Successful Business Websites:
What You Need To Know

By: CreativCat, Jaime Ofalt

The internet went live in 1991. Since then, websites have grown to become one of the most influential marketing tools for businesses. Your digital real estate is where prospects can learn more about your products and services, ultimately impacting their final purchase decisions. But more than that, your website can help determine your level of success.

There are a plethora of other benefits to designing a functional yet eye-catching website, including lead generation, authority, and social proof. But to get the most effective website for your brand, you’ll need a purposeful plan by way of strategy, resonating content, and a design with an effective layout and structure.

There are over 5 billion people online today. And the vast majority use online searches to research businesses before making purchasing decisions. But they’ll need your website, or a tangible element of your brand in action, in order to discover you.

Brand presence is how you put your brand to work. And your website is one of the main elements of brand presence. It is an opportunity to deliver a piece of your message and story to your audience, building trust and establishing authenticity. Not only that, other benefits of a website include:

Your website can be as effective as you want it to be or ineffective as you allow it to be. But how do you craft a website that will bring your business to life?

• Strategy is often overlooked, especially in the branding world. Yet it not only establishes where your brand wants to go, but how it’ll get there. A critical component of strategy is discovering who your target audience is and then developing a message that’ll resonate with them. Learn more about developing a successful brand strategy here.
  
  Once you’ve developed your brand strategy, it’s time to put that brand to work through your website.
  
  Basic Website Elements
  The following are basic website elements you should include:
  
  • Home page, or “why” your audience should hang around
  • About Us page
  • Services or Product page
  • Contact Us page

• Next, you’ll need to take your message and deliver it to your audience. Your website content should be:
  
  • Clear
  • Catchy
  • Consistent with your brand voice and tone
  • Simple
  • SEO-friendly
  • Resonating with your audience
  
  With your strategy, basic website elements, and content in place, you’ll need an attractive design, crucial for customer experience and usability.

• One study found that over 45% of consumers determine the credibility of a website based on visual appeal and aesthetics. Another study determined that over 90% of first impressions are based on design.
  
  However, an unattractive design can result in disengagement. And if people leave your website quickly, that signals to Google that your website isn’t what customers want, affecting your rankings.

• Your website is the doorway to your brand. So you’ll need to make sure your audience is going through that door and will stay engaged with who you are and what you’re offering.  The following are characteristics to consider when designing your website:
  
  • Space to breathe - People today don’t read; they scan.
  • Visual, on-brand appeal
  • Formatted and efficient content - How can we make scanning quicker and easier? Think headings, bulleted lists, bold ideas, and removing unnecessary words.
  • Familiarity and accessibility
  • Simplicity
  • Inspire action by way of your Call To Actions (CTAs).
  
  At CreativCat Design, we are your go-to, custom website design and content studio.  We create beautiful, clean websites with a message that speaks directly to your audience and designs as sharp as a claw.