few web development services, mention the same things: SEO, PPC, and social marketing. You’re still lost when it comes to knowing anything about your website.
Professional website services are almost a necessity now. Thanks to the complex nature of SEO and digital marketing, slapping together a quick WordPress or Joomla! website and forgetting about it isn’t enough. We need more. Unfortunately, the web developers of the world don’t tell us everything. But why would they? They do not want to put themselves out of business.
If they were telling us everything, we would hear a lot more about the following three web development secrets, secrets that get very little attention!
1. Every Website Starts with a Purpose
Accomplished web developers know that every new website starts with a purpose. There is a reason for putting the site up. There are goals to be achieved and metrics to be measured. But if you don’t know what the purpose is, how are you going to design a website that accomplishes anything meaningful?
Do not automatically assume a website’s main purpose is to sell. Sometimes that’s the case, but not always. Take Webtek Digital Marketing in Salt Lake City, UT. I’ve worked with Webtek for years now. I can tell you without hesitation that their website isn’t at all sales-oriented. Selling is not its purpose.
Webtek’s website is designed primarily to help establish the company as a leader in its industry. They leave sales to the sales team. When visitors land on Webtek’s site, the company wants them to spend time learning what they offer and why they are the best choice to offer it. They want visitors to see them as industry leaders – because that is exactly what they are.
2. Simplicity Is Better Than Complexity
In the earliest days of the web, webmasters tended to pack their sites with as much visual stimulation as possible. Websites were overloaded with graphics and banners. The text was dense and compressed. Colors were bright, fonts were ostentatious, and websites were generally exhausting to look at.
We have since learned from the past. What have we learned? That simplicity is better than complexity. Web users want simplicity – both in aesthetics and function. They do not want to be overwhelmed by a site that slaps them in the face. They don’t like feeling as though they need a college degree to find their way around.
3. Quality Is More Than Just Nice Graphics
Last but not least, web users want quality. They know what it looks like. too. Here’s the dirty little secret: quality is more than just nice graphics. Quality is displayed in everything from visual appeal to the content visitors are offered.
Content is probably the most important aspect when it comes to quality. If you doubt that, check out everything Google has to say about helpful content. Their algorithms are designed to search out and find the highest quality content possible. And as time goes on, their algorithms get better and better. Meanwhile, web users have no problem walking away from poor-quality content.
Few would argue that SEO is important. Likewise, social media marketing and PPC advertising remain staples in the digital marketing world. But let us not forget website development. Designing a simple and high-quality website around a specific purpose is just as important. Neglect it and those other things don’t work out so well.