Building a website in 2022 is not the same as building one in the 2000s. Things have changed drastically and as they say, if you don’t change with the times, you will get left behind. We’ve had a myriad of changes in the website world since its inception, but to get ahead today, you must actually do certain things. The formula for success is the same for all, but it’s just not the same as it used to be.
The first thing you must do is have an attractive website. It doesn’t mean it has to be attractive to everybody, just good enough for your target consumers. Sort of like viewing a car from outside and suggesting you like how it looks which encourages you to enter it, however, when you enter the car, hopefully it runs right. So we need something decently attractive to your target audience in order to convince them to get into your car.
Next thing we need is functionality. That’s amazingly important because that’s the whole point of the website. If you have all these nice looking things but nothing actually works and you don’t retain the information from the person filling out the form on the website. Then what a waste of time and money right. If the functionality doesn’t work, my goodness. Imagine this scenario .. what a gorgeous looking car .. I can’t wait to show off in it, then after getting into the car, you can’t go anywhere because it doesn’t start. Wow, what a waste of my time and effort. What are we doing here? I guess I have to catch the bus now? Design and programming (or look and functionality) have always been required for a successful website. It needs to be beautiful to your audience and it needs to be functional. Functionality is way more important than beauty.
But in 2022, that’s no longer enough. Now you need to not only make it beautiful, it needs to be responsive. You cannot control the device that somebody uses when they visit your website. They may use a phone, an iPad, a laptop, a regular desktop computer, a wide screen monitor, and even a TV screen. There’s no telling what device is next to access the web so just ensure your website can respond to any device and screen sizes. Based on how the potential client chooses to access your website, you now have to respond to that and give them a good experience.
Because if your website looks good on a desktop and then you move to the phone and it looks like this could use some work or you move to the iPad and things are jumping around. Now it no longer looks good anymore, right (although it looks good on the desktop so you thought you had box 1 checked off). This implies that your website must be responsive. This in 2022 is pretty much a must. If you don’t have a responsive website, you’re going to miss out on business for absolutely no reason. In 2022, users search on their mobile device more than they do on their desktops.
Finally, you must have SEO and targeted keywords. You build a website so it can be found. It can be found when it is targeted properly, just like your business. If you don’t have targeted keywords with SEO built in from get go, then you’re just on an island. Keep in mind you can use private networks for intercommunication, so there should never be a case where a public website does not take advantage of SEO and the free traffic it can bring for years to come. If you have someone close to your business that needs what you provide, why in the world would you want to miss out on that most likely repeat business because you don’t want to invest in SEO? Surely doesn’t seem to make too much sense.
Now it’s possible you say I don’t care about random website visitors, this is just for my visitors that come into my physical store. I can understand that but as I’ve said, missing out on SEO makes no sense. It’s just additional clients and you have no clue what that could bring or where it could lead. SEO targets the whole entire world. Why not entertain the world. If you don’t play you can’t win so you might as well get in the game from the get go.
Those are the things that all websites must have today in today’s web. SEO, targeted keywords, responsive design, functionality, and of course beauty. Without those things, I don’t think it’s really all that important to build a website. It may make more sense to put that money to better use in your other areas of marketing. But with those things in place and a good marketing campaign, my my my the sky is the limit for you and your business here in the good ‘ol US of A.
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