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As you know, not all website content is created equal. That’s especially true in the digital eyes of search engines. So how does your website content measure up against the other 1.6 billion websites online today?
No matter how you answer, one thing is clear. Every website has room for improvement. And you can improve yours with the essential web design tips below.
Here are the top 10 things every website should have. Boost your visitor satisfaction, search rank, and site performance with this checklist.
Table of Contents
Consistent, High-Quality Blog Content
Tip #1: Content is crucial. For Google and your customers to find you, you need content, content, and more content! You should be posting new content at least twice per week.
And it’s not just quantity that matters but quality as well. In order to meet the high standards of Google and your audience, you must be better than the average blog. You need content that proves to Google and your visitors that your site has value.
Below is a short checklist of quality elements that add value to your content. Make sure every post on your blog includes:
- A seductive headline
- Relevant topics
- Competent coverage of topics
- Answers to your audience’s questions
- Demonstrative visuals
- A unique voice and perspective that match your particular brand
These elements show Google and your audience that you’re an authority in your niche. Your reward will be a higher search rank and more/better traffic. This sets you up for a higher conversion rate.
Killer Keyword Usage
Now let’s dig a little deeper into the topic of adding value. The first four points in the above checklist depend on one thing: keyword usage.
Keywords are the search terms your audience type when they use search engines. Obviously, your hope is to be one of the websites these searchers click on. But that’s not going to happen unless you’re writing articles based on the keywords they’re searching for.
Choose Your Topic
Using Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, you can easily find the most popular search terms relevant to your niche. Choose one of these as your next blog topic.
Using Keywords
The days of spamming a keyword 50 times per article to trick search engines are long gone. Today, overstuffing your articles with a single keyword will penalize your search rank instead of rewarding it.
Instead, try to use many variations of the keyword throughout your article. This reflects the varying ways your audience is searching for the topic. And it shows Google you’re providing relevant, authoritative content on the subject.
That said, your chosen keyword phrase should still appear word-for-word in the title and a few times within the article.
Write An Irresistible Headline
Next, let’s back up. Great content with a high search rank is rendered utterly worthless by a bad title. Before you start writing, come up with a killer headline that includes the keyword phrase word-for-word.
Your title must always make some claim about offering superior, must-have knowledge. And it must clearly define what the article’s about.
For example:
- 3 Crucial Web Design Elements Most Websites are Missing
- 10 Content-Writing Mistakes You’re Probably Making
- 8 SEO Myths You Probably Believe
You should see two trends with these titles. One is that they’re all listicles. That’s because listicles are, unarguably, the easiest way to write titles and articles.
Second, these titles spotlight a need or problem the reader has and then promises a solution. This need isn’t necessarily real but, rather, perceived. Title-writing is all about the power of suggestion.
The title creates a vacuum in the reader that reading your article promises to fill. It implants the idea that there’s something wrong that only your advice can solve, like that movie Inception.
Unique, High-Quality Images
If you don’t want generic content, you shouldn’t use generic stock photos either. You’ll benefit greatly by hiring a professional photographer/artist to provide you with exclusive photos/art for your site content.
Image files should have relevant titles so they can be found in online image searches. And no matter what, images must always be high resolution.
Although, image-heavy sites, like photography sites, should use compressed images to reduce loading time. Visitors can then be encouraged to “Click to Enlarge.”
Purposeful Responsiveness
Surely, by this point, you’ve heard near a hundred articles tell you that responsiveness is crucial to your search rank. “Mobile searches outrank desktop searches. Your site must be optimized for all types of devices to rank high, blah, blah, blah.”
In other words, being responsive is a bare minimum expectation. It isn’t going to impress anyone unless you kick it up a notch. The device-specific versions of your site could do a lot more than “look different.”
For example, iPhones still have trouble viewing videos on websites. And videos increase the loading time of mobile sites by way too much. But, instead of removing them from the mobile view, you can replace them with fast-loading animations.
You can also display your mobile site as a progressive web app (PWA). Offer the most popular features of your mobile site more conveniently as a PWA and as a downloadable app.
Make sure all your mobile/app versions of the site allow voice search. A chatbot is a good idea, too.
Meanwhile, you’re free to make your desktop site as rich, complex, and beautiful as you want, as long as the loading time stays minimal.
Easy Navigation
Your site should make it easy for any visitor to find anything they need. All sections of your site should be neatly organized within a convenient menu on every page. The content of each page should include links to related content or other relevant pages whenever possible.
Landing Pages
Next, each section of your site should have its own landing page. Landing pages are a homepage for a specific category of your site’s content.
There should be separate landing pages for your products, services, forum, blog, etc. The landing page will provide an overview of that category and provide links to the content within that category.
You should also create landing pages for the most popular topics you blog about. For example, a rehab center’s blog may have a separate landing page for each type of substance abuse they treat.
About Us Page
Who are you? Visitors may find your blog through a Google search but have no idea who you are. Make an easy-to-find About Us page on your site to introduce yourself to prospective leads.
Contact Page
For the same reason, include a Contact Us page as well. To be even more accessible, include a live chat or a chatbot to answer visitor questions immediately.
Nothing will kill your business or organization faster than ignoring your public’s needs.
Website Content That Works
What do you think of your website content now? Does your site pass the test? Use this list to make sure your site has everything it needs for success.
Now, check out these 8 Web Design Trends that are Emerging in 2019.
