Basics
Technical tips to ensure that your website is well-designed, user-friendly, secure, and optimized for search engines.
CHECKLIST:
Website Design & User Experience
Logo Visibility: Ensure your logo is displayed in clear resolution and is immediately visible when the homepage loads.
Mobile Responsiveness: Your website should automatically adjust its layout and format for any screen size, eliminating the need for zooming or excessive scrolling.
Navigation Menu: Verify that your navigation menu works seamlessly across all screen sizes, with all items, including dropdowns, being easily clickable.
Clear Call to Action (CTA): Include a prominent CTA on your homepage, guiding visitors on how to connect with you—whether it's calling, emailing, requesting a quote, or visiting your location.
Color Scheme: Ensure that your color scheme offers adequate contrast, making it easy to read content on both bright and dim screens.
Search Bar: Implement a search bar for your blog or website to allow visitors to easily find the content they need.
Images of Staff and Products: Use real photos of your team, location, and products to create a personal connection with visitors, avoiding overuse of stock photos.
Content & SEO Optimization
Homepage Content: Ensure your homepage contains more than 300 words of relevant, engaging text.
Keyword-Rich Page Links: Use descriptive URLs that include keywords (e.g., "products" for your products page, "contact" for your contact page) instead of generic, alphanumeric strings.
Headings on Each Page: Utilize headings (H1, H2, etc.) to clearly define the structure of your pages and improve SEO.
Meta Descriptions: Write a unique meta description for each page to help search engines understand the content and relevance of your site.
Image ALT Tags: Add ALT tags to all images, which help search engines identify the content and improve accessibility.
Internal & External Links: Ensure internal links open in the same tab for seamless navigation, while external links open in a new tab to retain visitors on your site.
Sitemap Submission: Create and submit a sitemap to search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) to help them index all the pages on your site.
Performance & Security
Load Speed: Optimize your website to load in less than 4 seconds. Use tools like Pingdom to check and improve your site’s speed.
SSL Certificate: Ensure your website has an SSL certificate, indicated by HTTPS:// in the address bar, which secures data and boosts search engine rankings.
Backup and Monitoring: Regularly backup your website and use monitoring tools to keep track of its performance and uptime.
Professionalism & Branding
Business-Branded Email Address: Use a professional, business-branded email address (e.g., hello@yourwebsite.com) instead of generic services like Gmail or Hotmail.
Social Media Icons: Add social media icons to your website, linking to your active profiles to encourage visitors to connect with you on other platforms.
No Software Mentions in Footer: Remove any “Powered by WordPress” or similar credits in the footer to maintain a professional appearance.
Minimal Use of Bold/Capitalized Text: Use bold or capitalized text sparingly, only to emphasize key points without overwhelming the reader.
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