20 Basic Things You Must Know and Ensure When Owning a Website

Whether you own a business and are planning to take it online or starting an online business, knowing the basics of a website and its functionalities is a must. Having that said, you don’t need to be an expert of web development because most likely you will have people to take care of that. 

Think of it as owning a real estate property. You have caretakers for the property but you still need to know the features to gain better business.

Here are the basic aspects of your website you should keep in mind.

1. You MUST Have Ownership of Your Domain

“Hey! I know that!”

Ofcourse, it’s something you already know. But what I mean by this is that you should have purchased this domain yourself – have it registered under your name or have the domain name transferred to you to your own account on a site like namechape, godaddy, IONOS.com, etc.

Purchasing your domain is as simple as shopping on Amazon. You just add your desired name to the cart, pay, and own the name. If you still need a step by step tutorial, check out this page.

2. Have a Simple, Sensible Web Address

Deciding a good domain/website name is crucial.

We suggest keeping things simple.

Your domain name is like your brand. It should be easy for a user to type into a web browser or an email address. 

With that it is always advisable to always go for the .com domain as users are conditioned to type this extension when typing a web address. 

However, for non-profits or organizations, I usually recommend using a .org domain for branding purposes as well as a .com version of the domain in case a user accidentally types the .com address.

Wright also suggests avoiding dashes (which can cause SEO headaches) and numbers (which can cause confusion for customers).

3. Your Site Should be Mobile Friendly

I can’t stress this enough. 

Your website has to be mobile-friendly and it should be your priority number one. The number of smartphone users is growing at an exponential rate, with over three billion people now using a smartphone, this number is only expected to grow at an increased rate. 

Mobile devices now account for nearly 2 of every 3 minutes spent online!

Make sure your website is usable on smartphones and tablets.

Moreover, Google now serves different SERPs (search results) for a desktop and mobile. 

Surely, smartphones are going to be the game changer in the digital marketing era. 

Test if your site is mobile-friendly or not:

https://pagespeed.web.dev/

With those statistics in mind, most of the traffic that comes to your website will be viewed predominantly by mobile users. So if your website does not look good or is not compatible with a mobile format, you will have a significant amount of traffic and you will lose it fast. To get optimal visitors, check your website and ensure that its mobile view is compatible.

4. Keep It Secure

As a website owner, you need to prioritise keeping your website secure. This means getting an SSL certificate (that little lock symbol in the address bar at the top of the browser).

SSL ensures that all the information that is passed through your website is encrypted, so no one can grab the information as it travels from the user’s computer to yours. Having the certificate gives you bonus points in Google search results. As of January 2017 having an SSL certificate became a ranking  factor in Google’s search algorithm. 

Action: ask your hosting provider or developer to help you install a certificate.

Whatever tool you are using to build your website, the host will offer you different security plans to choose from. 

This is not something to be taken lightly. 

Cybercrime is more common than you might think and being a victim of one can cause long-lasting and irreversible damage. Cyber attacks are done in many different formats but in 2019 the most common cyber attacks in the United States were phishing attacks, with 65% of US companies falling victim to phishing scams. 

Do you see now why security is a top concern.

So, whatever hosting platform you are using to build and maintain your website, make sure that you are going for the most secure option. 

While it can be a bit costly to get the best security, you need to think about how it can save you money in the long run by preventing you from falling victim to expensive ransomware attacks.

5. You Should Know How to Access Your Web Hosting Server

Most people know the need of a web server or hosting account for their website, but many don’t really know what that is.

A web host is providing a digital space/storage for all your website files and emails to be stored and utilized online. This includes all of your images, emails, text to be stored on these servers and broadcast to the internet for others to interact with. 

You can’t have a website or email without a web server of some sort.

As a business owner, you should always have login access to the web hosting account. Usually this is called a “CPANEL” or “Control Panel” login. This should enable you to create email accounts, access your website files, see error logs, etc.

6. Keep Your Credentials Close and Secure

Always, keep your website credentials handy. You never know if you’re going to run into an unforeseen situation where your web developer isn’t around and you need something fixed right away or to take advantage of a sudden opportunity.

The credentials you need to keep close are: hosting, domain registrar, FTP/SFTP, and website login.

How to find them: search your email for when you signed up or look at www.whois.com/whois/ for some clues to point you to the right direction. The most common are GoDaddy, Network Solutions, BlueHost, Hostgator and Media Temple.

Action: create a note copy that you can find quickly in a pinch or use a password manager like LastPass.

7. Backups are Life Saver

Are you taking backup of your website every day? 

Yes! You need to backup your database and your files on a daily basis. 

Backups are important so that you can easily restore your website if and when it gets hacked or crashes for unknown reasons. If you have got a WordPress website, chances are someone is likely to try to hack into it.

Imagine this: 

If, for any reason, your website is hacked or disappears and goes down, how much business could you lose? How much is one client worth? Can you afford to have your website down for a day or a week?Action: if you’re on WordPress install plugins in order to create daily backups (make sure it backs up your database and files) or check with your hosting provider for help.

8. Privacy is a Concerning Matter

If you’re dealing with customers, you need a privacy policy, whether you sell a product or a service.

Without a privacy policy, you’re prone to legal action from any customer who feels wronged in some way.

9. What’s the Purpose of Your Website

You need to clearly convey to your customer the purpose of your website. 

We ask our first time clients this as they come to us because it’s honestly interesting to see what people feel they need a website for.

Do any of these match?

• It’s my online business card
• It helps local people find me when searching for a local business in my niche
• It helps show what my brand is about
• It lets me engage with my clients
• I’m just supposed to have one
• It’s a tool for my clients to contact me
• It’s a tool for me to educate people about what I do
• I use it to advertise online through Google

If your answer matched any of the above then you’re close, but unless it matches all of the above – you are missing out. 

Really all of these items should be the purpose of your website, as it’s a multi-faceted tool.

You can use it to educate society on what you do, what your business is about and get business. You can utilize online blogs to interact with your customers. You can integrate certain data into your website to rank better on search engines through SEO (search engine optimization). You can establish your website as a means for clients to contact you, make orders, and develop repeat relationships with leads.

10. Audience Should be Able to Find Contact Information Easily

You never wanna lose a customer to a competitor just because you made it difficult for them to get in touch with you.

Not all online visitors have the patience to click through every page on your website to find the contact information. The best place to keep contact information is the top left or top right corner of the home page. It’s also a good practice to include your contact information in the footer or sidebar or even in the top right corner of every page of the website. This helps the visitors to find it more easily.

You should make sure to include several ways for them to contact you – phone, e-mail, and a standard contact form, are all good options. Forbes even suggests including your address, and even a link to your location in Google maps.

One of the biggest mistakes business owners often make is to force only one way to reach them. The point of contact information is to make it very easy for users to communicate with you on their terms.

11. An Obvious, Compelling Call to Action

CTA lines tell your online visitors literally what you want them to do with a clear tone of commend.

For example, you may want them to call you now for a free consultation, demo, quote, or sign up to your exclusively online coupons, or add products to the online shopping cart, etc.

One good way to call attention to your suggestion is by using special buttons or highlighting the text.

12. Fresh, Quality Content 

Most times, your website is your first impression on a customer. You should give them what they’re looking for, and it’s best to even give them a reason to keep coming back.

Remember, the users are on the web because they are looking for something. So, make sure you give it to them and obviously ensure your content is original, well written and valuable.

Fresh content is a goldmine for SEO. 

You can keep your content from getting stale by incorporating a regularly-updated blog or connecting in your social media feeds and give your company some personality as well.

Here are three core questions to help you decide which topics are worth sharing:

• What do your potential customers consistently ask/talk about?
• For which topics do they run searches for online that relate to your business?
• What comes naturally to you that is valuable and/or remarkable to others?

For instance, a caterer might share how to plan for enough but not too much food for a party. Obviously, no one wants to run out of food during an event or end up with two weeks’ worth of leftovers! 

Although this kind of planning is ordinary and second-nature to a caterer, for everyone else, it’s a daunting task that doesn’t come easily. To most of us, accurately planning food for an event is a remarkable skill and we look for experts to do that for us. 

Hence, if you can deliver beautiful contents to help people do this right, it’s going to be a hot cake.

13. Customer Testimonials Will Make Your Site Trustworthy

The new online customers don’t even know you. But the honest words from others help make your products or services more tangible to them.

In other words, testimonials and reviews help your potential customers to build trust in you, especially if you are new. They also help shoppers to confirm whether the product or services meet their needs.

People love to hear stories from real people.

14. Connect to Social Media

Social media is a booming industry and it’s an obvious place to grab people’s attention towards your business. Make sure your social media platforms and your website are working together as one strong unit. 

Never neglect one thing in favour of the other as this can be damaging for your overall online reputation. 

An active social media presence will drive in extra visitors to your website. Also, putting links to all your social media platforms on your website will encourage visitors to follow you, creating a more consistent and loyal customer/ viewer base. 

Social media is a very powerful tool for any website owner as it gives them insights into their customers and who they are. Similarly, it gives customers an opportunity to see some personality beyond your professional brand.

15. Use Affiliate Marketing

To increase the number of people visiting your site you might want to consider using affiliate marketing. Affiliates will share promotional links that bring viewers to your website, and their hard work is compensated with a commission that tends to be a percentage of a sale. 

Affiliate marketing is a great way to generate more viewers, higher profits and further brand awareness. 

More and more businesses are now using affiliates as it benefits both the business and the affiliate. 

Different websites have varying terms and conditions surrounding this marketing method. For example, Amazon Associates need to manage several rules and if they break those, their accounts can be permanently banned. 

Clearly, if you are planning to give it a try, make sure you have a clear understanding of what you want and set these out in easy to follow guidelines so that your affiliates know exactly what is expected of them.

16. SEO – Don’t Underestimate It

Search engine optimization (SEO) may feel like a hassling prospect for a lot of website owners. Although it is quite a simple concept, it can be hard to achieve without the right knowledge.

The basics of SEO is the art of using particular keywords and phrases strategically so that it helps identify your website and place it higher in the rankings. This can take some time though and experimenting may be required before you get it right.

So do not be disheartened if your website does not come right up as the first result on the google search right away. It will take time and it will also require continuous attention to make sure that your website stays high up in the ranks. 

There are plenty of online courses, resources and freelancers that specialize in SEO.

We recommend using reputable SEO analysis tools hiring an experienced team that offers all facets of SEO and content publishing such as content marketing, content writing, optimization, SEO-friendly copy writing etc.

This will help you rest assured that all your writing related needs are taken care of.

17. Keep Design and Information Up-to-Date

Regardless of the purpose of your website, you need to keep its contents up to date. If the last blog you published was 6 months ago, viewers might start thinking that the website is no longer relevant. 

Publishing fresh and relevant contents will keep your website alive and make viewers come back. 

Also, avoid posting content just because you have to. Ask yourself why you are posting it and how it will be valuable to your viewers?

18. It’s About Speed

This is the 21st century. 

A time where we can get everything in an instant and this has led to an impatient society. 

If your website is slow to load, most people will go back to the Google search to find something else. 

Clearly, if your loading times are not up to scratch, you risk sending your customers to your competitors. If you are unsure of how to check your speed, try using PageSpeed to get insight into how quick your current load times are, and how you can improve your speed.

19. Design is Key to Unlocking Brand Impression

At the end of the day, you could master SEO, social media, affiliate marketing, the lot! But if you do not have a good website design, then all of these skills become irrelevant.

People will make a judgment about your business in a split-second just by the look of your website design. If it looks unorganized and unpleasant to their eyes, people will just go elsewhere. 

A clean, coherent and easy-to-follow website, with consistent branding is essential.

20. What are Your Responsibilities vs. What are the Web Designer’s Responsibility

As discussed above, this is what your website host is responsible for:

• Making sure your website is online
• Making sure your website doesn’t go offline

That’s essentially it. Everything else falls under your responsibility. Things like:

• Make sure your website is backed up regularly
• Making sure your website software is upgraded to the latest secure version
• Making sure your emails are backed up so they won’t be lost
• Cleaning up any malware or hack attempts on your website
• Reuploading your website if it happens to be deleted due to a hack attempt

Surely, that’s a lot of technological aspects right there for most business owners. Well, it doesn’t have to be though. 

Just ask your web company (like us!) if they can maintain this work for you for a reasonable monthly fee. We will be more than happy to take care of these challenges for you so you can better focus on your business.judgment about your business. 

Get in touch to learn more.