As you could see in the first part of our article, there are many simple steps you can take to make sure that your website will work as intended. Creating a website can be tricky, but with the right strategy, you have nothing to lose. 

Today, we are going to continue our list of the 20 steps to take before creating a professional website. Without further ado, let’s get it started!

#1 Don’t underestimate the importance of blogging

Your website blog can be the key to your success. You can customize your posts to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Also if your blog posts are highly optimized for long search keywords, they can be an important part of your sales funnel. Make sure that both the meta descriptions and the structure of the HTML are appropriate, so that not only the users, but Google also understand how great content you have written for your future visitors.

#2 Pay attention to your internal contents as well

Your homepage isn’t the only thing that exists. Your subpages can also play an equally important role. If these subpages contain important information but perform less well in the eyes of Google, it is worth spreading it on social platforms and making it invisible to Google so as not to reduce the credibility of your website. You can also try to improve and further develop the content, too.

It is also worth linking these contents together, which allows the visitor to get even more useful information. In addition, this helps Google to identify the structure of your website. Last, but not least,  this way you can even increase the length of time spent on the website.

#3 Forget low-quality images

Your potential customers may be coming across your business for the first time through your website, so you can’t afford to advertise yourself with low-quality images. This is how you qualify your business. Never use pixelated, blurry images. Instead, use high-quality images on your website – even if you need to use the help of a professional photographer. There are several platforms on the web that offer free stock photos, such as Pixabay. But if you have the chance to use your own photographs, we do not recommend choosing from stock photos. The reason why is that if you do, then you will be just one of your competitors.

#4 Avoid too long videos

By using videos, you can increase the time spent on the site and engagement. However, it can backfire if you make videos that are too long and boring. Use videos to arouse your customers’ interest, not to test their patience! If you feel that your message, which you want to share with the audience, is important but long, it is better to divide it into smaller parts. Your video tutorials that follow a logical structure can be a bit longer. For all other videos, limit yourself to 60-90 seconds.

#5 Don’t even think of launching a website without search engine optimization

Your website is ready and looks great, it is easy to navigate and offers a very enjoyable browsing experience. Great!

However, if you build it on non-SEO elements, you can easily get lost in the vast ocean of the Internet. When designing the website, it is worth asking for the opinion of an SEO expert. Especially, if you do not want your website to end up as an online ax in the water, which will sink very quickly in the digital water mass. It is also worth filling the content of the website with search engine-optimized texts. And last, but not least, SEO doesn’t start after the website is created, it starts with it!

#6 Your users are speed freaks

How fast does your website load? According to John Müller (Google), Google is currently more tolerant than your users. With a loading time of 5+ seconds, there is a high chance that they will not wait for the loading time and will quickly leave the site and visit your competitor’s site.

There are some factors you cannot control, such as what device or internet connection people use to browse. However, you can make it easier for them to visit by releasing elements that you think look good (although in most cases they won’t help you convert). Examples include over-the-top videos, flash animations, or the use of numerous images, which, admittedly, in most cases do not contain the information about why users came to the website.

#7 Forget keyword stuffing!

Undoubtedly, stacking keywords on a website was once an effective practice. However, since Google’s Panda and Penguin algorithms, anyone who tries to do this can face serious penalties. Google’s algorithm is extremely efficient at identifying pages that contain keywords with inappropriate density, which in some cases can even lead to the page being removed from Google’s search results.

And the reason is very simple: content that repeats the same words over and over and over again cannot be user-friendly. And Google wants to favor users.

#8 Do not use unnatural links

Buying links may seem like a good idea to improve your website’s ranking, but in most cases, these links are of very poor quality and do more harm than good. Google considers such purchased links “unnatural” and, similar to keyword stuffing, may remove pages for them from search results. Focus on building natural Google-friendly links, such as guest blogging or other media appearances.

#9 Be present on social media

Your website represents your business. However, the users who have landed on your website are routinized enough not to believe everything you say. They will most likely look around on social media and Google Business to see what else they can find out about you. By the way, you can lose a significant amount of traffic to your website if you miss this opportunity.

#10 Count

It is not worth having a website made without taking into account the costs involved, otherwise, you could end up with a half-finished poor website. If you want a professional result, you might want to invest a bit more in your website. Design, hosting, domain, website design, SEO, text writing, images, possibly videos, social media… they all have a price. Although every solution has an even cheaper version, it is still worth investigating and comparing what you can or cannot get for the price offered.

Final Thoughts

We hope we managed to provide a general insight into the most important stages of a few basic steps of creating a website. If you keep these in mind, you will be able to enter the market with a much stronger website than the vast majority of your competitors.