Have you ever thought about what makes your website great? Did you know there are a lot of components that go into a website, design, structure, organization, and back-end editing? Lots of these components are easy fixes that can be updated by you or anyone else! Below, I’ve listed some of the 10 most important features a website can have.
1. A Fast-Loading Website
Did you know that you actually CAN control the speed of your website? It has everything to do with who is hosting your website. A website host is a company or business that provides the correct and appropriate technology to keep your website running smoothly. At Striv, our hosting company is top of the line as top speeds are a priority of ours.
2.Pages: Less is More
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, keeping it simple really benefits a website for a couple of reasons. Number one, if you have excess information on your website it makes your pages look cluttered and disorganized. When people log on to your website they expect to be able to find important information relatively quickly. Nothing is more frustrating than having to sift through irrelevant information. Number two, this also affects your website speed. The more content you have stored on your webpage, the longer it takes to load. If you’re looking for faster speeds, try deleting information that doesn’t matter anymore.
3. Focused Color Schemes
Colors make a big difference on a website. Your color scheme reflects your brand, and also affects how your users see the site. A bad color scheme makes a website hard to read. For example, red text on a green background, or yellow text on a purple background. Yikes. It hurts my eyes just thinking about it. If your viewers can’t read your content, what’s the point of having it out there. Secondly, colors are your brand. They should tell a story about who you are. So use them correctly and they make a statement and help people remember you.
4. No Dead Pages or Links
This goes back to the “Less Is More” concept. Make keeping your website updated a priority. Nothing is more frustrating than logging onto a website, thinking you have found what you are looking for, only to click on it and realize it’s not taking you anywhere but an “error page.” If your link has changed, update it, if the page has no content on it and never gets updated, delete it. Getting rid of unnecessary content also makes your website load faster.
5. Central Social Media
Social media has become a central component in having a website with content that matters, and if you use it correctly, it can help keep your site updated as well. Make sure your social media feeds are easy to read on a site. There’s such a thing as an embed code, or a way that your site can show your social media feeds from Facebook and Twitter. If you aren’t as active on social media and don’t want to showcase it, at least make it an easy or accessible button that your viewers can reach fairly quickly.
6. A Menu That Makes Sense
Navigation. Navigation. Navigation. Your site menu and navigation are probably one of the top 5 most important pieces of your website. With good menu structures, come easy to find information, maximum efficiency, and organization. A bad menu structure leaves users confused, frustrated, and most of the time, lost. By creating broad topics on your top navigation, you leave plenty of room beneath them for each of your “sub links” to find a home under.
7. Can Your Website go mobile
A lot of great websites skip this step. Desktop versions of a website used to be your primary location, but with smartphones becoming our new “computers,” it’s more important than ever that your website can be used on a mobile device. Most websites will auto adjust on their own, but with proper design, you can control exactly what your website looks like from a mobile phone. Auto adjustments don’t always get it right, so it’s important that you control your website across multiple device platforms.
8. Tells Your Story
A website is more than just an encyclopedia of all your information, it should be a reflection of who you are too. Does your website feature up-to-date photos, up-to-date- schedules and rosters, or up-to-date contact information? If it doesn’t, your story may be getting lost in the clutter of irrelevant content. By staying involved with your website, you have the opportunity to control your personal brand and story, and that’s what’s really important.
9. A General Theme
If you’re reading this and feeling a bit overwhelmed, here’s a tip, websites actually do themes! A theme is a package you download and then plug into your current URL, and the best part is, themes offer everything that has been suggested above. It’s like purchasing an all in one website. It makes your website look clean, professional, and organized. There are hundreds of thousands of themes to make your website stand out from the others.
10. A Helpful Home Page
Last but not least, your home page. If you take anything away from this article, it should be that if you take all the above tips and apply them to one page, it should be your homepage. Your home page should have the most important and relevant information, and by utilizing all of the above tips you can have content that you will be proud of.
At Striv, we love educating schools on the importance of their brand and story, and if any of this sound like something you want to do, we would love to help you. Contact our Web Coordinator, Alyssa, at alyssa@striv.tv
