With the internet being vaster than ever before, and websites, regardless of the quality of their content, are likely to be buried and ignored. For better or worse, it takes more than stellar, engaging content to make a website successful. With this being the case, it is typical for there to be many mistakes that are overlooked when creating or editing a website. In this article, we will be giving solutions to these problems as well as discussing how to update your website to set yourself apart from the competition.
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1. Function Over Form
The facts go like this: you could have the most aesthetically pleasing, entertaining, and marketable website on the planet, but, if it doesn’t work properly, people aren’t going to stick around. A nonfunctioning website is an inconvenience for visitors. It can also harm your credibility and authority.
This step doesn’t only apply to technical issues such as broken links and plugins. It also includes content that is missing or out-of-date. Formatting issues, such as your website working better on desktops than mobile devices or inconsistent style, also fall under this category. This is especially true if they affect your website’s readability and/or accessibility.
Essentially, you should make sure that each individual page on your website is running smoothly, organized, and up-to-date. It will, in the long run, make your website go over a lot better with the crowds.
2. A/B Testing
Determining the effectiveness of your website can be quite difficult, especially considering you don’t have the view of an outsider looking in. A/B testing is a rather simple method that can be used to assist you in this endeavor. This is otherwise known as the process of trial and error.
What this means, in short, is that if you’re unsure about the effectiveness of something, simultaneously test different versions of it and collect data to see which reigns supreme. For example, you could figure out whether you get more conversions with one webpage design over another.
3. Get Feedback
Sometimes the best way to set your website apart from your competition and figure out what needs to be improved is to just ask, also known as direct feedback. After so much time on the side of the creator, it can be difficult to analyze your website from a viewer’s perspective.
There are several classic ways to gain insight from your audience directly. Some common tools are polls and surveys. By using these features, you are able to find out what your audience likes, dislikes, and what they value and want in a website. Sometimes your audience is even also able to bring a topic to your attention that you are unaware of. Overall, direct feedback helps the growth of your audience since you are giving them what they want.
You should also pay attention to what others have to say online regarding not only your site but their grievances with other sites as well.
4. Learn From Your Competition
You know what they say: keep your friends close and your enemies closer. A question to ask: what are they doing to set themselves apart? Researching your competitors can be valuable by providing traffic information, what content is successful, and how to outrank other companies. By having a deep understanding of your competitors, you are able to apply this to your own website to increase the right traffic.
There are several resources that can help you research your competitors. This article can help you see what websites are doing well in regards to user experience, or UX design. These include SimilarWeb, Buzzsumo, and Ahrefs. Using these tools, among others, wisely could give your site the edge it needs.
5. Use Analytics to Your Advantage
Your analytics are an objective way to see which parts of your website are working better than others. Ahrefs.com is your most valuable tool when it comes to website analytics. Ahrefs can help you determine which pages generate the most traffic? How many people see one page, but leave immediately afterward (this is called a bounce rate) and which page is it? Which pages are visitors staying on the longest?
These simple statistics can give you valuable insight into what people want from your website once you start comparing and contrasting the data pertaining to the different parts.
6. Use Refreshing Keywords
Keywords are a key (pun intended) factor in determining how high up your website ends up in search lists. However, not just any old keywords will do.
It’s important to keep this step-in mind frequently, as the keywords that’ll be best for your website are changing all the time. Updating your keywords often is a good idea to stay current on the everchanging internet.
There are plenty of resources that can assist you in finding the best keywords for your purposes. These include Google Keyword Planner or KWFinder, a third-party tool. Google Keyword Planner is a tool that tells you what your website’s current keywords are. KWFinder, on the other hand, helps you search for more effective keywords.
7. Keep Things Fresh
One of the number one things that will set your website apart from your competition is consistently new, updated content. This will not only put your site higher up in search rankings but will invite viewers to return to your site to see the new content that they’ll grow to expect.
Some ways to accomplish this are starting a blog, adding visual elements such as infographics or videos that compliment your textual content, and updating vital parts of your site such as Contact and About pages.
As your website grows, grow with it.
A lot of what will set your website apart from your competition is basic upkeep and learning about what exactly brings visitors to your site and why. Following these 7 steps can help with remembering various housekeeping tasks. There are tools available to help you learn about and tweak the various factors that cause search engines to boost your website; the hope is that this article encourages you to look into these things and pursue them. With having this knowledge on your side, you’ll now have an advantage in the world of websites over those who do not.
