10 Essentials Every Website Needs

Want a website that’s in the top set?

Want to be found on Google?

Here’s how to make a start

1. Good quality hosting

Get the basics right from the get-go. Choosing a good quality hosting platform means that your website will load quickly and your visitors won’t end up on a one-way street to errors-page-ville.

2. A solid elevator pitch

You need to be upfront about who you are, what you’re offering and what makes you stand out from other companies. Tell it straight, keep it simple and pack it with customer-focused language: ‘We help you to...’

Fulfil their needs and answer their questions before they have even asked them. Add value further by using a video on your website for your elevator pitch: this way you can immediately connect with your target audience, and it’s great for SEO too!

3. A full range of Google tools

Including Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics and a Google Local account if you’re a small business

4. Quality copy

Don’t let the side down by displaying shoddy copy with poor grammar, typos and spelling errors. Offer good quality bite-sized articles with links to blogs and social media. Not only will this establish you as an authority and help you gain an online (and offline) following, but Google will love you for it too!

5. Introduce yourself

Include a photograph and/or information about yourself (and your team if you have one). Make sure you include your full address and a landline number, not just a mobile number. This helps establish you as a credible business

6. Logos and branding

If you haven’t already got a logo, get one. Logos help establish visual recognition of your business and embed it in customers’ minds.

7. Consistency

Use colours and images that are consistent with your product/service and the image you want to convey. For example if your business is to do with holistic well-being, you might want to consider calming colours (such as greens or blues) and images showing people looking relaxed and tranquil

8. User-friendliness

In your design, never lose sight of the user experience. Make navigation effortless, calls to action clear, links easy to follow and keep text density to a minimum

9. Social media links

Increasingly, customers (especially younger ones) like to see how well-connected you are. Have direct links to your Facebook page, Twitter feed and your LinkedIn profiles... and of course, make sure they’re all regularly updated!

10. Update regularly

Websites are organic entities, not static archives. When someone visits your website they want to see it’s an interactive platform, with recent news, events and up to date offers/new products.