It’s easy to get a website up and running. You can do it in about ten minutes. But building a quality website? That’ll take a bit more effort. And if you’re trying to get people to regularly come to your website, then it’s an effort that you’ll have to make. Of course, some people just set up a website for their own use, which gives a lot of freedom: you don’t need to think too hard — if you’re happy, then it’s fine. But things are different when it’s a public-facing website and greatly different if the website is for business purposes. At that point, the quality of the website can be the difference between business success or failure.

To get customers, your site will need to be professional. But thankfully, getting a professional website is not a complete mystery. It’s all about incorporating those digital representations of professionalism into your site. So how can you do this? In this blog, we’ll run through some of the staples. Take them all on board, and you’ll be on your way toward success!

Excellent Design

First impressions count for a lot in most areas of life, including with websites. So what are your visitors seeing when they land on your page? If it’s anything other than a well-designed, clean looking website, then you’ll run the risk of their first impression being slightly less than impressed. As well as the overall design, it’s important to ensure that the look of the website fits in with your company’s branding. Due to the importance of having a website that looks the part, it’s best to work with a web design agency. This will cost more than if you did it yourself, but it’ll be worth the expense.

Photos and Videos

You won’t just rely on the text of your site to wow your visitors. You’ll also need to have photos and videos. But, of course, it’s not as if just any old photos and videos will do. You’ll need to ensure that they’re high-quality. There are plenty of websites that offer license-free photographs, but if you don’t find what you’re looking for, you can always turn to paid photographs. If you’re selling items online, you may also consider hiring a photographer to take photos of your products for you.

Limited Number of Pages

Many times, less is more. It’s tempting to add as many pages as possible because it helps to make your website look fuller and bigger. But it’s not the best approach. The best method is to only include content and pages that are genuinely needed. Don’t think that you need to add more pages because your website only has a few. If you’ve said everything that you need to say on those pages, then that’s fine — the added pages won’t only not add anything, they could dilute the message of the pages that you really want your visitors to see.

Easy Navigation

It’s important to think about the overall user experience when they land on your website. If your visitor is struggling to find the pages that they need, then that’s an issue. You should make sure that your visitors find it easy to move around your site.

Regular Updates

People want to know that your website is alive and kicking. It shouldn’t have the appearance of being dead! This is where regular updates can come to your rescue. By this, we don’t mean that you need to change everything all the time. It’s just about showing your visitors that the site is actively being managed. You can do this in a variety of ways. For instance, by hosting a blog, which you update regularly. You can also make small design changes in line with a seasonal event (for example, a Christmas design).

High Security

There’s no way to build a successful online venture without taking privacy seriously. Without it, you’ll find it difficult to gain the trust of your visitors. They need to know that they’re safe when they visit your website. You can do this by working with an IT company to ensure that your security measures are robust and up to date. But you should also go further. If you have a blog, be sure to block spam comments by using a service like Defendium. If you don’t, then you’ll run the risk of your visitors falling victim to a phishing scam — and that’s something that won’t reflect well on your business!

About Us Page

You can go a long way towards gaining your customer’s trust by writing an informative ‘About Us’ page. In this day and age, there’s a greater emphasis on digital trust than ever before. People want to know who they’re buying from, and your informative ‘about us’ page is the best way to convey that information. This doesn’t just give you a chance to show your professionalism. You’ll also be able to share your story, which is one of the best marketing tools you’ll have at your disposal (providing, of course, that you have a good story to share!).

Well-Written Content

Your website could look the part, but the details of the site are pretty key. There are plenty of sites that look the part, but then, when you get into the details, you can see that there’s very little there. For example, the website copy. The writing should be clear and sensical. Without it, your visitors will be more likely to have a negative view of your website and, by extension, your company. If you don’t know how to write persuasive copy, look at outsourcing the job to a professional copywriter. They’ll make sure that your website’s writing sings.

Conclusion

The tips we’ve outlined above won’t ensure that your business is successful. But if you’re running an online business, then you’ll find that it’s impossible to find success without those things. As we’ve seen, none of them are difficult to incorporate into your site. They just require a little bit of time, effort, and thought — easy!

Your website is your opportunity to communicate directly with customers, clients, suppliers and partners. The visual appearance of the site and the content that it contains are the most direct way that you can speak to anyone interested in working with your company. It is also the foundation for your marketing and your brand presence online.

If your website doesn’t show off your business in a positive light, it is not only going to make it challenging for you to gain new customers, it can also leave your team feeling underappreciated.

Focusing on a more personal element to your website is the right way to move forward, and moving away from that more impersonal ‘corporate’ style site can do wonders for your business. But how exactly do you implement this practically? Here we take a look at some of the best strategies that your company can use to humanize your website.

Avoid stock photos at all costs

One of the major issues causing company websites to look cold and corporate is the overuse of stock images. Stock photos might look more professional than those you can take on your camera phone and they can lend credence to a small business that is just starting out. But, having these images lingering on sites can leave it feeling corporate, less personal and unrealistic.

It’s a much better idea to take your own images. This is clearly a good option for companies producing products, but it can also be effective for service-based businesses too.

There are still many businesses that are put off providing their own product or incidental photography because of the perceived high cost of camera equipment. Yet this isn’t the right way to think about it. Of course there are some initial outlays to investing in high quality in-house images, but they have so many advantages compared to stock photos it is really worth doing.

It should be pointed out that equipment costs don’t have to be as expensive as they used to be. It is now possible to spread out payments from more costly equipment by using services which utilize so-called ‘buy now, pay later’ companies, such as Klarna and Affirm. For businesses keen to follow the sustainability route, another option is trading in used equipment to get money off a new purchase – many camera specialists offer this.

Speak like a human

It is still extremely common for small businesses to have websites that use a very corporate writing style. Being formal and professional can be appropriate in some settings, but it is no longer the case that all companies need to present themselves in this manner, especially if it does not necessarily suit the target market and industry.

Of course, it won’t suit every business to be extremely conversational and loaded up with jargon and many professional writers prefer to think in terms of ‘business casual’ as the standard preferred style. However, again this will depend on the specifics of the business and what works with your audience.

Focus on community

One of the most fundamental ways to humanize your website is to install a sense of community with your customers. The benefits of building a community amongst your customers are well established.

“As a part of your community, members feel more emotionally connected to your brand,” says Rachel Burns, writing for Podia “and when people feel connected, they’re more likely to recommend your brand and products to others.”

Companies are still regularly using social media platforms for their community building, but actually it can be beneficial to do a lot of that work yourself to optimize the business success of a site. This can be done by making use of user-generated content.