In today’s digital world, most of the successful businesses have a website. Whether you’re a small business owner, a freelancer, a blogger, or a large corporation, there is a high possibility that you have a website. Think of a website as a shop that is always open for potential customers. Businesses use their website to show off what they offer. But imagine if your products or services are great, but your website takes a long time to load, customers can’t find what they need or the website is not secure. You’ll lose a lot of business. In this article, we will discuss some important features every website should have in 2024.
Mobile Responsiveness
A responsive website adjusts to fit any screen, like on a desktop, laptop, or smartphone. If your website does not adjust properly, visitors might not come to visit your website again. Your website must work well on any screen size. Your website should look elegant whether the website visitors are viewing the website from a desktop, tablet or smartphone. In 2024, since there are so many screen sizes, a mobile-friendly website will greatly help in engaging your audience.
Fast Loading Speed
In the digital world, the attention span is very short. If the user visits a website and the website takes a lot of time to load, he will probably close it before it is completely loaded and visit some other website. That is why your website should have fast loading speed. Moreover, search engines rank fast loading speed websites higher in search results. By optimizing images, browser caching and minimizing HTTP requests, you can improve website loading time and keep your audience engaged. If you have a WordPress website, there are free and premium plugins that can help speed up your website and improve load time significantly.
Secure Connection (SSL Certificate)
Often you visit a business website and you see a line written in the browser address bar “Not Secure”. It means that the SSL Certificate is not installed on the website. By implementing SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption, you gain credibility by telling your audience that the data transmission between the user’s browser and the website server is private and secure. If you see a padlock symbol and “https://” in the browser’s address bar, it means that the SSL certificate is installed on the website. SSL is a norm nowadays and it helps build trust in the eyes of your customers.
Easy-to-use Navigation
All the websites have at least one navigation menu. All the important pages from the audience’s point of view should be in the navigation menu of the website. There can be more than one navigation menu at different locations on the website. Labels should be clear and easy to understand and there should be hierarchy in the menu. You should also use mega menus, breadcrumbs and search bars so visitors can easily navigate the website.
A website with a good navigation not only helps your visitors but it is also good for SEO.
Accessibility Features
Web accessibility means making websites that anyone can use, including people with disabilities. By providing alternative text for images (alt text), ensuring that the website works with a keyboard, and maintaining contrast between colors, you can make the website more accessible to everyone.
Content Management System (CMS)
Most business owners do not understand the technical side of the website. They hire a website developer for the development of the business website. But after the development, they now need a system where they can easily post or update the content. That is why, the website developed using a CMS (Content Management System)can be easily operated by nontechnical users. Popular CMS platforms are WordPress, Joomla, Drupal etc.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Integration
If your website is ranked higher in search engine results, the website will have more organic traffic because it will be visible to the audience. Integrating SEO (Search Engine Optimization) best practices such as optimizing meta tags, creating high-quality content and building backlinks enhances visibility and rankings on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Since much of the traffic is coming from search engines, therefore you should focus on Search Engine Optimization of your website.
Social Media Integration
Apart from the traffic that is coming from the search engines, you can also drive traffic from social media platforms to your website. Most businesses have social media accounts on multiple platforms where they post content relevant to their business, so by integrating social media buttons, sharing widgets and live feeds into the website, audience can easily engage with the business. Since a large number of the population uses social media, you must do social media integration in your website.
Analytics and Tracking
To optimize the website’s performance, you must understand user behavior. You also need to understand the preferences of your audience. By implementing web analytics tools such as Google Analytics, you can gain insights so you can make more informed decisions, refine strategies and continuously improve the user experience.
Conclusion
If you are customizing an existing website or building a new one, your website must have these features so your business can be successful. By adding these features to your website, the visitors will have an exceptional user experience, which will result in more traffic to your website, eventually resulting in more profits for your business.
