4 key things to consider when creating a new website

We might all feel that we know what a website is – after all, you’re reading one right now. However, knowing the loose definition of a website is much different to being thoroughly familiar with the essential components involved in designing and building one. 

There are many things that you’ll need to take account of when seeking to make a new website a reality for you as an individual, or your brand or business. Here are just four of them. 

The objective 

It’ll be difficult for you to succeed with any other aspect of constructing your new website, if you don’t even know what your broader aims are for it. Before any other part of the design and development process, then, it’s crucial to be clear about the objective you have for your website. 

You might be running a largely ‘high-street’-based small business and seek to establish an online sales arm to complement your existing offline revenues. 

Or maybe you’re setting up a website as a means of placing your firm’s contact details front-and-centre online, or mainly in order to generate awareness about your brand? 

The target audience or users 

This is another factor that will profoundly shape the various ‘smaller’ decisions you make when designing and building your site, ranging from its navigational menus to its content.  

So, again, set out your target audience at the earliest possible stage. How would you describe these prospective or current followers of your brand in terms of their ages, backgrounds, gender, needs and expectations when engaging with brands like yours? 

The design 

The subject of your website’s design is, of course, an extremely broad one. It encompasses such broad elements of your site as its branding, colour scheme, navigation system, images and even the sizes of the fonts used across the site. 

Within these elements, there are various minutiae to consider. It may seem obvious, for example, that your site’s navigation system needs to be tidy-looking and intuitive to use… but that will still necessitate choices as to which navigational options and aspects to prioritise. 

Then, there’s the question of whether your site will sport the kind of responsive design that isn’t just a trendy ‘nice-to-have’ these days, but actually nigh-on essential. 

A responsive design is one that adapts to the breadth of possible screen sizes, providing an equally pleasing experience to desktop and mobile users. In an age of mobile-first indexing by Google, it could hardly be more important to ensure your site is completely ‘at one’ with the wealth of smartphones and tablets that may be used to access it. 

The search engine optimisation 

Alas, even the best-designed website will be stymied in the fulfilment of its objectives if insufficiently few of its target audience actually sees it. That’s why search engine optimisation – or SEO – is so important. 

As the term suggests, SEO is the art and science of getting a website to rank more strongly in the search engine results pages (SERPs). 

With leading SEO agencies such as Mr. SEO offering a plethora of SEO and related services such as on-site optimisation, content marketing, digital PR and more, you don’t need to be an expert to get the optimisation of your site from a search engine perspective just right. 

Instead, you can simply get in touch with the agency that is best-placed to give you optimal return on investment (ROI) from your website. 

The above, of course, really are just four of the factors that should guide your efforts to put together an effective website. Others include your new website’s on-page content, security measures, social media integration, cost, and many more. Nonetheless, the four things we’ve listed should give you a powerful and inspiring starting point.