30 essential tips for improving your website design in 2021

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30 essential tips for improving your web design
in 2021
How to improve my business website? The above
question is probably one of the most frequent
questions I am asked by my web development
clients. It is not a simple question to answer as
every client website project is different, but
there are some common aspects of web design which
all business can take advantage of. So, you are
probably thinking that the content below is a lot
to think about, especially if you are new to
business or website design. Not to worry, my
goal in the article is to breakdown each point
and clearly explain why each point is an
important factor for improving your website.
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• Table of Content
• Make an action plan
• Clear branding
• Selecting domain names
• Get some decent website hosting
• Use clear terminology and avoid too many acronyms
• Build subpages for different services or products
• Grammar and spelling
• Create clear-call-to-action
• Create a static navigation
• Create a user-friendly website navigation
• Use images that are suitable for your target
  audience
• Fill your home page with lots of useful content
• Add whitespace to let your website breathe
• Optimise header tags
• Optimise page titles
• Optimise for mobile devices
• Optimise images and alt tags

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• 30 Tips for improving your web design
• Make an action plan
• Dont jump in headfirst when designing or
  re-designing your website. The first goal should
  be to go and research your top competitors. Lets
  say for example you are starting a car breakdown
  recovery business. Why not go to Google and
  search for the term car breakdown recovery,
  check out the top 10 competitors and look closely
  at their website navigation and page content.
• There is a good reason why these websites are
  listed on the first page of Google, they must be
  doing something right! So, the idea here is we do
  not need to reinvent the wheel, someone has
  done most of the hard work for you. We simply
  need to do better!
• Once you have analysed your competitors, you can
  start to build your primary navigation for your
  website.
• In our car breakdown recovery business example
  the navigation might look like this
• Home
• Breakdown Emergency
• Services
• Useful Tips
• Areas We Cover
• FAQs
• Contact
• Get Quote

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• The next goal is to Map out your individual
  services or products. Each service or products
  should have a dedicated page. Why? Its simple,
  if you have a dedicated page for each service or
  product your offer, then you can accurately
  target your potential customers. Do not make the
  mistake of listing all your services on a single
  page.
• In this example car breakdown recovery website,
  the services listed as follows
• 24/7 Recovery
• Vehicle Transportation
• Pick and Drop Service
• Dealership, Fleet Trade
• Scrap Car Disposal
• Motorbike Recovery
• Vehicle Body Work
• Car Service
• MOT
• Mechanical Work
• Vehicle Electrician
• Jump Start
• A task for you Now open your favourite text
  editor (Libre Office Writer) and bullet list your
  top navigation and services or products.

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• Yes, you can use one of those cheap DIY logo
  websites, but having a unique brand with some
  thought behind it can
• Help you stand out from your competitors
• Improve your company image
• Convey the right message about your business
• At DCP we understand that your company brand is
  one of the most important marketing tools. After
  all your logo is will be seen in many different
  locations online and offline.
• At DCP we have a simple strategy for designing a
  company logo. If the logo does not tell you what
  the businesses are about in 2 seconds, then the
  design is simply not good enough.
• Breakdown recovery example logo design concepts

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The above logos designs were sent to the client
to be reviewed. The client liked the middle logo
the most, but we agreed on some
improvements. The feedback for the logo was
noted as revised as shown below
We improved the size and shape of the car in the
final design below
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• What is most important about the logo above is a
  clear and concise message. It is super simple to
  understand within a few seconds. For me, that is
  most important when designing a company brand.
• You can view many more example logos I have
  created for my clients in my Lo go Design Po rtfo
  lio.
• Selecting domain names
• So far, we have structured website navigation and
  a clear company brand. Now It is time to purchase
  domain names.
• The list below a just a few websites where you
  can register domain names
• https//www.namecheap.com - Domains from 0.99
• https//uk.godaddy.com - Save 30
• https//www.123-reg.co.uk - Domains from 0.99
• Again, just like the company brand, the domain
  name should also be clear and concise.
• For the breakdown project the following domains
  were registered by the client
• www.breakdownltd.co.uk

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• The problem is you have no control over that
  domain, and someone can easily build a competitor
  website. If 20 of your customers type in your
  website address with a .com at the end so go
  directly to your competitors website, then that
  cannot be a good scenario.
• Trust me, I had to wait 8 years to get the .com
  version of my domain name!
• Why register domains yourself?
• I hate to say it, but there are some web
  developers out there that are not so nice. I can
  mention the number of times I have worked with a
  new client and the domains were registered by the
  previous developer located somewhere overseas. It
  has always been a pain in the arse to get those
  domains transferred. Even some cheeky bugger
  wanted
• 1000 per domain!
• So, the lesson is simple, you should have full
  control over your domains and save yourself the
  stress. Registering domains is super simple and
  only takes a few minutes to complete, so no
  excuses or co ntact me if you need help!
• 4. Get some decent website hosting
• Have you ever been to a website that takes ages
  to load? Well, I know the feeling, very
  frustrating and normally leads to a high bounce
  rate. Website loading speed is one of the most
  important factors for search engine optimisation.
• Of course, a fast-loading website that has bad
  content is no good, but a super-fast loading
  website that has awesome content is a winning
  formula.
• Below I have listed some of the hosting company I
  have used over the past 15 years of web
  development.

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The type of hosting you select really depends on
the website development platform, I would
recommend you consult with your web developers to
help you find the best solution for your business
or give me a call for some free advice.

• See how my company can build an amazing website
  for your business.
• Custom web design.
• Secure and fast website solution.
• Full management training.
• Take control of your website.
• SEO optimisation.
• Reliable web hosting and emails.

5. Use clear terminology and avoid too many
acronyms SEO, SEM, API, PPC, CPA, CPL, UX, UI, I
feel your pain already. All of these are
acronyms, abbreviations of terms used by many web
design companies. The problem here is that not
everyone understands what these acronyms really
mean. Sure, some of them you probably know like
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). The point here
is that when you use these abbreviations, also
put the full terminology in brackets the first
time you use them on your website page content.
Why not create a glossary page of technical
acronyms? Basically, try to use language which
anyone can understand, and when you use more
technical terms, explain them clearly. Make your
visitor's life easy and that will simply result
in better website engagement.
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• So, I dont leave you scratching your head
  thinking about the acronyms listed above, here
  are the full terminologies
• SEO Search Engine Optimisation
• SEM Social Media Marketing
• PPC Pay Per Click
• CPA Cost Per Action
• CPL Cost Per Lead
• API Application Programming Interface
• UX User Experience
• UI User Interface
• Why not create a blog post explaining all the
  different acronyms used in your industry? Then
  create an infographic to share via social media.
  Convert that infographic into a PowerPoint
  presentation and upload it to slide share.
  Convert the PowerPoint into a video and upload it
  to YouTube and Facebook. Yes, that all takes
  effort and time, but remember you want to be the
  king or queen of useful content!
• 6. Build subpages for different services or
  products
• Creating a different page for each of the
  services or products your business provides is
  vital for search engine optimisation. Think about
  it this way, if Google visits your website and
  see a page called services and that page lists
  all the services you provide, how will Google be
  able to serve a page about a specific service or
  how can you optimise a page for a specific
  service. I am not saying that you cannot have a
  page which is called services with a general
  overview, but you must also have dedicated pages
  for each service you provide or products you
  sell.
• Basically, your goal is to give Google and other
  search engines content, which is concise, which
  means a page should in most cases be about a
  specific piece of content.

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• For example, on my website I have the following
  services page structure
• Services A General Overview
• Website Design A General Overview
• Business Website Design A Specific Service Page
• WordPress Website Design A Specific Service
  Page
• Lead Generation Website Design A Specific
  Service Page
• Ecommerce Website Design A Specific Service
  Page
• Internet Marketing A General Overview
• Search Engine Optimisation A Specific Service
  Page
• Social Media Marketing A Specific Service Page
• Content Writing A Specific Service Page
• Video Production A Specific Service Page
• Graphic Design A General Overview
• Logo Design A Specific Service Page
• Newsletter Design A Specific Service Page o
  Banner Ad Design A Specific Service Page o
  Infographic Design A Specific Service Page
• As you can see from above, there are both
  overview pages and specific content pages. This
  helps you to optimise content for search engines
  and helps a visitor find the right service
  quicker. Also, if you are marketing your website
  it would be better to send a potential customer
  to a page that is directly related to the
  marketing activity. For example, if I created a
  Facebook post about logo design services, it
  would make more sense that I direct the potential
  customer to my logo design service page.

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Always check your spelling and grammar manually
or use Grammarly Chrome extension and fix errors.
Fixing errors can also help improve your search
engine rankings! To give you a helping hand,
watch the video tutorial I created
below. Grammarly Tutorial
8. Create clear-call-to-action You want new
customers, right? Placing clear call-to-action
throughout your website is essential to capturing
those new customer leads. In the example
breakdown recovery website, I placed a
call-to-action on the main website header.
The Get Quote button is displayed on every
page, so it doesnt matter which page a customer
is looking at, they will always be one click away
from becoming a potential customer.
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You can also see a similar clear call-to-action
on my website header.

• I also like to place a contact form on most of my
  pages, so a visitor can click the call to action
  and fill out a form without being re-directed to
  another page.
• Also, place call-to-action throughout the content
  on your website pages and blog posts, this can be
  a simple button, text, or a banner. Look above in
  this blog post and you will see a CTA (call to
  action) banner.
• Create a static navigation
• On many websites, you will see what web designers
  call "static" navigation. This is important as a
  website visitor will always have access to your
  main content pages when browsing your website.
  Some pages like this blog post contain lots of
  useful information, but the page itself is very
  long.
• Using static navigation will give your website
  visitors access to the main navigation as it
  always displays when a user scrolls down the
  page.
• Create a user-friendly website navigation
• Make your navigation easy to understand and use.
  Keep the options in the top navigation is a
  maximum of eight to ten clickable links.
• Navigation that contains too many options becomes
  confusing and overwhelming for a website visitor.
  Remember we want to convert visitors into
  potential customers so all content we create
  should eventually take the user to one of our
  sales pages.
• Try to use clear and easily readable fonts, use
  good font size to make the option easy to read,
  use contrasting colours to make the options stand
  out.

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A few examples of top navigations I have created
for client projects

• 11. Use images that are suitable for your target
  audience
• There are many free stock image websites where
  you can download suitable images for your
  business website. I often use free stock images
  to add some flair to different types of artwork.
  For example, I use stock images on the thumbnails
  for all blog posts, I also reuse the same
  thumbnail for my YouTube video content. Free
  stock images can also be used in your social
  media posts.
• I have listed some of the best free stock image
  websites below
• https//www.pexels.com/
• https//unsplash.com/
• https//pixabay.com/
• It is not always suitable to use stock images on
  a business website page. For example, if you are
  running a restaurant then it would be better to
  take real images of your food and restaurant. If
  you are selling products online, then take unique
  images of the products.

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12. Fill your home page with lots of useful
content Web design trends change often, but for
me, the best websites will showcase different
aspects of a business on the home page. For
example, on my website I show A short and
concise introduction to my business
A clear call to action in the header
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A set of key notifications
A list of key benefits
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A brief introduction to each of my website
services
A brief showcase of client website projects
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A list of client testimonials
A list of recent blog posts
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A website design enquiry form
A detailed text scrolling box
As you can see there is lots of useful content on
my home page, my goal is to give the customer a
brief introduction to the different types of
content on my whole website. There is also an
added advantage from an SEO (Search Engine
Optimisation) perspective. Having lots of
keyword-targeted content on a home page gives you
a better opportunity to mention keyword phrases.
But we must remember to build website pages for
visitor first and search engines second. You
will notice that I showcased client testimonials,
example work and blog posts. The main reason for
this is to ensure content is kept fresh on the
home page. The blog posts on the home page
automatically update when a new blog post is
added to the website. The
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• testimonials also update automatically. The
  showcase projects are added manually but are
  updated at least once a month.
• Why put all this effort into updating the home
  page?
• Think about it this way, if you went to a shop a
  bought a newspaper today and had a nice read,
  great! But tomorrow you went back got another
  newspaper but ended up reading the exact same
  content you would probably wait a while before
  buying another. The search engines are the same,
  if Google checks your website today and sees the
  same content tomorrow, and the same content next
  week, why would Google have a good reason to
  visit your website daily? Our goal should be to
  give users and search engines a valid reason to
  visit our websites as often as possible, the best
  way to do this is to keep content updated
  frequently.
• Add whitespace to let your website breathe
• Adding some white space to your content can help
  with not only design but also user readability. A
  website that contains lots of information tightly
  packed can make the page overwhelming for a user
  to read. You can also use visual elements to
  create separation in your content.
• Optimise header tags
• Header tags are basically titles on a page. But
  in HTML we have access to 6 header tags. The
  header tags can be used to help the search engine
  understand what a page is about.
• H1 Tag This of this as the main title for your
  website page or blog post. In this blog post, the
  H1 tag is - 30 essential tips for improving your
  website design.
• Note The H1 tag should only be used once on a
  page.
• H2 Tag This is a subtitle, think of this as an
  alternative to the main title. On this blog post,
  the H2 tag is How to improve my business
  website.
• Both the H1 and H2 tags above are optimised for
  generating traffic from search engines. The H1
  tag is a key description but the H2 tag is a
  question.

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• See how my company can build an amazing website
  for your business.
• Custom web design.
• Secure and fast website solution.
• Full management training.
• Take control of your website.
• SEO optimisation.
• Reliable web hosting and emails.

15. Optimise page titles The page title is
important as it is used in search engine
results. Below is an example Google search
result for a blog post
The above image is an example from a blog post I
created. The page title used 14 social media
visual marketing stats you need to know! The
goal of the page title should be to incorporate
keywords that directly relate to the blog post or
page, also try to add some content to the title
to entice users to click you need to
know. Adding numbers like 14 in the example
above help users to understand that there are key
elements to view in the article post.
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Below is an example Google search result for a
website design service

• In the example above I have incorporated two
  keyword phrases in the page title
• Business Website Design
• Web Designers London
• This page also has lots of useful content which
  is targeted at promoting business website design
  services.
• So hopefully you can see a well-constructed page
  title can help to achieve a better-desired search
  engine listing.
• You can use tools like Uber Suggest to help find
  the best keyword phrases for your business
  website pages.
• Video tutorial for Uber Suggest Tool

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• Optimise for mobile devices
• Making sure your website is optimised for mobile
  devices is extremely important. Not only from a
  user perspective but also from a search engine
  optimisation perspective. Probably like me, I
  spend most of my working day in front of a
  desktop or laptop computer, but when I am away
  from the office my mobile phone is my connection
  to the internet.
• People are used to viewing mobile-friendly
  websites. In simple terms, this is known as
  responsive website design. You can do a simple
  check on your website using the Google
  Mobile-Friendly testing tool https//search.go o
  gle.co m/test/mo bile-friendly
• Here is the result for my website
  https//www.dcpweb.co .uk
• Run a mobile-friendly test on your website and
  check you get the good old green text Page is
  mobile-friendly. If you see that then happy
  days! If not contact your website designers and
  ask them to get that fixed ASAP.
• When building a responsive website you should
  also consider how content is laid out for
  different devices. In most cases, the content for
  displaying on a mobile device should stack in the
  same sequence as the desktop version. This will
  help to see upload times and ensure a seamless
  user experience between different browsing
  devices.
• Optimise images and alt tags
• Every image on a website page should contain an
  Alt Tag. Think of the alt tag as a short- written
  description of an image.
• The Alt tag serves two different purposes. First,
  an image Alt tag can be used to optimise a page
  for search engines.

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Below is an image from my website home page
Now if I asked you to guess what this image is
about you will probably say something to do with
online shopping. We can see shopping bags, a
shopping trolly and a mobile device with product
listings. But search engines see none of this
visual information, well not at present, AI
(Artificial Intelligence) may change that
soon. If I add an Alt Tag to the image
eCommerce Website Design, then the search
engines will be able to understand what the image
is about, it is really that simple. But choosing
the right Alt tag is important, my potential
clients are looking for eCommerce Website Design
solutions and not Shopping Cart Websites,
although both these terms and can be considered
similar we have to also think about what a new
customer will type into the search engine. The
Alt tag also serves a second important purpose,
the image Alt tags is used by screen reading
software for the visually impaired. We must build
websites that are accessible to everyone and that
will help you rank better in search engines.
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18. Create content for people and incorporate
SEO Gone are the days when you could simply stuff
your website pages with keywords and rank high in
the search engines. Search engines like Google
are far more advanced and can see any underhand
SEO tactics. In any case, you are not building a
website for search engines, you are building a
website for real people. Before I even think
about SEO, I first open a text editor and write
content about a product or services as natural as
possible. This way I know my content does not
look spammy. Once completed I will then find
relevant keyword phrases and carefully
incorporate them into the content. I will use the
header tags, page title, alt pages to my
advantage as mention above. Here is an example
of some badly optimised written content
Here is an example of some better optimised
written content We custom design and build
amazing websites for businesses, increase
conversions, revenue, social media engagement and
search engine rankings. Find out why over 500
businesses chose DCP Web Designers. In basic
terms we want our written content to be as
natural as possible, to read easy and not stuffed
with keywords that make the content spammy. 19.
Find and fix any 404 errors OK, this might be a
little tricky to explain but I am going to give
it a go! 404 error is when you have an existing
website and you disable or delete a website
page. If your website is built correctly the
user will see a 404 error page. Now we don t
really want the user to see a 404 error page, we
want the user to be re-directed to a different
piece of content which is similar to the disable
or delete a website page.
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Here is a good example https//www.dcpweb.co
.uk/business-card-design.html The above link was
a page that use to exist on my old website I
built "many moons ago". I used to offer business
card design services but decided to stop as my
primary focus was web development. Now if you
click on the link above you will not see a 404
error page, what will happen is you will be
re-directed to my graphic design page here
https//www.dcpweb.co .uk/graphic- design So why
is this important? Well, there are a few good
reasons. Lets say you posted some content on
social media that links to a page or have links
in your blog posts to a page, you then delete or
disable that page. Users clicking on your social
media post or links in your blog will be
re-directed to an error page, wouldn't it be
better if they are redirected to a page that has
some useful alternative content, service, or
product? Google hates 404 errors, so you should
do a full audit scan of your website at least
once every month to make sure you dont have any
404 errors. If you have less than 500 pages then
you can use a free tool called Screaming Frog
to find broken links on your website pages
https//www.screamingf ro g.co .uk/bro
ken-link-checker/ You can also try a Ahrefs
broken link checker https//ahrefs.co m/bro
ken-link-checker 20. Create helpful content for
your target audience If you get a chance, look at
my blog. You will see over 300 video tutorials on
a wide range of subjects, and hundreds of
articles and infographics. Why do I put in so
much effort? Well, why not showcase your
knowledge? Show your potential customer you are
not a one-trick pony. For me, the first thing I
look at when working with a new supplier is their
competence. Its not for me to prove that someone
else has knowledge in their chosen field, it is
for us to prove to our potential clients. Dont
be afraid to share your knowledge, just look at
Neil Patels website https//neilpatel.co m/blo
g/
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Sharing knowledge helped me gain over 41,000
YouTube subscribers
My channel grows every day with minimum effort,
after all, all I am doing to sharing what I
already know. I now average 300,000 views per
month on YouTube, so imagine if I only divert 5
of YouTube traffic to my website, I will get
15,000 extra visitors per month. This can be
easily achieved and surpassed with careful
marketing inside video content.
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600 video tutorials have generated over 7,500,000
views
You can view my YouTube channel here
https//www.yo utube.co m/dcpwebdesigners
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• Incorporate video content to improve engagement
• As mentioned above video content is one of the
  best ways to improve user engagement. Why not
  create some useful tip videos and upload them to
  YouTube and Facebook?
• Video content is very easy for visitors to
  consume, no reading required, just sit back
  watch, and learn.
• This is also a great way to showcase your
  expertise and diversity of knowledge.
• When adding video content to your website blogs
  it is a good idea to have some written content
  explaining the video, you can even convert the
  video into a step by step guide.
• Check out my blog post about embedding a google
  map into a website page https//www.dcpweb.co
  .uk/blo g/ho w-to -embed-go o gle-map
• You will see the video content at the top and a
  step by step guide below.
• By adding video content to my website blog, I was
  able to reduce my website bounce rate and
  increase the average time users spend on my
  website.
• These are important key signals for Google to
  rank your website higher in the search engines.
  You will also notice that I incorporated video
  content into this blog post.
• Add free PDF guides
• Give something to get something! Why not create
  some free PDF guides to help your existing and
  new potential customers?
• In exchange for an informative guide, you can ask
  for an email address and the person s name.

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• Below I have listed some of the most popular
  newsletter systems
• SendInBlue
• Get Response
• Hubspot
• Mailchimp
• Most of the newsletter systems listed above have
  a free solution to get you kick-started.
• Once your email list grows to 10,000 subscribers
  then I would suggest using Sendy https//sendy.co

Sendy is a little complex to set up so you will
probably need help from your website design
agency. The advantage of using Sendy and Amazon
SES is the cost of sending out 1000 emails
0.10. So, if you have 10,000 subscribers and
you send out one email per week, your monthly
cost will be 4.00!
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• 23. Reduce bounce rate
• Having a clear message about your business can
  help to reduce your bounce rate. If a user visits
  your website and only interacts with a single
  page and then returns to the entrance page (i.e.
  search results in Google), then this can be
  considered as a bounce. The goal is to reduce the
  number of users that bounce.
• you will be able to see your website bounce rates
  once you have installed Google Analytics.
• Think of it as a way when you check your Google
  Analytics and you see a high bounce rate, for
  example, 80 then this should tell you that there
  is something wrong with your website content.
  Sometimes it is not the actual written words but
  maybe the design or the page load speed, no one
  likes a slow loading website.
• As mentioned above it is a good idea to keep your
  content fresh and up to date. Try to go back to
  old blog posts and give them a refresh. Replace
  old content with new fresh ideas and save
  yourself some time. You will find it a lot easier
  to update a blog post than to write a new one.
  Having said that is it always good to create new
  blog posts as well, no point in starting a blog
  if it only every contains a few posts.
• A normal bounce rate should be between 25 to
  55. Remember you cannot please everyone.
• Here are a few tips to help improve your bounce
  rates
• Improve your content readability
• Format your written content correctly, use
  paragraphs to break up large blocks of text and
  take the time to incorporate images and other
  media content in a visually pleasing way.
• Use a big and bold title, make that title stand
  out, and incorporate high volume traffic
  keywords.
• Avoid annoying popups

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3. Create clear and enticing call-to-action In
this blog post, you will see some CTA
(call-to-actions) like the Free Website Advice
Banner. Try to make your call-to-action
compelling, after all, you want users to contact
you about your services or products, right? I
have other call-to-actions throughout my website
like Tell us about your project. I change the
call-to-actions often to see which perform the
best, make sure you experiment with your website
CTAs and find the sweet spot for your website
visitors. 4. Tell your brand story I have been
in business for over 15 years and I know that can
be an important tool for my business. Below you
can see my intro text for my about us page
In the image above you can see within a few
words, I have managed to highlight all the
services I provide, show that I have over 15
years of experience and a clear CTA for the
product that I want to promote. I think it is
also important to show your human side. Many
websites I visit do not show the real people
behind the business which I think is a shame.
After all, when you are buying a product or
service you are putting your trust into a person
selling you that service or product, right? Try
to incorporate your team members on your about us
page or home page.
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Here are the profiles of all staff members at DCP
Web Designers
5. Speed up website loading times I guess you
are just like me, I hate slow loading websites.
Yes, I know I am too impatient, but most of the
people visiting your website are too! There are
different factors that can affect the loading
speed of your website. As mentioned above you
need to host your website on a fast and reliable
web server. Cheap slow hosting may save you some
cash, but fast hosting will help you make cash!
Remember to check my list of hosting providers in
the content above. If you take a picture on your
phone or download an image from a stock library,
you will find the file size can be between 2MB to
10MB. Now that is way too large and you need to
apply compression techniques to fix the file
size. Not to worry as it is really a super simple
process. First, you need to re-size the image,
as most images will be way too large. Check with
your website developer for a suitable width and
height of images. To be fair the width is more
important than the height. Most of the images in
my blog posts are 1100px wide and the height is
determined by the type of image content. I like
free software, so I use GIMP image editor to
resize images. Here is a free tutorial to help
you out.
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GIMP Resize Image Tutorial
In the above tutorial, I also show you a website
called Compress Jpeg. This website is simply
awesome as it automates the compression of images
which saves a lot of time https//co
mpressjpeg.co m/ Before optimising images on
your website, it is worth testing the website for
speed. I often use a tool called Pingdom. Go this
the website tool https//to o ls.pingdo m.com/
and enter your domain. Screen capture the results
and then apply your compressed images. Now
re-test using Pingdom and see if the results have
improved.
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Here are the results for my website home page
before optimisation
My goal is to get the load time under 2 seconds
which I have achieved. But I will not stop there,
I will go back to my website and improve the code
scripts and replace images with scalable vector
graphics which are much smaller file
sizes. Results after optimisation of image
content and code scripts
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• Open external links in a new window
• Lets say you want to link to another website, it
  would make sense that you open that external link
  in a new window, when the user closes that window
  they will be back on your website.
• If you are using WordPress then you can install
  this handy plugin which automatically sets all
  your external links to open in a new window
  https//wo rdpress.o rg/plugins/wp-external-
  links/
• If you understand a bit of HTML code then you can
  simply apply the target_blank attribute to
  external URLs.
• This is a simple technique to help reduce bounce
  rates as the user is not redirected away from
  your website.
• Mobile friendly website
• As mentioned above, having a mobile-friendly
  website should be one of your top priorities.
  Most of the customers visiting your website will
  have a smartphone.
• At some point, they might use a phone to view
  your website and if the user experience is poor
  then this will lead to an increased bounce rate.
• Remember to test your website using the Google
  Mobile-Friendly testing tool https//search.go o
  gle.co m/test/mo bile-friendly

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Results for DCP website mobile friendly test
The above are just a few tips you can use to
improve your website bounce rates.
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24. Create useful web tools There is nothing
better than free! If you can create some tools on
your website which function well and if you
promote and document them well, then you increase
your website traffic exponentially. Think about
some easy tools you can get built for your webs
ite which relate to the products or service you
provide. Take a look at this tool
http//www.vatcalculator.co.uk/
In the image above you will see the Online VAT
Calculator tool receives over 500,000 page
visits per month! Here are some other tools
which generate vast amounts of traffic Website
URL https//neilpatel.co m/ubersuggest/ Type of
tool SEO Number of visits per month 2,700,000
Tool Level Complex Website URL https//www.o
nline-calculato rs.co .uk/diy/ro o marea.php Type
of tool Calculating the floor area of a
room Number of visits per month 63,000 Tool
Level Intermediate Website URL
https//www.treads-sho es.co m/size-calculato
r Type of tool Shoe measurement Number of visits
per month 23,800 Tool Level Intermediate
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• Website URL https//www.calculato rpro .co
  m/calculato r/image-size-calculato r/
• Type of tool Image resize Number of visits per
  month 6600 Tool Level Simple
• Now you dont need to go and spend thousands of
  pounds in creating hand-coded custom calculator,
  there are many websites that offer solutions at a
  reasonable cost.
• Below I have listed a few of my favourites
• https//www.calconic.com/
• https//ucalc.pro/en
• https//outgrow.co/
• Here is some example of web tools we have created
  for our DCP website.
• DCP aspect ratio calculator

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DCP VAT calculator tool example

• Add social bookmarking tools
• As you can see on this blog post there are social
  icons on the left side of the page or on the
  footer of the page, this depends on the type of
  device you are using. Adding social bookmarking
  tools is a great way to get free traffic to your
  website as your website visitors are promoting
  your content using their social media accounts.
• On my website, I am using a free tool called
  Addthis. The tool is highly customisable but
  does require a little coding knowledge to
  implement.
• Send this link to your website developers and ask
  them to help you implement social sharing
  https//www.addthis.co m/
• If you are using WordPress, then I would
  recommend one of the following social sharing
  plugins
• https//socialsnap.com/
• https//www.elegantthemes.com/pl ugins/monarch/
  - Divi Affiliate
• https//mashshare.net/

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26. Showcase your work or products If you offer
services, then why not create a portfolio to
showcase your work? Having a website po rtfo lio
is a great way to show your potential customer
that you can deliver the services you
provide. Remember to incorporate text, images,
and optional video content for each example in
your portfolio. You can even create categories
that allow website visitors to filter your
portfolio work. Creating a portfolio is more
difficult if you are a start-up business, but why
not simply add some examples of what you can
achieve. Make sure you keep your portfolio up to
date, try to add projects as quickly as possible
after completion. You can also create a case
study section on your website if your services
are more results- driven. Case studies are great
as you can breakdown how to achieve an ROI
(return on investment) for each service you have
provided to your clients. If you are selling
physical products, then why not create a video
gallery contain product demonstrations? You can
upload your video content to YouTube and embed
the videos into your website. Create a separate
page for each product and even better, try to get
video testimonials to give your products more
credibility.
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• Here are some awesome examples of portfolios
• https//landor.com/work
• https//www.wolffolins.com/work
• https//www.dcpweb.co.uk/portfolio
• https//metadesign.com/en/work
• https//www.happycog.com/work/
• https//www.thechase.co.uk/portfolio/
• Here are some awesome examples of case studies
• https//www.ideo.com/case-study/ designing-the-f
  uture-of- urban-farming
• https//www.frac.tl/work/content-mark eting-cas
  e-studies/s apio/
• https//www.appannie.com/ en/insights/customer-sto
  ri es/the- coca-col a-
• company/
• https//www.ampagency.com/ pat agonia-f ashion-
  and-footw ear- case-stu dy
• https//businesscasestudies.co.uk/ recl aimi ng
  -the-identity-of-a- brand
• Here are some awesome examples of video product
  demos

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• 27. Add a clearly placed phone number
• I am sure you have been to a big supplier website
  before and all you want to do is call them for
  some support, but trying to find the elusive
  customer support phone number is like looking
  for a needle in a haystack.
• We live in a digital world where we communicate
  using digital tools like WhatsApp, Facebook
  Messenger, Email, Skype, Zoom, to mention just a
  few.
• For me, a simple call to speak to a real person
  is priceless. To make your website visitors life
  a little easier I suggest adding your phone
  number to every page on the header of your we
  bsite or the footer, or better both. Also, create
  a dedicated contact page and list your full
  contact details, opening hours, location, and an
  online contact form.
• On my website, I list both my landline number and
  mobile phone number. 90 of phone calls I get are
  to my mobile so do not be afraid to display your
  mobile number or get a sim for business only
  calls.
• Add commenting tools
• If you have a blog and you are creating amazing
  content, then it would be good to allow visitors
  to comment. Creating a place for visitors to
  comment on your content and help you to
  understand what is working in terms of getting
  visitors to your website.
• If you create a blog post on a specific subject
  and you see that posts in getting lots of
  visitors and comments then it would make sense
  that you keep that content up to date and create
  more just like it. Of course, do not duplicate
  content but you can use the content as a template
  for your next blog post.
• WordPress as default has commenting built into
  the engine but over time you will see a lot of
  spam commenting. To prevent this, you can install
  a plugin to manage comments on your blog posts.
• Below I have listed some of the most popular
  antispam WordPress plugins
• https//wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/

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If you are running a custom-built website like my
website then you can still add commenting
management to your blog. I suggest you give
https//talk.hyvo r.co m/ a try. Talk Hyvor
offer a 14-day free trial so give it a go and see
if this can improve your visitor retention and
user interaction. 29. Test your website and
constantly improve Your business website does not
last forever. You will need to upgrade and
maintain your website to ensure you are one step
ahead of your competitors. If you are using
WordPress then make sure you are upgrading the
WordPress engine, theme, and plugins on a regular
basis. This will help prevent hackers from
accessing your website. If you are using a
website design company to build your website,
then agree on a maintenance plan. Before hiring
a website designer, get them to send you a full
specification and quote. If they send you back a
few lines of text and a cost, then avoid
them! Try to find a web developer that is local
to your business or at least in the same
country. After all, you are running a business
and communication with your web developers is
essential if you want to succeed. Review your
website on a weekly or monthly basis and set out
an action plan on how you can improve your
content. As mentioned above, start by
researching your competitors, after all, they are
ranking on page one of Google for a
reason. Dont rely on SEO as your only source of
leads. In fact, over 70 of my clients are
generated from referrals. Simply deliver an
exceptional service to your customers and if only
20 recommend you then that is 20 free marketing
for your business.
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30. Get impartial feedback You can ask your
family or close friends for feedback on your
website, but you also need to get real impartial
feedback to really know what needs to be
improved. Why not ask a friend to recommend
someone you do not know to give you feedback on
your website? I do this all the time, and it is
a win win situation. First, I get some good
constructive feedback, second, I get to make a
new friend, third I get to entice that new friend
to help promote my services. Of course, I pay
people for the feedback or help improve their
websites, so in the end, everyone is a winner!

• See how my company can build an amazing website
  for your business.
• Custom web design.
• Secure and fast website solution.
• Full management training.
• Take control of your website.
• SEO optimisation.
• Reliable web hosting and emails.

Contact Us Email info_at_dcpweb.co.uk Tel 0208
539 4415 mob [phone] Web www.dcpweb.co.uk
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• About DCP Web Designers
• At DCP we have over 15 years of web development
  knowledge and experience. Our goal is to create
  high quality, easy to use, affordable website
  solutions for businesses. Your excitement,
  happiness and satisfaction are at the very core
  of everything we do at DCP but more than anything
  we understand that results matter the most!
• There is nothing better than getting a phone call
  or email from our clients telling us how much
  they
• love their website ) We simply love what we do
  at DCP and take an ethical approach, guiding our
  clients with our vast knowledge gained from
  working on hundreds of website projects for a
  diverse range of client.
• You can feel confident that you are getting the
  best web solutions for your business when you
  choose to work with DCP London Web Designers.
• Get a custom-designed WordPress website to help
  your business grow. Take control over your
  business website and make updates whenever
  required. Get free onsite search engine
  optimisation to achieve a better ranking in
  search engines.
• Take control of your website.
• Mobile-friendly design.
• Long term technical support.
• Long term website growth plan.
• SEO marketing strategies.
• Social media marketing strategies.
• Secure reliable hosting.
• Reliable business emails.

Contact Us Email info_at_dcpweb.co.uk Tel 0208
539 4415 mob [phone] Web www.dcpweb.co.uk