Does Your “Simple” Website Stack Up To These Modern Standards?

I’ve spent much of my career working with small businesses and startups, and I’ve lost many bids to the “fast,” “cheap,” and “simple” website solutions that are offered online–projects that don’t even require human interaction from the vendor side, because there’s no real thought or customization to them. They’re geared more towards keeping you on a monthly payment plan than they are geared towards helping your company succeed. I understand the appeal of cheap & fast solutions when you’re focused on getting your business off the ground; but I also know that many clients come back later, after learning just how much professional branding, design and development can contribute to business growth. They come back for quality.

Online purchasing decisions are made in a matter of seconds, and today’s consumer can easily tell which businesses care about brand image and quality, and which ones don’t. Your website is a direct reflection of your business mentality, and in many cases your website makes your company’s first impression on new customers.

Even if you think of your site as being “simple,” the requirements for success have become more complex, and your competition has become more sophisticated. Simple isn’t so simple any more, and “good enough” seldom is. For even the simplest sites, professional designers, developers, copywriters, marketers, and SEO experts have invaluable experience that can turn your unique brand and content into an effective website presence that helps to grow your business. Simplicity requires art and science–and now more than ever, you get what you pay for.

Your website is the cornerstone of your company’s success. It’s worth the investment.

Forbes.com recently ran an article that defines today’s standards for building an effective business website. 9 Website Design Standards for 2016 suggests that your “simple” website doesn’t meet today’s minimum requirements unless it includes:

• Responsive, mobile-friendly design
• Optimization for quick loading times
• Analytics tracking to measure traffic, goals & conversions
• SEO-friendly tags & elements, and an XML sitemap
• Tools to allow site owners to create their own landing pages
• Content Management capabilities, to add and edit content
• Email capture, tied to the company’s email marketing database
• Basic (or better) security and privacy measures
• Integration with the company’s social media platforms

Those elements, bundled seamlessly with a well-designed interface that presents your brand and your message effectively, is what “simple” is all about today. Does your website stack up?

Whether this is your first website project, or whether you’re an established business looking to do more, we have the experience to help take your brand and your online presence to the next level. Contact Us today about your next project, and we’ll help you explore the possibilities.

Tags: custom web design, custom web development, web design, web development, wordpress website design, wordpress website development