5 Tips to Building an Efficient Website for Your Startup

At the pace that digital trends are evolving, it can be tricky to stay ahead of the competition. 

You need to make sure your brand is relevant to current trends, your products or services have a target market, and most importantly, you have a quality website. So if you’re wondering how to build one for your startup, you’ve come to the right place.

This article will show five essential steps to building an efficient website that will help your startup become a successful business.

We’ll cover all of the key ingredients, from investing in reliable hosting to optimizing your site for better ranking.

So without further ado, let’s dive right in.

1. Invest in a Reliable Hosting Provider

A reliable web hosting service is crucial to building an efficient website. It ensures your startup is available to visit 24/7, able to handle the traffic, and is secure. If you pick the wrong web host, you might end up losing visitors and potential leads in the long run.

However, choosing the right web hosting provider can seem like a daunting task with so many options available. That being said, here are the aspects to look at:

• Storage. Look for a hosting provider that offers a sufficient amount of storage space to store your data, such as images and HTML files.

• Bandwidth. The higher the bandwidth, the more traffic your site can handle.

• SSL certificate. Make sure the hosting provider offers a free SSL certificate to add a security layer to your website.

• Backups. Regular backups keep your website’s data safe. Some providers offer daily, weekly, or monthly backups. Choose one that suits your needs best.

• Uptime guarantee. An uptime guarantee makes sure your website is available on the internet.

• Support. Look for a provider that has 24/7 customer support.

Lastly, know the type of web hosting you need. For example, if you’re expecting low to moderate numbers of traffic, shared hosting is enough.

On the other hand, VPS or cloud hosting might be better for those who expect higher traffic and need to host more content, such as eCommerce sites and game sites.

2. Choose a Good Domain Name

A good domain name helps your business make a better first impression. Not only will it shape people’s perception of your site, but it will also determine how well you rank on search engines.

However, choosing a domain name can be tricky, and there are two surefire ways to go about it.

First, if your business is quite well-known, consider using the same name as your brand. Big companies such as Apple, Facebook, and Nike do this so people can find them faster.

However, if you’re just starting, it’s best to choose a domain name that represents the niche you’re in. For instance, parenting.com and activeparenting.com are great domain name examples in the parenting industry.

Here are a few practices to follow when choosing a good domain name for your site:

• Relevant name. Brainstorm name ideas that are relevant to your industry.
• Short and simple. Keep it less than three words and avoid double letters, special characters, and numbers.
• Extension. The most popular domain name extension is .com. However, you can also choose other extensions such as .shop, .org, or .tech depending on which suits your industry better.
• SEO-friendly. Consider adding a keyword in your domain name, so it ranks better on search engines.
• Easy to spell. Choose an easy-to-pronounce domain name, so it’s easy to pass along verbally.

3. Design a Mobile-Friendly Website

Designing a mobile-friendly website is vital as more and more people use mobile phones to access the internet. At the beginning of 2021 alone, mobile devices generated  54.81% of global website traffic.

On top of that, Google also ranks mobile-optimized websites better on results pages, which will increase your site’s online visibility and lead to higher traffic.

Essentially, a mobile-friendly website means it can adjust and look good on different devices and screen sizes.

To achieve that, choose a responsive theme and select fonts that are readable even in small sizes. Other than that, the following tips will help create a mobile-friendly website:

• Simplify your menus. A popular navigation type for a mobile-friendly website is the hamburger menu.

• Keep forms short. Make it easy for visitors to fill in forms from their mobile devices.

• Display prominent CTAs. Provide a prominent, bold, and reasonably sized call-to-action button, so mobile users can easily locate and click it without hassle.

• Include a search function. A search function helps mobile users navigate through your site.

• Eliminate pop-ups. Closing a pop-up on a mobile device can be problematic because the button is too small.

Lastly, prioritize speed because mobile browsers tend to take longer to load.

4. Make the Navigation Simple

Simple navigation helps users explore your content better. If your website is easy to navigate, visitors can easily find the information they’re looking for.

On the other hand, poor site navigation prompts users to leave your site due to a bad experience. This can negatively affect your startup because of increased bounce rates.

Simple navigation is user-focused, easy to spot, and complete with links to important pages. Here are the principles to create good site navigation for your startup:

• Plan the page structure. Use a sitemap creator tool such as GlooMaps or Octopus to help with the process.

• Follow the standards. For instance, use the three horizontal stripes (☰) to indicate the hamburger menu, which is one of the most recognizable icons for navigation.

• Use responsive menus. Keep in mind that mobile users are constantly rising, so make sure to use a mobile-friendly menu type with a legible and clickable menu.

• Maximize the footer menu. The footer is a great area to highlight other content that doesn’t fit into your header.

• Separate navigation with space. Add white space between menus to help avoid clutter.

5. Optimize for the Search Engines

Optimizing your website for search engines refers to the practice of using SEO strategies on your site to help it rank higher on search engine result pages. This is vital because most internet users don’t scroll past the first page of search results.

That said, a well-optimized website will increase your site’s online visibility, relevancy, and discoverability. Thus, improving your chances of attracting visitors and landing clients.

Here are a few steps to take when optimizing your site for search engines:

• Perform keyword research. Consider using tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner or Ahrefs to get started. To rank better, include specific keywords, which are often referred to as long-tail keywords.

• Prioritize site speed. Make sure to optimize your site’s load time because it impacts how well you rank on Google.

• Optimize tags, images, headings, and texts. Add keywords to your titles, images, headings, and texts. This helps search engines understand what each content is about and index them better.

• Write meta descriptions. Meta descriptions inform visitors about your web page, which plays a role in the click-through rate.

• Build internal links. Internal linking means to link to other pages on your website. This shows search engines how the pages on your site are connected.

Additionally, previous tips such as selecting a reliable hosting service, choosing a good domain name, making a mobile-friendly design, and providing simple navigation are also pivotal in optimizing your site for the search engines. So make sure not to skip those steps.

Conclusion

Building an efficient website helps your startup gain authority, appear credible, and convert better. And luckily, the five tips in this article have shown you how to do that.

Here’s a summary of the points you should work on:

• Invest in a reliable hosting provider. Select a service that provides support, backups, a decent amount of bandwidth, and storage for your particular needs.

• Choose a good domain name. Brainstorm names that are relevant to your niche and keep it short, simple, and easy to spell.

• Design a mobile-friendly site. Prioritize using a responsive design because mobile phone users will only continue to grow.

• Make the navigation simple. Consider maximizing the footer menu and separating each menu with white space for better navigation.

• Optimize your site for search engines. Boost your site’s ranking by implementing SEO practices such as internal linking and keyword research.

By practicing the tips above, your startup business is sure to thrive in this competitive landscape.

Take these measures to provide customers with a great user experience and land clients in no time.