Websites in 2020
There is something magical about coming upon a website that completely transforms your life and gives you value. We all know that feeling - when you know you’ve found a website that is solid gold and share the best of a specific topic. We immediately go to bookmark and save because we immediately know we will be coming back to the site.
This is how I want your people to feel about your website. It should feel immediately compelling and straightforward, without making the visitor work to find the information.
In this blog post / podcast, I’ll walk through the elements that make up a successful website, not just to engage your existing clients but also attract new ones. This will (in turn) also make Google happy, which allows you to reach more people positively out there in the world.
Listen to the podcast episode here:
Do people read blogs?
One of the top questions I get is: do people still read blogs? I guess the real question is do people still search for things on the internet. And the answer is YES. To date, there are 3.5 billion searches per day! If you are wanting to run a successful business, then you definitely want to be part of the conversation here.
I guess the other question that goes along with that is should I be investing in a website first when starting my business and that really depends on your marketing personality, where you think your audience is searching, and what is going to keep you consistent.
Before someone buys, they usually make 6 - 8 “touches” before going for the purchase.
Having a website gives them another opportunity to get to know your business and explore your style before reaching out.
I believe that you can make a business work without a website, just like there are business that don’t use social media or others that don’t use email.
It all depends on where you are going and what stage you are in business.
I have a whole other podcast where I talk about Social Media vs. Search Marketing / ep98 (the pros and cons of each one).
Benefits of Having a Website in 2020
Here are some reasons having a website will help you in your business
Authority - having your own space on the internet, it makes you look more official. You’re able to give them a unique experience and speak to your personal mission, without worrying about other businesses to compete with in a feed. You are literally giving them a taste of what it is like to work with you and able to curate what they get out of it.
Global Data View - with your site, you can setup your Google Analytics and have a global view of all your marketing. You can see where people are coming from (Social, Email, Directly) and integrate that into your overall strategy. No other platform gives you such a neutral data view of your marketing.
Control and Ownership of your Content - There is nothing like a long form blog post with lots of information, images, and links to gain someone’s trust and build a deeper connection. You have complete control how you show the information and can guide a potential client through the journey of your website.
If we compare ownership of content, you do own all your content on social media, but they also have the right to use it freely, like on Instagram. This seems fair and similar to maybe what someone would do if they were sharing a blog post you did.
On any platform, you don’t have much control of the algorithm and just like we saw in the Facebook Algorithm change of 2018, things can change pretty quickly for businesses who post to any social media platform.
I think the point here is to not put all your eggs in one basket. It’s important to have a focused marketing strategy that highlights your services/products best, while complementing what you enjoy doing.
Here is another podcast I did that talks about the different types of marketing and how to find the right combination for you and your business.
Automatically getting ranked in Google - With all the searches happening per day, isn’t it awesome to think that you can help someone who is searching for exactly what you wrote about? Having a site allows you to help more people with your content, knowledge, and experience.
You can also streamline your website content with the rest of your marketing so it doesn’t feel you are having to go against the content creation flow.
5 Functionalities your Website Needs to Have in 2020
Here are five functionalities that I think are crucial to have an awesome website in 2020:
Clean Organization & Navigation - this means you aren’t making people work to find your about page, services page, and contact page. Things should be stupidly easy to find and straightforward. I’m not saying boring, but simple and clean is the direction I’m going for.
If you are craving doing some abstract or cryptic on your site, like naming the about page, “single universe” , then I recommend you start a separate site to express these experiments. Or try it out on your social media platforms.
Some might argue that having a unique navigation is part of “branding”. However, if someone is struggling to figure out how to hire you, then your “branding” is impacting your profitability. Keep it simple friends.
Easy Search Functionality Across Your Site
Along the same lines, if someone is looking for something specific on your website, it is important to make their life easy. That is why search bars were invented!
Having one on the blog page is great, but even consider one for your podcast page or any other areas of your site that have a lot of different content.
Think about it from the users side: if they have a huge chunk of information on a page that they are scrolling through but it isn’t presented in any particular order or organization, you get demotivated fast.
Adding a search bar takes less than a few minutes and immediately improves the experience.
Friendly Mobile version
At the end of 2019, over 50% of all searches were done from a mobile device. Basically, having a good mobile experience is key.
One of the fastest ways to check this is by minimizing the browser (with your mouse) until it is simulating the size of a mobile device. Your website will switch to the mobile responsive version. Click around and check that everything is working, and more specifically make sure:
There aren’t any popups (opt-ins, ads) that are too big to remove
Images are too large
Text size too small
It is always good to check on your phone (and other phones) as well but I find the browser the fastest way to see how your site responds.
Fast Website
Google has analyzed their data when looking at site speed and anything that is beyond 4 - 5 second load time guarantees a lost visit.
Some tools you can use to test site speed:
-> https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ (the speed will change depending on where your site is hosted and where you are located)
Easy ways to speed up your site:
Minimize and compress images (you can use TinyPng and TinyJpg for compression)
Remove unnecessary plugins and apps from your site
Combine and minimize all CSS files
Bonus Tip: Have amazing content!
How can you blow your audience away with your site? Creating content that is insanely valuable that they’ve never seen anywhere else. This will not only make your memorable, but actually impact their life and business.
Consider the following questions:
What actions do you want people to take after reading your blog?
What easy tips/steps can you share that will provide results?
How do you work with your clients and how can you share some of that “vibe” into your free content?
Making amazing content can be time consuming (and brain consuming!) but it is so worth it because once someone reaches out from your site, they will be ready to hire you!
To wrap up, here are some upcoming trends that we are seeing in terms of website design to inspire you. Get more information about each of these at 99designs, and designmodo.com.
Dark mode
Hand drawn Elements
Minimalism / White space
3d Elements
That’s all my friends! Let me know in the comments how you are feeling about your site right now playing an active role in your business marketing and what changes you’d like to make in the next little bit.
Thank you!
Cinthia P.