7 Things to Know About Website Development
Do you want to build a website?
With over 1.8 billion websites in the world, making it stand out is difficult. You have lots of considerations, like striking a balance between design and usability. If you aren’t adept with these concepts, you’ll feel overwhelmed.
In this guide, we’ll broaden your medical website design and development knowledge. Read on and make the best website now:
1. Avoid Using Too Much Text
Regardless of your target audience, having less text means gaining more interest. It’s a critical tip if your website will cater to teenagers and young adults. After all, these age groups often have no patience to read vital information if they’re too long.
One possible reason for the shorter attention span is the constant barrage of information and content. Use small paragraphs with three lines are optimal in capturing everyone’s attention. You can also use bulleted lists and headers to divide your content into smaller sections.
If your website only has text, you’ll overburden your audience’s boredom. It makes them click away, lowering your search engine rankings. Break the monotony with pictures and other visual elements.
Be mindful when putting these images. If you put too much, it will make your website load slower. People won’t wait more than three seconds before clicking away.
2. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness
Your website’s layout and look are vital to your web development efforts. After all, a lot of users oAjPqU-b7e1db only spend a few seconds on your landing page. It’s why giving a good first impression is a must.
Nowadays, the majority of people use their mobile devices to surf the internet. It’s been a rising trend over the past years without signs of abating. If your website development project neglects mobile responsiveness, it could harm your future SEO rankings.
Mobile internet users will leave a website if it lacks a responsive design. Your bounce rate increases, thus making your website less visible online. It goes against the goal of making users spend more time on your website.
3. Invest in Reliable Hosting
A web host will house your website content. They own large server farms connected to the internet. If you have no host, you can’t make your content available online.
It’s possible to host your content using your computer or server. However, your website will lack the same level of security and service hosting companies provide.
Your choice of a web host will affect various website aspects, such as:
- Uptime
- Speed
- Security
- Functionality
All these factors will impact your SEO rankings. It’s why you must invest in a good web host. Ensure they guarantee over 99.5% uptime since anything below 99% leads to lost opportunities.
Aside from uptime, think about the host’s data security, storage allocation, traffic limits, and customer support. Most reputable services use a tiered system, enabling you to pick the right package for your needs.
4. Consider On-Page and Off-Page Optimization
When talking about SEO, people are referring to on-page optimization strategies. You’ll use content and make it attractive enough for search engines like Google.
It’s one of the primary focuses of your web development project. Without optimizing your on-page content, your website will rank lower. It applies regardless of how well you design other elements.
Think about your user experience while designing your website content. Consider how users navigate your pages. If you think they’ll experience difficulties, improve your design.
As for off-page optimization, it’s all about marketing and promoting your website. You’ll lose link building methods and social media platforms. It aims to increase your website authority to bring in more traffic.
5. Use Google Analytics
Once you build your website, it’s best to use Google Analytics. It’s a valuable tool for any website owner. The best part is it’s free and easy to use.
The tool gives rich insights into the number of people visiting your website. It also mentions the way they found you and whether they are repeat visitors. The best part is the tool also tells you about your current audience demographic.
Gleaning these data from Google Analytics lets you know whether your marketing efforts are effective. It also tells you the best methods to attract more visitors. You’ll learn about the types of visitors most likely to take your desired action.
6. Use Plugins
Plugins improve your website functionality. If you’re using WordPress as a platform, you’ll have themes with several plugins at your disposal. You can add more plugins to suit your website requirements.
Many plugins are free to use, while others offer premium options. If you want to make the most out of your investment, get premium ones. These plugins will charge a monthly or yearly fee, but they’re worth your money.
You can install your desired plugins from within your website back-end. An alternative is to download them from the developer’s site. Upload the zip file into your website before activating it.
Pick the settings to make it fit your website design. Sometimes, the plugin creates a widget you can drag and drop into the proper area. Other plugins work behind the scenes to optimize your website performance.
7. Optimize Loading Speeds
Your loading speed can affect your online reputation. As said before, everyone’s attention spans are decreasing. You have lots of actionable steps to speed up your website performance.
First, compress your images and use JPEG instead of PNG. The latter is a lossless format, allowing it to retain the original image quality. However, the former’s slightly lower resolution is negligible since it loads faster.
If you want other ways of optimizing your website speed, hire a web developer. They will help your website development project in all its aspects. They are a valuable asset if you want to save in the long run.
Start a Website Development Project Now
These are some pointers to learn when dabbling in website development. If you have no time to learn, consider getting a professional web developer instead.
However, searching for a reputable company will take a while. Be patient and never jump at the cheapest cost.
Did this guide help? Visit our website for more.
