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6 tips for a successful website

Having a website of your own is more important than ever for companies today. Just being online increases the visibility, relevance, and attention for your private projects enormously.

To help ensure that you have a successful website, there are various recommendations you can take to make sure your online presence is appealing and user-friendly for your visitors.

1. Less is More: A simple design increases the aesthetic impact of your website.

The vast majority of website visitors prefer an easy-to-understand, clear and modern website design that best highlights the content. You can impact these positively by following the points below.

 

Text and Fonts

Ideally, use sans serif fonts, such as Arial or Open Sans, for the body text. Longer text is usually easier to read on the screen with such fonts.

If possible, use only one font on your website. Or, for example, use a font with serifs for your headlines and a font without serifs for your body text. This allows you to achieve a harmonious typeface that optimally supports the legibility of your content.

 

Line Length and Characters Per Line

For the most readable texts, use about 40 - 60 characters per line. With shorter lines, eyes must jump more often, which interrupts the reading flow. Alternatively, lines that are too long make it difficult to jump from one line to the next.

 

Colors

When choosing colors, make sure that there is plenty of contrast between the font color and the background color to make the text easy to read. For example, do not use blue text on a black background or white text on a yellow background. Your visual language is also ideally matched to your color choices.

Note

For MyWebsite users, we offer you a wide range of fantastic design templates that you can choose at any time. These are already perfectly matched to your industry or project. By using our designs, you ensure that your website has an attractive layout, with matching colors, fonts and images. If you use a Content Management System (CMS), such as WordPress, you will find under "Design" many modern themes that provide a very good basis for your website.

2. Usability and User Guidance: Control your visitors with a visual hierarchy through your website.

The visual hierarchy determines the order in which the elements on the page are perceived by the human eye. This allows you to draw the attention of your website visitors to important messages that end with a call to action. You determine the visual hierarchy of your website mainly with the size, color, contrasts, arrangement and repetition of text and image elements. You can also draw the attention of your visitors to certain areas of your website via the spatial proximity.

The most important criteria for the visual hierarchy of a website are:

  • Position (high or low on the page)
  • Size (large or small)
  • Images (video, images, symbols)
  • Contrast (color and white space)

For example, each visitor will see a video placed high up on a page. Text will be more likely read when combined with interesting images.

3. Accuracy and Uniqueness: Use clear headings and keywords.

Precise and clear wording is especially important for all texts on your website so that visitors can easily understand the most important messages. Try to write unique, compelling and attention-grabbing texts with a clear reference to your industry or project.

At the same time, high-quality texts represent a real added value for your visitors, and search engines also rate the relevance of the content positively. Below you will find some tips for headings and texts.

Headings

You'll probably feel that your headlines need to be extravagant or original. Don't worry, that's usually not the case. Most successful websites use descriptive headlines that convey a clear message and tell visitors at first glance whether they are "in the right place".

The heading should be both short and meaningful. Try to limit yourself to the essentials.

Content

Your content is the key to a successful website. Describe your products and services as briefly as possible, but as long as necessary, because most people don't like to read much text. Ideally, use synonyms and semantically related terms for your keywords.

Try to differentiate yourself from your competitors with your own style and choice of words. Give your visitors information they will otherwise find hard to find, except for you. This allows you to encourage your visitors to read your content.

4. Visual Language and Quality: Make sure that your images match the page content and have the right resolution.

Images are a great way to visualize your content and messages. However, there are a few basic things to consider before you publish your website with images:

  • The content and messages of your website must match your images. A simple example is the industry suitability: If you are a butcher, you should not see a picture of a bakery on your website. If you are a shoemaker, you should not visualize the content with the pictures of a restaurant.
  • Choose the optimal resolution so that your images are displayed with the necessary sharpness and the loading times of your website remain within reasonable limits. The right balance is particularly important here: The images must not be blurred to provide added value for your website visitors. However, if the file size of your images is too large, this will have a negative effect on the loading and response time of your website.

5. Navigation and Page Structure: Create easy to understand names for your navigation points and make sure that the links are correct

A clear and simple navigation helps search engines and your visitors to find their way around your website better. Make it as easy as possible for your visitors to switch from general content to specific information.

The reference of the navigation to the content should be visible at all times. Also, make sure that the link targets of the individual navigation points are correct and do not lead to nothing. Almost nothing is more frustrating for website visitors than a broken link that does not jump to the desired or expected content.

Search engines also benefit to a certain extent from clear navigation and can thus determine what role a particular page plays in the overall structure of the website.

6. Final Check of Your Website Before Publication

Before you publish your website, you should take a close look at it and check the following points:

  • All planned topics are presented with elaborate and appealing content.
  • All relevant pages, texts, images and elements are available.
  • Visitors will find your contact information and an imprint.
  • The navigation is logical and follows a red thread. Tip: If you are unsure, ask a friend or colleague to test the navigation and the links.
  • Check the mobile view of your website on a smartphone and tablet. With almost all website construction kits and CMS (Content Management Systems) you can simulate the mobile view on your PC and test it directly.

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