Web development and the Internet have come an extremely long way. 20 years ago, a domain name went for 50 dollars a year. Since then, prices have fallen substantially – and in many cases, a domain name can be had for cents or for free.
While having a domain name is now easily obtainable, creating the website to go along with it is still a challenge. Features are more important than ever to create an all-encompassing website experience that will keep an audience coming back for more. Here’s what we think are the top 10 features of a successful modern website:
1. Social Media Sharing Links
Did you know that social media now drives 31% of all referrals to websites? This is up from 22% in 2013, and has overtaken SEO as a method of driving traffic. Inserting social sharing links to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn is a great way for others to tout a website and have more traffic coming in.
2. An About Us Page
Vastly underrated and underused – still – in the modern era, is the “about us” page. Visitors want to know who you are, what you do, and why you decided to spend time putting up a website to share to the world. If you are creating a personal website, include links to where visitors can find you on places like social media.
3. Blog
Blogs are a wonderful way to keep your website dynamic and at the top of Google search. This is also a great way to feed your visitors engaging content. Your visitors will like seeing that you update your site often, and as a general rule…
4. Fresh content
Fresh content is a must for any successful modern website and helps your search ranking. If you’re in need of finding fresh content to use on your website, create a content schedule for your blog or look at the calendar – there’s always something to be written about around a major holiday or season.
5. Mobile/Responsive Layout
With smartphones overtaking desktop computers as the choice for surfing the web, it’s important that your website has a mobile/responsive layout that can easily adjust to tablet or smartphone sizes. If you’re using a theme for your website on top of your website and content management system, make sure it has this crucial feature. Here are a few tips on being mobile-friendly.
6. Good SEO/SEM
Even though our first point stated that social media referrals were overtaking SEO, having an SEO strategy is still important. With many people still using search engines to discover content, it’s important that you place the correct terms you’d like to be known for in the alt-tags and use good keywords in any blog posts you write.
7. Link to Other Websites and Be Linked
One of the greatest things about having a website is sharing what you think is great on the web and getting shared. If you create great content and add value to the user experience, then you’ll be linked to.
8. Simplicity and Easy Navigation
It is tempting to create a website chock full of bells and whistles, but it is best not to. Keep it simple. One of the best rules to follow is to ensure that any visitor can get to any webpage on your site within three clicks.
9. Calls to Action
What would you like your visitors to do once they have visited your site? Give you a call? Hire you? Buy something? Make sure your visitors are inspired before they leave.
10. A Good Hosting Site
Finally, the mark of a successful modern website is a good hosting company behind it. A good web host offers top notch customer service, easy to use tools, is feature rich, and offers a good deal for prospective customers.
That’s our top 10 list for what makes a modern successful website. What’s on your list? Share yours in the comments below, and check out what myhosting.com has to offer in creating your successful website today!
