Any website is a particular combination of web pages, which are logically combined between each other. Properly structured website is the main key to qualitative and efficient promoting a chosen business model.
To develop a qualitative website, you should just need to follow some rules which are very simple in their nature but, at the same time, they are the milestones to build the fundamental principles and methodologies of any web development.
The following information will be completely dedicated to a thorough analysis of all crucial elements which build any website.
HTML – tag <TITLE>
The page’s title is a very important element on any website. From the point of view of user navigation, it should completely describe the content presented on the page to inform the customer of the website what he/she can find there and make him/her completely confident that he/she is now in the right place.
The page’s name should be completely connected with the process of SEO optimization to make all search engines understand what is the topic of the site, so it’s recommended to include keywords in the web page title’s body.
If we talk about the product detail page, for example, it’s recommended to use the name of the promoted product.
In the case of more socially-oriented content, such as text messages, in the form of a blog, you should also take into account how much the title is attractive to users. Since in this case, we count not only on trivial clicking on the placed URLs on the search engines but also on social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Company logo
The logo of a company is also a very important element of modern web branding.
A modern logo:
- Is a qualitatively designed, balanced image, whose structure is out of unnecessary elements;
- Has a bright design which attracts customers even from a cursory glance;
- Has a unique graphic image which clearly demonstrates relevant traded services or commercial offers;
- Matches the name of the company;
- Contains particular inscriptions made in the readable font;
- Looks good both in a color and in black-white;
- Looks good in the structure of web page and as printed.
Company tagline
A company tagline is a unique expression consisting of 3-7 words and located under the company’s logo.
Development of good tagline needs the same time and money as creating a unique logo. In combination with the logo, the tagline can provoke in the mind of potential customers particular opinions about this company and completely show the services it offers, etc.
Personalized content
Particularly structured content:
- Offers every user of a website the content which is completely connected with their previous actions on other pages of this portal;
- Selects and edits the offers on the basis of demographic, age and other data;
- Analyzes the behavior of ф potential user in areal-time mode and complies with particular call-to-action (a well-known CTA);
- Shows a necessary message to a customer in the most suitable time.
Shopping cart link
Hyperlink to the page of a shopping cart should be clearly visible and located at the top right corner of a web page.
It’s better when there is a mini version of the shopping cart which will be displayed in the pop-up window after hovering the mouse over the cart or the product’s link.
Internal search
Many companies emphasize their rate according to the data of Google but at the same time, they tend to completely ignore the possibilities of internal searching on the pages of a particular website.
The possibility of displaying the search on the site’s pages allows not only to improve the perception and trust to the graphical interface but also to optimize the internal structure of the website.
Main functions of internal search on the site
- Navigation. Such a search allows users to immediately move to a necessary page which attracted him/her before. Such a functional logic immediately moves a customer to the place which he/she wants to visit since he/she wants to find a particular product, service or contact information. Many users of the site tend to interfere with the internal search to quickly and properly resolve the relevant business tasks;
- Information. Analyzing what and how users search on the site with the help of functions of internal search, we can understand what content should be deleted and whether we should change the structure of the site to show only the most viewed topics and commercial offers while visiting the site. Also, if there is a tendency that users of the site try to find the content which has not been published yet, we can create separate pages, blogs or publish thematic online journals oriented for such requests. Using internal search analytics allows to distinguish evident issues and flaws of the site navigation and optimize the structure of the pages. After resolving these issues, users will have a possibility to quickly access the necessary content by using keywords or transaction pages in a form of contact pages or information forms.
Link to About page
The role of a link to about page is often underestimated though some web analytics are sure that the link to about page that is easily memorized can form in the user’s memory the unique identity on the viewed portal.
Link to Contact page
Contact details should include the signals of trust such as phone numbers, relevant address, email address and other means of communication.
Active navigation tab/inactive tab
According to the established standards, only one tab should stand out on the navigation panel – the one a user uses now. This may be achieved by using the unique highlight, font modification or by other capabilities of CSS.
Navigation block
Navigation block is an integral part of the informational structure of the site when it connects the content and ease of reference. With the help of the navigation block, the users can find the information they are looking on the website for and also comfortably navigate through the developed logic of the portal.
Actually, the navigation structure of the site should simplify the interaction between the user and the provided content.
Breadcrumb trail links
Obviously, breadcrumbs are very important for comfortable interaction with any website since they show a user where exactly he/she is now.
Sometimes surfing the portal’s pages leads us to internal categories and subcategories and the breadcrumbs allow us to quickly return to the links of the first level, regardless what page has been primarily opened by a user.
The breadcrumbs trail links are very important for SEO optimization of the site since they simplify the work for search engines by identifying the current structure of the portal.
Using the layout of microdata allows to display the information in a form of breadcrumbs in the search results instead of classic URL addresses – they display the name of the site and the link to breadcrumbs.
Breadcrumbs are a very good signal of trust which increases the above-mentioned CTR.
Primary header
Almost all search engines study the page from top to bottom.
The <header></header> block contains the important data for search bots, some of which is not even visible to users.
Main body copy
Creating the text for a web portal is made not only for users but also for search engines. The copy should be completely unique (original), with compulsory usage of a group of keywords and synonyms in the most suitable sense.
The copy should be correct and descriptive, pointing the users’ attention to the products and services, designed for a potential client who was interested in the available commercial offer. To make the copy memorable, it should be created with cognitive easiness – do not use jargon and use expressions and words which are easy for a user to understand.
Using simple and clear expressions takes the cognitive pressure off, making text content more compelling and trustworthy for users.
Product photos
Any image is easier to memorize than the text and most Internet users view products and services by looking only on the published images.
For promoted products and services, it’s necessary to use only qualitative and clear images and leave for them the maximum available place. You may also think how to add zooming and scaling to the display settings.
The pictures should be thematic by default and also, and also there should be additional images, which, in their turn, include various colors.
Secondary titles
At the top of the page, only H1 tag, whose body contains all keywords, should be displayed.
Another part of the content should be divided into relevant header tags which meet the general hierarchy (the sequence of headers from H! to H6). They should also include keywords.
Call to action
Call to action is a special call to action for a user on the pages of a web portal. There are different types of CTA.
Awareness CTA is a type of actions connected with the offer on the portal’s homepage which helps a customer to get more details about the information he/she is interested in.
Consideration CTA is a call to actions connected with the content which help to resolve issues and tasks of a user, which were the reason for him/her to visit the website.
Decision CTA is call-to-action connected with the offer to try a product or service, such as a demo version of the software or offering a test period to study the capabilities of the promoted web product.
The most important CTA should be located at the top part of the site, not needing to scroll the page down.
Usually, the CTA button increases the customer conversion 2,5 times and a big bright button – 5 times.
Email this page link
It helps to open a mail client by default to send a mail, which contains the link to this page, to another user.
Social media links
In order to make the users of a particular website buy the products and use offered services, a seller or distributor of services should make them trust him/her.
Besides good design, UX and content, the users’ trust could be increased by adding to a site so-called trust signals such as online chat with company managers, contact detail block, reviews page, the company page in popular social networks.
All signals of trust should convince a user that a site is directed by real and honest people, that a company of the site is a successful and experienced business player and that you should it.
Related internal links
Commercial profit of the site partially depends on internal links too. This happens because:
- They allow to transmit the authority of a link from one page to another (search optimization process);
- They lead the customers to the pages with higher value and conversion (well-known usability);
- They play the role of CTA (optimization of current conversion).
Footer links
In the context of any web template, users would like to study the information displayed at the footer of the page such as the links to the “about us” or “contact us” page.
There is an opinion that users who completely studied the content of a web page are already interested, so you should additionally add some CTA to the footer of the page, for example, subscription to the news.
Privacy policy link
It is a particular web page with confirmed approval, which clearly defines whether the site is collecting the personal data, what exactly is collected and for what purposes.
Alternative titles to this page:
- Privacy statement
- Privacy notice
- Privacy information
- Privacy page
It’s better when a user has a choice to agree on using his/her personal data and there is access to configure what types of cookie files he/she would like to use on a particular web resource.
Site map link
It’s the link to the site map which:
- Is a tool of simplifying access to the most important parts of the portal;
- Helps a client to study the whole structure of the site.
The version of the site map which is showed to a client is different from XML map, whose task is to interfere with search bots in the process of identification.
RSS feed link
It contains the link to the subscription to RSS (Rich Site Summary) which is actually a web form for publishing the information.
RSS gives the possibility to inform the subscribers that the new content has been published.
Contact information
It contains the block of the most important contacts, for users to instantly connect with the company.
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