The world is becoming more and more digital as the world shifts from an IRL (in real life) process of living and working to a more online-based one.
Traditionally, you would have seen a business have a brick-and-mortar store, with billboards and advertisements. Now, the most pivotal aspect of a business is not to have a store in a location but to have a website on the internet. To put that into scale, when Google was created, there were barely 2 million websites – now, there are 1.88 billion websites and growing.
Creating an online presence is crucial, regardless of whether it is for a business or an individual. As a business, you should aim to have a website that incorporates your products, services, and costs and presents a holistic view of your brand. If you are an individual, a website can work fantastically as a blog and portfolio, somewhere which shows you off as a person and also can detail you professionally as your career develops.
Web development and creation is an ever-changing landscape, and creating a website in line with this is incredibly tough. We have found the biggest web development trends in 2023 to help you get started today and build the perfect website – so follow the advice below, login to WordPress admin, and begin making the website of your dreams today:
Set Measurable Goals
Before you even begin designing your website, it’s important to have a clear visual and understanding of what you want to achieve. Do you want to generate leads, sell products, or simply provide information? Identifying your goal will help you focus on the most important elements and features of your website.
If you are an individual who is creating a website as a creative outlet, your goals and measurables will be far different than someone presenting a portfolio of their work or starting a niche website aimed at building revenue. Think about your overall purpose of creating a website and build on this.
Pick The Web Creation Platform
There are many different platforms available for building websites, including WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and more. Each platform has its own set of pros and cons, so it’s important to choose one that aligns with your needs and skills. For example, WordPress is a popular choice for those who want a lot of control and flexibility, while Wix is a good option for those who want an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface.
Overall, it is often pointed to WordPress as the best overall web creation platform, as it is open-source so can consistently be upgraded but also allows for so many more features and widgets that can aid any type of business. Ultimately, you should look at each one and look at which suits your measurable goal better.
Think About The Platforms
With the increasing veriaty of smartphones and tablets to access the internet, it’s essential to make sure your website is device-friendly. This means it should be easy to navigate and read on a small screen, and all features and functionality should work properly on a mobile device. Google also considers mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor, so a mobile-optimized website can help improve your search engine rankings.
Whenever you are building a website, you should have in mind how the user navigates your website and what device they are using to do so. WordPress has some nifty features that allow you to view your website through a mobile aspect.
Keep it Clean and Sleek
Having a clunky and messy website can be incredibly detrimental to driving traffic to your website. By keeping your web pages clean and concise, you make the design of the website more appealing to potential visitors.
Incorporate graphics and even go the extra mile and hire a freelancer from Upwork or Fiverr to create design assets and branding if you are creating a business or portfolio website. Having color schemes and high-end images can take your website to the next level.
Make the Navigation Speedy
A strong website that is well-organized and fast-loading is key to creating a positive user experience. Having a strong interlinking of webpages and functions of the website can make sure pages load fast for visitors and do not give them cause to go elsewhere. Creating a navigation menu that is not overloaded or unclear allows visitors to go wherever they want easily around the website, this is key to having an audience that boosts your website ratings.
SEO is King
Having a visually-attractive and fast-loading website is important, but it is equally important if not more to have search engine optimization in mind when creating your web content. This means you should be looking at how you approach keyword ranking and the kind of content you are ranking. You are making a critical SEO error if you do not look at how you create meta titles, meta descriptions, alt text behind your images, H1 and H2 tags, and more.
Boost Your Website’s Security
Keeping your website secure and safe is crucial, and can be done by making sure you use 2FA (2-Factor Authentication) and strong passwords when you log in to your web hosting platform, making sure your website has the most updated plugins and software so you have the best security and ensuring you have a web application firewall (WAF) to protect against web vulnerabilities.