Last Updated on December 28, 2023
Choosing Just Four Things to Focus on so Your Website Works Better
Four doesn’t seem like many things. Perhaps “The Top 24 Things Every Website Should Include” would have been a better title. I’m even focusing on “your” website and not “every website”. I wrote this post for you, not for Google, not for clicks.
Why is My Website so Important?
The Importance of Helpful Content on Your Website
The Importance of Having a Functional Website
The Importance of Having an Accessible Website
The Importance of Having a Website that Loads Quickly
What Are the Next Steps?
Your website should include a few basic but important things: a way to navigate, a way to transact and communicate, a not-too-off-putting design, and a way to read the content regardless of device. We expect this of any website.
If your website has that covered, then we can look at the other four things your website should absolutely not be without:
One Content Thing: Actual, Relevant, Useful Content, and
three Technical Things: Page Speed, Functionality, and Data Protection.
Let’s put it another way: your website should offer things that help people (good content), and your website should be accessible, safe, and working (sound tech).
Let’s Talk About Your Website and Your Visitors
Your website is important. Every other website not so much. Unless you own every other website? If you have hundreds of websites under management, I hope you have a well-managed WebHost.
Not everyone will be interested in your website or its content. That’s okay. It’s important that you’re specific. It’s good to serve a niche.
If your website was about joghurt you would need a huge website to fit all the content necessary. You would have a lot of website traffic from people that were looking for something specific too. It would be a lot of work.
If, however, you are only interested in connecting with people who want to make vegan joghurt at home, your target group will be smaller, as will your content. It will be easier too. Focus on a niche.
So, I’m talking about your website, no one elses website.
4 Things are A lot of Things if We are Talking About Your Website
I want to focus on these four things instead of more:
- + The importance of Helpful Content
- + What is a Functional Website
- + What do we mean by an Accessible Website
- + Everyone expects a Quickly Loading Website
These four will be enough to start with. Can you focus on more than four things at once? Can you carry more than four things at once? Probably, but four things is still going to be a lot of work. After these four, we can talk about the other twenty.
Why is Your Website so Important?
Your website is probably the first place people encounter you. Why? People search for things on Google & co. They have a problem and need help.
Your website could (should) appear on the first page of SERPs (search engine results pages). That’s why SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is so important.
Your website is there when you aren’t. People can be informed, find answers to questions, and purchase items from your website when you are at home asleep or on vacation. Or tied up in other ways.
Your website is like having another store that is always open and a staff that is always on duty.
“Your website is almost always people’s first point of contact with your business. It’s available 24/7, and is the single largest source of comprehensive information about who you are and what you offer found in one place.”
The Importance of Helpful Content on Your Website
What is “Helpful Content”?
The answer depends on the perspective from which the term pair is defined. But above all, it depends on how Google measures how helpful a user finds the content. Speculating about this would be outdated SEO thinking, and this is precisely where the update is directed against.
People search because they have a problem. They want information, they want to purchase something, go somewhere, or get something fixed … we call this Search Intent. No one wants to pick up a book and not find the answer to their question. The internet is no different.
If people find helpful information on your website they will return. They will tell others. You will become a destination website and that will enable you to sell even more products and services.
What creators should know about Google’s August 2022 helpful content update: https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/08/helpful-content-update
The Importance of Having a Functional Website
Do you go for medical checkups? Service checkups for your car? Then why not do the same for your website? It might save you a lot of money to ensure your website runs smoothly by checking it once in a while. If it breaks, it will cost you more!
Your website should work on mobile devices. If you are not sure how your website works on a mobile device you can check on different types of phones and tablets yourself, or check an emulator like those found at https://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-emulators-for-pc-655308/.
Your website should be protected with an SSL certificate. Your website hoster SHOULD provide an SSL certificate as a part of your hosting package. If not, you can register for a free certificate at https://letsencrypt.org/.
Broken links should be fixed. There should be no 404 pages. A Broken Link or Dead Link is a link that is no longer accessible and/or whose call-up displays an error message (“404 Not Found”). A broken link is important in search engine optimization. Dead links should be avoided, so regular checking is important. A broken link checker can be helpful in detecting dead links.
The Importance of Having an Accessible Website
Web Accessibility is another word for barrier-free web design. Accessible web design means that websites are designed in such a way that they can be used and perceived by all users, not only people with physical disabilities.
Accessibility means creating websites and mobile (web) applications in such a way that more people can use them without restriction. That also means people can use your website or app regardless of the device or size of the device. (See Responsive Web and Device Agnostic).
A website should be accessible to everyone. And it should be sustainable. Period.
The Importance of Having a Website that Loads Quickly
Speed matters, right? If you can do something faster, then you have an advantage over your competitors. The same goes for websites. No one likes waiting for a slow-loading website. A good server and managed hosting can help to ensure you have a fast website.
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So, how fast should a website load? Answer: between 1 and 2 seconds. Why? People will leave a website within 3 seconds if it doesn’t load.
https://www.semrush.com/blog/how-fast-is-fast-enough-page-load-time-and-your-bottom-line/
1. Websites Need Quickly Loaded Images: Are Your Images Optimised?
2. Websites Need Quickly Loaded Resources: Use an Optimiser Plug-in
3. Websites Need to Be Built Simply and Effectively: Page Builders and Your CMS
4. Websites are Just Websites: There’s Nothing Wrong with either an HTML Website – or a Bologna Sandwich
“Websites should load quickly. Max 2 seconds. Once loaded we want to click. So your site shouldn’t move after loading. BUT If website 1 is faster than website 2 but 2 is more relevant to the search query, website 2 will outrank website 1.” Google Core Web Vitals Talk
FOCUS: LOADING TIME – PERFORMANCE – SPEED
What could be slowing down your (mobile) website?
You have tried everything and your website is still too slow?
- your cookie banner needs to be loaded – this could slow down the site, especially if you use a cookie banner service (the banner is not hosted on your website, but imported).
- is your mobile website the same as your desktop website – just responsive? Do you need all this content for the mobile view? Sliders, chat features, customer reviews? Probably not. Do away with anything (including CSS and Javascript) that is not central to the visitor’s needs.
What Are the Next Steps?
Measure and repeat. Tweek and polish. Look at the number of visits to your website. Monitor the number of conversions. Analyse your visibility on Google and Bing.
These four things will make a marked difference to your numbers. Everything you do to improve your website today is a good thing for tomorrow.
Are You a Small Business, Nonprofit, or School?
If you’re running a small business, nonprofit, or school, you’ll already have your hands full. Four things sound like a blessing.
If you need some help with your online marketing – in addition to these four things – please check out one of the three online marketing books that Bridget Willard and I wrote just for you.