New website considerations range from understanding your audience to knowing the purpose of your website. Put simply, there is a lot to consider. Here is our list of the top factors you should think about when designing your new website. If your existing website doesn’t speak to this list, maybe it’s time for a new one.

What purpose(s) will the website serve? Ensure you’ve thought through all of the possible uses for your new website before you start the design process. Remember to think down the road, just not for the immediate need. You’ll be happier with your design and poised for growth.

Who will use your website? Your design and content should speak directly to your audience and make it easier for them to find you and take the next step toward a sale.

Images are processed by your audience before content. Images are your storefront, the wrapper on your services and products. Reinforcing your content with custom images is critical to getting your message across to your audience within the first few seconds a visitor comes to your site. Your graphics and images must be eye-catching, convey your brand, appropriate to your content, and speak to your audience so that your audience will dig deeper into your content to see if you’re a match for their needs. It’s critical to have a graphic designer that can produce exactly the images you want.

As you know, “Content is King.” It drives search rankings, speaks to your clients, and keeps them engaged with your company. Think through what you’ll post on your Home, About, Services, Blog, Gallery/Portfolio, and Contact pages. Keep in mind keywords your clients use to search for businesses like yours and how to use them in the content of interest to THEM, not you. Remember, content on your website must be updated regularly for search engines to continuously find your business. Blogging should be part of your regular content updates.

You can have great content, but when you are thinking about new website considerations, navigation is just as important. If your navigation makes it hard for people to find the key information they want, you’ll lose them. Think through the experience you want your customers to go through when visiting your site. How do you want to guide them through that experience? What will they be looking for and how should the information be organized so they find it quickly? Your navigation should make it easy for visitors to take the next logical step toward a sale.

Ensure you own your domain, know your login credentials to access it and share with your website designer, and select a good company to host your domain.

This is where your website will reside. Select a hosting company with longevity, a good reputation, and technical support when needed. Ensure you have the login credentials for your website.

Should your site be designed using HTML, CSS, WordPress or other software? Custom designs using scratch HTML code can be hard to transfer to another website designer if you don’t have access to the code. We utilize WordPress because of the wide range of templates, plugins, and template support.

This is often overlooked as a new website consideration, but can be very important. Ensure that your site is “locked down” and all measures are taken to prevent someone from hacking your site. Ensure your website designer has set up an automatic backup system so in the event your site goes down, all the files are safe and can be reposted to get your site up and running immediately.

Ensure Google Analytics is set up for your site and review the statistics regularly to ensure you know how your site is being accessed by visitors. Remember to ask customers how they found you and what they like or don’t like about your site so that you can constantly improve their experience.

Struggling with the design of your company’s website?  Looking to have your current site evaluated? Niche is here to help! Give us a call to schedule a website design consultation: 443-787-4951