WordPress Tips

In our last post, we began a list of 10 must-have elements to include on your WordPress website. If you are a business, you need all of these items to help ensure your success. Here is a continuation of that list.

4. Clear Navigation

A map is useless without a legend and a website is useless without clear navigation. This is not the section to use whimsical or unusual language. Use easy-to-understand and logical names for the various pages of your site — contact, about, FAQ, etc.

This is when you want to develop your call to action. What do you want the visitor to do on your site? Should they email you for a quote? Or, do you want them to place an order, become a member, subscribe to a newsletter, or visit your brick-and-mortar store? Make the objectives clear.

We suggest that you put yourself in the shoes of who’s coming to your site. What are they trying to get done? Think about the goal of your potential customer. Include action items throughout the site to help customer easily do what you want them to do.

5. Security

If you are accepting payments online, you must put significant effort into securing your site with an SSL certificate. The SSL will encrypt communications between you and your clients (i.e. a credit card number, Social Security number), which will allay their fears of providing such information, since there’s so much identity theft on the web.

6. Social Media Integration

Perhaps you’re not personally into tweeting. However, much of the world and your potential customers are. Facebook. Twitter, Instagram. LinkedIn. Google+. YouTube. Tumblr, Foursquare. Embrace at least several platforms. You should promote your presence on them on your website, because social media is critical part of marketing your business.

Integrating these platforms into your website will help boost your SEO, improve your business footprint on the social web and build your following across numerous social platforms. Is it worth it to maintain a presence on so many social platforms? Yes — as long as you actually maintain your content, you’ll keep your brand top-of-mind and keep users engaged.

7. A Mobile-Ready Version

Smartphones and tablets are driving a majority of web traffic now, and the numbers are only going to grow as mobile devices become cheaper and more mainstream. According to Andy Chu, director of Bing for Mobile, 70 percent of task completion occurs within one hour on mobile sites, meaning that people are often browsing on the web with intent — they’re looking to do something, buy something or go somewhere.

Until only recently, web development was targeting desktop computers. Today it means anything with an internet connection, and this includes laptops, tablets and smartphones, all of which have different screen sizes. So, how is this accomplished? With responsive design.

Responsive website design enables you to use fluid widths, so that your website layout will adapt to the screen on which it’s being browsed. Your web developer can enter HTML code that your sidebar takes up, say 20% of the screen width, and the remaining 80% is reserved for the body of your website. Layouts are adjustable and images are scalable to make for a better web experience on myriad devices.

We have a few more important elements to include in your business WordPress website. We will finish this series in the next post and take a look at those. You may be building your own site, or you may be seeking a professional website developer.

We encourage you to ask us for a quote. We offer free estimates, and our experience is extensive. We won’t let you let a single key item slip through the cracks. Contact us for a professional, well-designed WordPress website.