Building a successful website over a cup of coffee
Five conversation starters
2 min readJan 9, 2021
Copy elements from other websites
- Web development encompasses multiple degrees; programming, design, psychology, brand development, etc etc.
- Bigger sites have already done the leg work; consulting industry experts, engaging design firms, performing/reviewing AB test results.
- Websites within the same category often share similarities. Identify these similarities to assist with your own brand building and design process.
- Other sites can also provide inspiration for your sales pitch.
Visitors need a reason to arrive
- Do everything in your power to make the site visible to the google crawler and customer search phrase.
- Consult with google trends for key words.
- Grab a .com URL, none of this .net garbage.
- Make the URL meaningful.
- Register businesses with google search.
- Social media!!
And when they arrive, visitors are searching for the first reason to leave
- Slow loading times cause people to click away.
- Spelling mistakes can impact professionalism and trust.
- Information not found is a problem.
- Promises not delivered a bigger problem.
- A general lack of trust will drive away business.
- Determine the reason for the visitor and make this readily accessible.
Every time you make a design decision ask yourself if it aligns with the brand’s culture and emotion
- Design decisions affects how the brand is perceived.
- The website’s design and content are a reflection of the brand.
- Ensure all elements align with the larger vision.
- Consistency, consistency, consistency.
Just publish something
- Not having a website will push customers to your competitors. Start with a simple 1 pager and build from there.
BONUS: For beginners, use a template on a reputable web service
- Use a website builder for the heavy lifting, such as wix or square space.
- Pick a basic template and heavily customise.
- Delete the lorem ipsum.
- Use your own photos where possible, not stock photos with 6 million views (like the header of this article).
