Are you facing the challenge of developing your first website? We have prepared nine valuable tips for you to save you time and effort.
Table of contents
1. Set a clear Goal
Do you already know what you want to achieve with your website? Don’t be too quick to give yourself a (too) simple answer.
“Informing potential customers about my company” is a goal. But a very vague one. The more concretely you define your goal, the easier it will be to develop your website.
Vague idea
I want to inform potential customers about my company.
Vague goal
With my website, I would like to answer all questions about wood selection, processing and care for people who are looking for high-quality solid wood furniture. Also I would like to offer personal advise for my visitors.
Specific goal
As a carpenter with many years of experience, I provide visitors to my website with comprehensive information about high-quality solid wood furniture.
That way I handle a large part of my usual consulting services on topics such as wood selection, processing and care via my website, thus saving time and money.
Every visitor should be able to find their way around quickly and find clear answers to their questions. As an expert, I take care of detailed/special questions and order processing.
My goal is to generate as many qualified customer leads as possible.
2. MVP - Start small
Don’t make the mistake of wanting everything at once right from the start.
Start-ups have an approach called MVP(Minimal Viable Product).
Even if a start-up already knows at the beginning which functions a product will have later on, it concentrates on the most important core functions in a first marketable version and initially publishes a “minimal viable product”.
If you are developing your first website, this approach is also recommended for you. Give your website time to develop. Think about what the smallest possible version of a site that embodies your vision could look like and implement it.
If you prepare pages of content without ever having tested it on real world visitors, you run the risk of having to carry out numerous work steps twice or three times.
By evolving from a solid foundation to an increasingly functional, comprehensive website, you will also have something to talk about on social media on an ongoing basis.
3. Functionality is all that matters.
First and foremost, you develop your website for your visitors. And they don’t want to waste time or leave empty-handed*.
If time is the most precious thing of all, wasting it is the greatest waste of all.Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States
It must be immediately clear what your homepage is about.
After you’ve picked up your visitors thematically, make it clear to them what information (e.g. specialist knowledge, product descriptions, …) or functions (e.g. online store, appointment booking) your website offers and where they can be found.
Think about a leitmotif that runs through your website. Most visitors will want to find out more before they buy or request a personalized quote.
On the homepage, the user expects an overview of your offer. Just as there is a trailer for every movie, you should also place a trailer for every topic on your website on the homepage: Two sentences in which you explain what it’s about, followed by a link to the details page.
Nobody has time to waste nowadays.
Think about what information visitors are looking for first. For a hairdressing salon, this might be the telephone number and address. How frustrating is it to have to search for this information?
BONUS: Suggestions for a better user experience:
- Pay attention to fast loading times. Patience is a virtue that is not in vogue.
- Make sure that your website works on all common browsers and devices.
- A persistent design makes it easier for visitors to find their way around.
- A flawless* design (spelling, grammar, design, …) is a sign of appreciation, similar to a red carpet. Imagine if it had stains 😳.
- Try to read your visitors’ wishes from their lips. Think about what they are looking for on your website and make this information extra easily accessible.
*as much as possible! A few mistakes will always creep in somewhere, somehow. But it doesn’t have to be the second word on the main page.
- Keep it short and simple.
- Structure your content:
- Heading.
- Introduction
- Content
- Subheadings
- Additional information
- Picture / Graphic
- Summary
- Call to action
- Explain complex things using simple examples and comparisons
- Avoid foreign and technical terms. Where they are unavoidable or make sense, explain them.
- Use bulleted lists
To develop an enticing offer, focus on the benefits, not the function. Functions are facts that are difficult to grasp. With a benefit, on the other hand, you immediately have a picture in your head.
Function: Extremely quiet vacuum cleaner with a noise level of only 60db
Benefits: With this vacuum cleaner you won’t disturb your neighbors even on holidays
Function: This notebook has 32GB of RAM.
Benefits: With this notebook you can have all your programs open at the same time without any loss of performance.
At the end of an offer, you should motivate the visitor to take action – the classic call-to-action:
- Sign up for our newsletter
- Arrange a consultation appointment
- “Add to shopping cart”
4. High-Quality content pays off
High-quality image material from image databases (stock footage) is inexpensive and easily available.
Under the term “stock footage” you will find numerous platforms that offer photos, graphics, video and audio files for your website.
Just as your texts should appeal to your readers, so should your photos and graphics.
5. Motivate Visitors to take Action
Too many cooks spoil the broth and too many options make you indecisive.
A visit to your website should always be remembered: At least for you. For example, visitors could …
- … Subscribe to our newsletter
- … make an appointment
- … fill out a form
- … buy a product
- … download a PDF
- … Share your page on social media
- … leave a comment on your blog
Of course, you don’t want to overwhelm your visitors with all these options at once. Consider page by page which form of interaction is appropriate. For example, you could place a form on the product page and give the customer the opportunity to ask questions about the product.
Visitors are precious
Nowadays, it takes a certain amount of effort to get visitors to your website on an ongoing basis. You should therefore make an effort to find out more about the visitor through meaningful impulses.
If you manage to get his e-mail address, you can actively contact him in the future and inform him about your development.
6. Actively arouse Interest
The truth: The world hasn’t been waiting for you. When you finally put your website online after countless hours of work, visitors are unfortunately not yet queuing up.
The news: With a little imagination and commitment, you can attract new visitors all the time!
Think of your website as a multifunctional, digital branch of your company. Your branch can be accessed from anywhere in the world within seconds. Interested parties and customers can get free advice here 24 hours a day. You can also “hire” a “digital cashier”, i.e. add an online store to your website. The best thing is that you don’t even have to pay the cashier!Because you can better visualize the value of a website and put it into a cost/benefit ratio.
With today’s tools (e.g. with our Website Builder), anyone can create a website with an online store – and practically for free.
Just because a website costs practically nothing doesn’t mean that you can’t/shouldn’t/mustn’t invest in it.
Even the smallest store incurs costs: furnishings, rent, staff, advertising and cleaning. And then it is still closed more often than it is open.
A fraction of the financial resources you would need for a real store can bring you numerous visitors and solid sales on the web.
How to spread the word about your new website
The following examples should inspire you. Of course, there are numerous other possibilities that you are welcome to share with our community in the comments.
Beta testing in the local environment
Not every browser and every device works the same way. To make sure that your website works perfectly on all devices, send a letter to friends and acquaintances asking them to put your new website through its paces:
- Spelling and grammar
- Comprehensibility of the offer
- Functionality
- Loading Times
This is the quickest way to find mistakes. Also, ask for feedback and what people you like or dislike about the page.
E-mail Newsletter
Set up a newsletter in which you briefly present your new online offer and invite people to visit your website.
E-mail signature
Remember to include a link to your new website in your e-mail signature.
Social media
Don’t forget to link your new website in your social media profiles.
Instant messaging
Email and instant messaging contacts often overlap. You should therefore wait a few days before drawing attention to your new website on WhatsApp and the like. Better safe than sorry!
Car wrapping
One-off costs, ongoing advertising: a bumper sticker lasts for years and advertises wherever you are.
Advertising Material
Business cards, flyers, product sheets, brochures, menus etc.: Of course you print your new web address on all your printed materials!
Paid advertising
To continuously receive new visitors to your website, you should consider paid advertising. Start with a small monthly amount to familiarize yourself with the advertising tools. Analysis tools such as Google Analytics or UseFathom will help you measure your success.
Send a letter to close acquaintances asking them to put your new website through its paces:
- Spelling and grammar
- Comprehensibility of the offer
- Functionality
- Loading Times
Not all devices or web browsers are the same and this is the quickest way to find errors.
Important: Don’t ask what you like about the page, but what you don’t like. This will give you more constructive feedback.
Newsletter
Set up a newsletter in which you briefly present your new online offer and invite people to visit your website.
Signature
Don’t forget to link your new website in your signature.
You can be really creative when promoting your website on social media.
“Our new website is online and we’ve hidden a few spelling mistakes for you. We would like to thank you with a little surprise for any useful tips!”
“To mark the launch of our new online store, the first 100 orders will receive a little surprise.”
Don’t forget to link your new web address in your social media profiles too!
As e-mail and instant messaging contacts often overlap, you should wait a few days before drawing attention to your new website on WhatsApp and the like.
One-off costs, ongoing advertising: a bumper sticker lasts for years and advertises wherever you are.
Business card, flyer, product sheet, brochure, menu, etc. Of course, your new web address also belongs on all your printed materials!
In order to receive visitors to your new website on an ongoing basis, you should consider paid advertising.
Start with a small monthly amount to familiarize yourself with the advertising tools. Analysis tools such as Google Analytics or UseFathom will help you to measure your success.
7. Take care of fresh Content
Do you know the fire-and-forget method? Design once, publish once, never touch again.
- I’m not counting on you at all.
- Now that you’re here, I don’t care about you.
Advantages of regular updates
- The story makes the post! If there is nothing new, you have nothing to report on social media.
- Google loves websites that are constantly developing and offer new content.
- New content and information will also motivate your visitors to visit more often.
- You develop a routine for keeping your website up to date.
8. Evaluate Traffic
Knowledge is power. Statistics is powerful.
One of the biggest advantages of a website over conventional media is the ability to analyze visitor behavior in detail.
With the usual analysis tools, you can find out how many visitors access your website, where they come from (directly, via Google or another website), which country they come from, how much time they spend on your website, how many pages they click on, etc.
The most common analysis tool for website statistics is Google Analytics. It is free, comprehensive and has one big catch: you must obtain the consent of your visitors via cookie banners in order to use this service legally.
Fortunately, there is a great alternative, but it’s not free: usefathom is an analysis tool that is committed to data protection and does not store any personal data. It allows you to analyze your website traffic without having to place a cookie banner.
9. Continuously Optimize
A functioning website needs to be cared for and maintained.
Once your website has been online for a few weeks and you have already developed a certain feel for your visitors, it is time to make some adjustments.
Are there pages that are rarely or never visited?
If yes: How important is the information on these pages? Can you place the information elsewhere? Or do you need to place the page more prominently in the focus of your visitors?
What is the average length of stay of your visitors?
A very short length of stay suggests that you cannot arouse the interest of your visitors quickly enough. Perhaps your texts are too long and put people off. Or the heading does not get to the heart of the matter precisely enough.
How high is the bounce rate?
The bounce rate indicates what percentage of your visitors only visit one page of your website. There can be several reasons for a high bounce rate. Either you are addressing the wrong target group and attracting numerous visitors to your site who have no interest in what you have to offer. Or perhaps the information on the page is not appealing enough.
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