Web Design on a Budget: What Are the Must-Haves for My Site?

These days, owning and operating a fantastic website is less of an option and more of a prerequisite. Unfortunately, this applies just as much to those who are operating with very limited budgets available as it does to those with endless cash reserves. So for those who may not have a sizeable stockpile of capital to invest in web design and web development, what are the most important essentials that every website must present, nonetheless?

An Impressive Homepage

If your homepage doesn’t suitably impress and engage, it really doesn’t matter what you do with the rest of your website. The simple fact of the matter is that you have no longer than a few seconds to win over those visiting your website for the first time – all of which takes place on your homepage.

Simple, Elegant and Familiar Themes

When working with limited financial resources in particular, don’t fall into the trap of attempting to reinvent the wheel. Studies have shown that the vast majority of Internet users actually respond better to simple, elegant and stripped-back website themes they have become familiar with over time.

User-Friendly Design

The same also goes for the way your website operates and how visitors interact with what you have to offer. The long and short of it being that the more user friendly your website is, the better. The good news being that user friendliness often goes hand-in-hand with simplicity – you don’t need to take things to extremes simply to win over your primary target audience.

A Solid ‘About’ Page

Away from your primary landing pages, the page where you tell your visitors a little bit more about you and your business is one of the most important by far.  As such, you might want to think about taking things a little further than providing a vague description of your business and you as a person. Instead, try telling a story that has meaning, emotion and some kind of sentiment for those visiting your website. This is a great way of nurturing engagement and making connections.

Basic SEO

Contrary to popular belief, the fundamentals of search engine optimisation do not have to be prohibitively expensive. Along with an extensive range of freely available tools and plugins, you might want to think about allocating at least a small amount of cash to optimising your website, in order to make sure you gain as much exposure as possible.

A Quality Blog

Last but not least, the importance of writing an interesting, relevant and useful blog is something that extends to every business. Blogs have the power give your business a human voice and your customers a reason to both believe in you and keep coming back. If you do not have the time to look after your own blog, it’s important that you bring someone on-board who does.