In this series of articles we hope to empower you with the knowledge to start looking at your existing website and evaluate how well your website performs in terms of page loading speeds, natural SEO progression and usability across devices.
This article will cover page load speed, how to test and how to improve before you need to speak to any developers to make potentially costly changes,
The speed of your website is often the first impression a potential customer will have, eith attention spans shorter then ever having a website that loads quickly will greatly reduce the chances of a visitor to your site getting fed up and searching elsewhere for a product or service that you can provide them with.
Generally speaking the speed of your website comes down to three main factors namely the server and its internet connection, how well the site has been optimised and lastly the size and number of files that get delivered to your customers when they view our website.
This tends to be an iterative process following 3 main steps.
- Run tests on one or more of your pages
- Identify any potential issues
- Where possible fix these issues
Once you have completed step 3 you can re-run the same tests to see if the changes you have made have improved the speed of your website.
Testing pages of your website could not be easier there are hundreds of tools out there and at AME WebTech we want our customers (should they wish) to test their website to see how goof of a job we have done,
Two of the main tools used by website owners and developers are GT-Metrix and Googles Page Speed Insights both of them work by making a request to the URL you enter and checking factors such as how long does it take for your web server to respond to how large are the images and could they be reduced in file size to make them more efficient.
Each of them scores your website out of 100, almost no sites ever score 100 unless they are really simple however acheiving a score over 70 is pretty easy, at AME WebTech we strive to get scores above 85 for page insights and page speed test on GTMetrix.
It should be noted that it may not be possible to remedy all issues however if something can be fixed it should be as the end result could be more customers contacting you or increasing sales.
There are some things all websites need and others that are specific to requirement and different sectors and organisation rather then just telling you how great a website we can make for you we thought letting you know what your website will and can include we thought it better to tell you what you will and can have.
Site Structure
Planning the correct site architecture will make your site easily to navigate for both people and search engines
Navigation
Your site needs to be easily navigated by your customers, making good use of menus and positioning of links will help ensure they find what they are looking for
Responsive Design
Responsive websites ensure your website looks great and helps guarantee customers will find what they are looking for on any device
Images and Video
Making use of multimedia elements to engage your customers will make your site more memorable and informative
Contact Forms
Making it even easier for people to contact you no need to open outlook of pick up the phone
Browser Compatable
Works on all the latest web browsers (Chrome, IE, Edge, Fire Fox and Safarii)
Legal / GDRP Compliant
Ensuring the safety of data is a legal requirement with in the EU and UK our websites make every effort to ensure you are working with in these rules
Site Speed
Ensuring a fast delivery of every page keeps people interested as there is no waiting around
SEO Optimised
Ensuring your content is easily read not just by visitors to your site but also all the search engines to ensure the best possible position on the rankings
Search
Being able to search your own content means customers are less likely to leave your site to search google again
Accessibility
Not everyone has 20 20 vision, why not make your site more accessible and available for people with differing abilities
Cookie Notice
Ensuring every user is informed and given the option to turn cookies on to your site
Security
Keeping your site secure and recoverable is of the highes priority we aim to stop all attacks but if the worst happens we also backup and restore sites
Manageable
You and or your marketing team will be able to keep your site up to date with intuitive website management systems
Analytics
All websites are set up to allow tracking of visitors and can be extended to capture conversions
Why Choose Us For Website Development
Building a great website starts with listening and understanding your requirements before choosing the right platform and developing anything, once the investigation and ground work is complete we then take 15 years of experience to develop a functional, responsive, scalable and engaging website.
Having a secure, fast and manageable site that works across all devices is great, knowing your customers will have the best chance of finding what they are looking for is even better however to give a great impression having additional features and content will provide a higher ranking in google and also increase the chances of a potential customer to get in contact with you.
Case studies
Let future customers see what work you have done in the past
News/Press Releases
Publishing more formally the things that your company has been up to
Pictures and Galleries
Show off galleries of images and video to show your products and services in action
Multi Language/Country
Reaching customers around the world with different languages by making your website multi-lingual.
Social Networking
Publishing content on social networks and getting likes and tweets of your pages
Calendar of Events
Telling your customers if you have open days or will be at a trade show or for sports teams when games are happening
Meet the Team
Having a brief description and contact information about key members of the team can help engage with customers
Maps and Directions
A lot of organisations still need people to come through that front door so lets make sure they can find their way
Products
Just because you are not selling products doesn’t mean you cant advertise them on your website
Newsletter Subscriptions
Despite GDRP it is still legal to get visitors to your site to subscribe to your news letter
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
If people are always asking the same questions why not put that information out there
Blog/Vlog
Having a blog is a great way of adding that information to your website that doesn’t really fit any where else but also can give a great engaging graphical experience to visitors.
Testimonials
Has someone ever written in to say how great a job you have done? why not publish it to give others a positive impression on the quality of your work
Jobs Board/Vacancies
Not everyone visiting your site is looking to buy something you never know your next sales person could be looking at your site right now
Call To Action
Highlighting key services, features that your organisation has to offer will ensure customer know where to click to find what they are looking for
Animation
It;’s having a come back and it doesn’t need to be complex and crazy, having animated pages that guide your customer through services can be an immersive and memorable. (see our home page)
