As the world is well into the 21st century, businesses have found that in order to stay afloat, it’s essential to have a reputable, engaging website. Websites aren’t just a luxury anymore; there are a necessity. Without a website or at least some kind of online presence, businesses risk losing out to the competition. The fact is, the Internet has become so pervasive in modern times that it’s nearly impossible to not engage it in some way. As a result, professional web design companies are popping up like there’s no tomorrow and businesses of all kinds are finding that they must adapt to the digitally-dependent times if they want to be succeed.

There are a number of website design and maintenance tips out there; some good, some bad. In order to better illustrate what to look for when designing a website, here are three website design basics to get you started:

Find Your Target Audience and Stick With It: Finding your target audience is a basic principle of any marketing strategy, digital or not. With the Internet it can get tricky, however. Not only must you find the right demographic for your product, you also have to find the right demographic for your users. In other words, different demographics use the Internet differently. Younger users, on average, tend to access the Internet on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, making the need for websites to be mobile-accessible a top priority. Figuring out who is buying your products and how they’re accessing your website go hand-in-hand when designing a website.

Lead the Way For Your Customers: A feature all good websites have is that it directs the user every step of the way. Good websites should serve as a “guide” that tells the user what they should look for next. Being indecisive can cause the user to loose interest and go somewhere else.

Blog, Blog, Blog: Companies that run a blog have on average 434% more indexed pages than companies that don’t. Furthermore, a good 80% of businesses that blog consider their blog to be an “important asset” to their websites overall. It’s also a good idea to blog with search engines in mind. That is, to create blogs and content that will attract search engines such as Google and Bing. Why? Well, with OutBrain showing that search engines are the top driver of traffic to content websites, it’s no wonder why so many professional web design companies use search engines to their advantage.

For more information about professional web design companies and strategies, feel free to leave a comment or question at the bottom.