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What is the most important page of a website?

How to make sure your legal business's website is secure online

Although all pages of your website are important in showing information about your business, there are certain web pages that you need to get right. Using a website builder such as Go SiteBuilder you can create multiple pages for your website centred around different topics. 

Once you have the structure and web design of your website set up, the next phase is to consider which pages you need to optimise the most. Certain pages are more important than others due to factors such as ability to give visitors key information and SEO results. 

What are web pages?

So to start off this blog; a quick round up of what a web page is. If you are new to website building you may be feeling confused over the different terms for different aspects of a website. A web page refers to the different sections that a website may have, often to find these pages there is a menu which allows visitors to navigate around the website. 

The most important pages are:

  • Home page – generally this page shows what kind of website you have and gives an overview of the type of content 
  • About page – has content about your company or the kind of work you do. If you run a firm with multiple people this can be a good page to introduce your team. 
  • Contact/Key Information page – without this page visitors will not be able to use your services or engage with you 
  • Blog page – blogs can be a great way to boost SEO and give visitors more information. Check out our post on the benefits of a blog for SEO.

For some businesses/websites there will be pages that are more applicable to them. Such as:

  • Gallery page for a photography business 
  • E-commerce page for an online shop
  • Menu pages for a restaurant or bar 
  • List of services for a beauty salon or hair dressers 

Which page should you focus on?

When deciding your strategy on how to create the most effective website, regarding webpages, there are a few aspects to consider. Generally consider which web pages have:

High visitor numbers/interest – which of your pages have the highest likelihood of creating interest? Is it your online shop or is there something unique on your blog page?

Strong first impressions – which page shapes new visitors’ opinions on your website the most? Studies show that it takes visitors less than two tenths of a second to form an opinion of your brand once they enter your website, therefore creating a strong first impression is incredibly important. Generally this relates to your homepage. 

An ability to sell your brand – any page which allows you to inform visitors what your brand is all about is incredibly important. Ensure that pages such as ‘About’ and ‘Contact Us’ are filled with key information. 

How do I optimise my web pages?

You may now have one or a few pages that you want to change to achieve better results. By following some of these tips you will create a more effective website that attracts a higher number of visitors. 

Homepage:

As your homepage is the first page visitors see, creating a good first impression is incredibly important. Consider the following:

  • Use a large header – this could be an image, text or video. But ensure that this is eye catching and shows your logo or brand name.
  • Do not overload with information – if your homepage is too content heavy visitors will be put off reading through all the text. Try and break it up with pictures or videos. 
  • Make a clear menu – your menu should be eye catching and easy to find to allow visitors to navigate your website easily. Read our blog on why navigation is so important to find out more. 

About page: 

This is the page visitors go to in order to find out more information about your business. Ensure you have:

  • Relevant information – readers do not want an essay, stick to the relevant information. 
  • Special commendations – do you possess any awards or glowing reviews? Consider including a few to make your business stand out.

Contact/Key information page:

  • Include links – where you can have links to Google Maps (for your address) and email links to make contacting you easier. 
  • Stick to the information – you do not need paragraphs on this page, just a simple layout.

If you are ready to start building your website, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range of features, our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!

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What is a website FAQ?

How to edit the images you use for your website

When you’re building a website, there are a number of things you need to include on your site. One of the main features of a website is an FAQ – frequently asked questions – section. Although website builders provide ready to go sites for you to use, they don’t write FAQs for you, as it is up to you to make this personal for your business.

Put simply, FAQs are a set of questions and answers which tell site users important bits of information about your website and company, and guide users through your site’s content. So, why is a website FAQ section so important? Not only does it help people find specific questions about your product, but it also is good for SEO. We take a look at how to build a website FAQ section, so you can start building your site with all the necessary information.

1. Structure your FAQS right

Frequently asked questions tend to follow the structure of a question, followed by an answer. The questions – and answers, – need to be short and concise, using plain language that is easy to follow and understand. As people are likely to skim read your website – the average page visit lasts less than a minute – you’ll want to be able to quickly convey all the key bits of information about your website that the site user needs to know.

When writing your FAQs, you’ll want to include long tail key phrases (commonly searched questions on Google relating to your industry) in your questions, as well as high-ranking keywords in your answers. If you don’t know where to begin, look at other FAQ on site competitors to get a general idea of what people are searching for in your industry.

2. Don’t overlap with other areas of your site

An FAQ section is different to that of your landing page and your ‘About Us’ section. When building your website, imagine you’re selling a cake in a bakery. Your landing page is the main appeal – it should have an attractive website design, just as a cake should look irresistibly appealing, drawing people into the bakery. Your ‘About Us’ section should tell your story and add a personal touch, just as the design of the bakery might do. 

Your FAQ section is different to this – it needs to contain key bits of information related specifically to your website, just as a dietary note might tell customers what ingredients are used in the cake. Writing a clear list of questions, and titling it FAQ, shows site users that this is the section which can tell them everything they need to know about your services or products. 

3. Make your FAQ section visible 

Whilst you want your FAQ content to be different from that of other sections when building your site, you still want your FAQ section to be visible. This helps the site user navigate their way around your website, and answers any basic questions they might have quickly and efficiently.

Although you might decide to have a separate page entirely for your frequently asked questions when using a website builder, there’s no harm in placing your FAQs on the bottom of your landing page. This ensures that people can quickly find out useful information about your site without having to hunt for it.

4. Include internal links in your FAQs

By internally linking, you can direct site users to other parts of your website. For example, including a link to your ‘contact’ section in one of your answers prompts users to directly click on to this section. Not only is this useful for the user, as it helps navigation around the site, but it’s also good for SEO because it keeps people on your site longer, meaning search engines see your site as more relevant and useful.

When building your own site, internally linking the answers to your FAQs to other sections of your website helps Google index your pages. Frequently Asked Questions, which include links to other sections of your page mean Google can index these pages and list you higher on Google’s search engine results page as it’s more useful to the site user. 

5. Call to action 

Forgetting to add a call to action on your FAQ section is one of the main mistakes many people make when building your own website. Encouraging site users to buy your products, or register interest in your services, is paramount, especially if you phrase it to show that what you offer can answer their question. Calls to action are easy to add in, and can help increase conversion rates, turning visitors to your site into customers. 

Although they might be easy to add in when building your site, FAQs play a key role in the success of your website. If you’re using a website builder to build your own website, look at how easy it is to update and edit your FAQs when you’re on the go.

Go Sitebuilder is an extremely easy-to-use website builder, which lets you adapt your website on any device. Go Sitebuilder website builder doesn’t compromise on quality so why not try today: our free 14-day trial and explore all the benefits it has to offer yourself!

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What makes a great website?

Businessman Using Phone Whilst Working In Coffee Shop what makes a great website

Creating your own website is a fun project – you’ve got the freedom to make it look exactly how you want it…but what if you have no design experience? Or what if you don’t feel like you have the time to create an effective website for your business? Using a simple website builder can help you streamline the process, and we’ve created a list of elements that you should include to make sure you have the best website design possible.

Simple visual web design

First things first, the overall look of your web design is going to have a significant impact on a visitor’s first impression of your company. According to web credibility research from Stanford University, 75% of users admit to making judgements about a company’s credibility based on their web design. 

Don’t worry though, the easiest way to create a simple web design is not to overcomplicate it. Even if your website builder offers a plethora of interactive features like videos and animated logos, only use them very sparingly; they can result in an annoyance for the user. 

Clear Navigation

This is such an important feature we’ve written an entire blog on how to optimise your website’s navigation. Good navigation means a good user experience, which helps to keep visitors on your site and hopefully increase conversion rates. 

Focus on the customer’s viewpoint when designing your navigation. You want to make sure that at any point the visitor knows where they are and that they can easily get to where they want to be. If you have lots of different products and you’re not sure how to condense them, consider using a hamburger menu (below) that opens out into further options. 

Clear Call to Action (CTA)

Your CTA is a short phrase (two to five words maximum) that tells the visitor what you want them to do. Think about it from a visitor’s perspective; if they arrive on the site and you haven’t told them what to do, how are they going to do it? HubSpot research found that CTAs in anchor text (text with a link to another page) increased conversion rates by 121%.

Good examples of CTAs are “Contact us”, “Register now” or “Click here”. It’s also good to add a sense of urgency; “Download our Ebook today”, for example, to make it seem like there is a time limit on the resource. 

Make sure your web design is mobile friendly

Use of smartphones has skyrocketed over the past decade. According to marketing company Digital Next, in 2016 mobile usage overtook desktop for the first time, which makes it clear that having a website that looks good and works seamlessly on a mobile device is crucial in 2020. Our website builder is fully compatible with mobile and tablet devices, and you can even edit and upload content to your website on your phone!

Google is also using mobile friendliness as a way to rank a website for SEO, and sometimes indexes just the mobile site rather than the desktop version, so website designers are forced to make their sites responsive. 

Optimise for SEO

You might think SEO is a confusing list of 200 algorithms that Google uses to rank content – and it is! But there are really simple things that you can make sure your website has that will make your web design easier for search engines to index and boost you up results pages. 

Does your website work on all browsers? Do you have an SSL certificate? Have you put alt tags on your images and meta descriptions on your written content? Do some keyword research and make sure you use these words in your content, and you’re already far better than many websites on the internet in terms of SEO.

Fast load time

Your website needs to load quickly – 40% of people will abandon a website if it takes too long to load. This is also another reason why a simple web design is better than a complex one, as it will load faster. If your page is taking a long time to load and you’re not sure why, it could be to do with the file size and type of your images; have a look at our blog on how to edit the images you use for your website to optimise your load time. Simple things like saving the file as a different type or running it through an online compressor could make a huge difference. 

If you’re ready to get going with a website builder, then why not try ours? At Go Sitebuilder, we offer ready to go website templates that you can adapt to your brand and style. Our pre-made web designs mean that you can be sure that your navigation will be easy to use, your visual design will be clear and simple, and your website will be fully optimised for mobile devices. 

Still not convinced? Try our 14-day free trial today to see how quickly you can have a beautiful website up and running. 

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What is Backlinking and How Do You Do it For Your Website

Diverse culture people using mobile smartphone outdoor backlinking to eachothers website

How often do you take recommendations? If you know somebody has used a product and given a positive review of it, you are much more likely to trust and use that product. Essentially, this is the idea behind backlinking; it’s a vote of confidence in your site from an unbiased source. Backlinking is a great way for your site to improve its reputation online, and can help your website establish its authority on a given topic. 

What is backlinking?

In simple terms, backlinking is when a site links to your website – this can be via a blog or a review. For example, say you own an ecommerce business selling lawnmowers: if another website writes a list of the best lawnmowers and lists one of your products, then they will add a link directing the site user onto your page: for you, this is a backlink. 

Why is it good for SEO?

SEO – search engine optimisation – is where you optimise your site so that Google sees your website is relevant and useful to users, and thus ranks you highly on its search engine pages. A good way to improve your SEO is by getting backlinks to your site: if a high ranking website has given you that vote of confidence and linked your website on its page, then Google’s algorithms will see that your page is of high value to the user, which means it boosts you up its search engine results. 

What are the different types of backlinking?

There are two different types of backlinks; Nofollow and Dofollow. As a user, these tags are indistinguishable; if you see them on a website you can click and follow them regardless of their tag. However, there is a big difference for SEO. 

The best backlink is a Dofollow link. This means the search engines can see that an authoritative source has externally linked to your site, which will boost you up the rankings. 

However, if an external website puts a link to your website with a Nofollow tag, it tells search engines to ignore that link. That means this backlink will have no effect on SEO. It’s not the end of the world though; if a site with millions of views mentions your website – even with a Nofollow link – it will still enable users to click the link and visit your site; bringing more traffic, and more brand recognition.

Are all backlinks good for SEO?

Unfortunately, Google’s algorithms are now so updated that having too many backlinks from disreputable or low-value sources can actually harm your SEO ranking. It is better to have fewer backlinks from high ranking sources, than hundreds of backlinks from websites with no reputation at all. 

Nowadays, you also can’t spam comments sections on high value content with links to your own site – nobody likes spam, especially Google. Not only might it harm your site’s reputation, but Google could also pick up on your spam habits, and penalise you by lowering where you rank on its search engine.

What if a low-value source has backlinked your site?

If a low-value source has backlinked your site then you will want to remove this link – remember, disreputable websites can negatively affect your SEO ranking. Google Webmaster Guidelines require you to ask website owners of toxic websites to remove their links to your site: fail to do this, and Google can penalise your site, reversing all the hard work you’ve done to build a website that is fully optimised for SEO.

Luckily, there are free tools available online to track what sites are linking to your website: Google Search Console, Ahrefs and SEMrush all allow you to check every backlink so that you can remove any links from discredited websites. 

To do this, simply contact the website owner and ask them to remove the link. If this doesn’t work then you can also disavow the link with Google tool.

How to get backlinks to your site

One of the best ways to get backlinks to your site is by reaching out to popular bloggers or influencers in your industry, offering to write for them or maybe simply telling them about certain content on your website that they may want to link to. 

Or, perhaps you can try to get an interview with influencers or bloggers who have knowledge in the same field as you – this can be via video or podcast, or you can even create a blog post, including keywords in your blog as another way to improve SEO ranking. By getting your guest to link your interview on their site, you have gained a reputable backlink to your site.

An even simpler way to get backlinks to your site is by searching a post that is already ranking well, and then improve and expand on it. By creating a blog post with high-value content, then you are not only showing Google that your content should be ranked highly, but you are also encouraging other websites to add links to your site, without you even having to contact them! Structuring your blog post as a list tends to be the most popular, or including ‘how-to’ or ‘why’ phrases can improve your chances of getting more backlinks from reputable sources. 

If you want to create a site where you can write high-quality blogs for your business, you should pick a website builder that makes this process as smooth as possible. Go Sitebuilder has ready to go website designs, making us one of the best website builders if you want a website ready in a few clicks, but with a beautiful, professional finish. Our free blogging feature lets you post endless amounts of blogs, so that you can improve your chances of getting more backlinks to your site.

Our free 14-day trial gives you all the freedom to build your own website within minutes – try it today!

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How to manage images on your website

Handsome man working remotely researching how to manage images on your website from the coffeehouse on Go sitebuilder

Images are an important part of any website. In fact, websites with images get 94% more views than those without, so if you want to entice potential customers to your site, you can’t ignore them. However, you can’t just upload lots of randomly generated images and hope that it will increase traffic. Check out our blog post on how images enhance a website to see how you can make your images work for you.

Having an image-heavy site could mean that your website homepage becomes slow to load, or could confuse users if the photos aren’t related to your product. We’ve compiled a handy guide to help you manage images so that your visitors will have a great user experience, regardless of how many photos you choose. 

How do I make images load faster on my website?

Google web research says that the best loading time for your website is under three seconds. It’s crucial to make sure that your website loads in this time, as if it takes longer, even between 3-5 seconds, there is a 90% bounce rate. Their research also found that 79% of online shoppers that have trouble with website performance – like slow loading speed – say that they won’t return to that site again. 

Use a loading speed analyser like GTmetrix to see how long your site takes to load – if it’s longer than 3 seconds then read on to find out what you can do!

Image file size

Most often, when you find a picture that you think is perfect for your website, you don’t think about whether it is the right size, and you upload it straight away. It’s good to start with a high-quality image, whether that is your own photo, one from a free stock image website like Pixabay, Pexels and Unsplash, or Go Sitebuilder’s ready-to-use stock image directory. However, to streamline your site you might need to make the images smaller so they don’t take up so much space. 

Resolution

The resolution of your image refers to the quality of the image and is measured in dots per inch (DPI). The more dots per inch, the better quality your image will be. This is very important when processing images for print, but most computer monitors display a maximum of 72DPI. That means that any image with a higher resolution than 72DPI is overkill; your visitors won’t notice the difference and your image will be taking up unnecessary space. 

To see the resolution of an image on Windows, right click on your image file name and select Properties → Details. Click on the image tab within the window, and you’ll see the DPI labelled horizontal resolution and vertical resolution. On a Mac, open the image in preview and select Tools → Adjust Size and you’ll find the option under resolution. You can use Photoshop or Gimp Image editing software to change the resolution, or an online converter like convert.town.

Reduce file size even more

Reducing the resolution will also reduce the file size, but to make the file size even smaller, it’s a good idea to put the 72DPI image through an online compressor like Compressor, Tiny PNG or Optimizilla. This drastically reduces your file size but with an almost indiscernible difference in image quality. Don’t believe us? Have a look at the difference:

300DPI image from Pixabay
Reduced to 72DPI
Compressed 72DPI image

Choose the right file type

Most images in websites are found in three file types: PNG, JPG (or JPEG) and GIF. You shouldn’t be uploading any other image files to your website, so if you have a file type you’ve never seen before, open it and click File → Save as and change the file type, or click File → Export as + JPG/PNG/GIF. But which file type should you use for which image?

  • Use JPG for photos and photorealistic images
  • Use PNG for computer generated images and graphics where transparency is required
  • Use GIF for small animations

Top tip – if you’re taking a screenshot it will likely save as PNG. If you’re going to upload it to your website, make sure you export it as a JPG first. Adhering to these simple file type rules will make your images work better for you. 

Optimise your file names and alt-tags

This might be boring, but it’s very important! To help with SEO, you want Google’s crawl bots to look at your site and check that it is all relevant to your topic, and these crawl bots can’t “see” images in the same way we can. So, when it comes across a file name called DSC43953, it is not going to know whether it is related to your business or not. You don’t need to put in a long description, but if you sell bespoke ceramics and your image is called “white-glazed-pot” then search engines will understand what it is. 

The same goes for alt-tags. You should be able to alter these within your website builder, and you want to describe it as if to a friend who is wearing a blindfold, using as few words as possible. Avoid using small words like “a” and “the” as you don’t need them. “White pot on table” is fine. Ideally you want to use your keywords for both file names, but don’t shove it in there if it doesn’t make sense to. 

So, now you know how to manage your images to have a fast-running website, you’re ready to make your own! Try Go Sitebuilder for a super simple website builder that gives you ready made templates to personalise, so you can have a beautiful website up and running in minutes! We offer a 14-day free trial so you can see for yourself – happy building!

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Why do you need a responsive website?

Portrait of handsome young man using his mobile phone in the kitchen choosing his responsive website design with Go Sitebuilder

A responsive website design is a must-have when building your own website. Essentially, a responsive website adapts to the size of any screen that it is being viewed on – this is different to a mobile-friendly site, which is a separate, simpler version of your site designed solely for mobiles, which might have glitches and is difficult to navigate when viewed on high resolution devices. 

Nowadays, it is hard to deny that the internet is reshaping the way we typically buy goods: in 2013 internet sales of non-food products in the UK grew by 19.2% compared to the previous year. With 7 out of 10 people in the UK now owning a smartphone, it is hard to deny that there is a strong link between ecommerce shopping and mobile phones. If your website isn’t responsive, and therefore has to have two different versions of one website for different devices, you could harm your business’ growth. If you’re still not convinced, read on to discover just how a responsive website can boost your website’s chances of success. 

Reduce your costs 

Starting up an ecommerce business online can incur many hidden costs, slowly pushing up the expenditure for your website. To build your own website from scratch without a website builder means you’re already spending a lot of time and money on necessary features such as your website design and site coding. If your website is responsive then you only need one version of your page, but if it isn’t then you’ll need another version, with a different URL, so that it can be viewed on a different device. 

With a responsive website, you can cut down the costs of running your website, as you won’t be paying for two versions of the site. It also halves the time you spend doing maintenance on your site, meaning you can concentrate your time more efficiently in other ways to grow your business. 

Increased conversation rates 

As an unresponsive website usually distorts the way your website appears on mobile devices or tablets, that affects multiple aspects of your website design, such as your layout or your font sizes. Imagine you’ve spent hours perfecting your site design, only for it to lose all aesthetic when it’s not viewed on a desktop. 

Understandably, a website that isn’t easy to navigate is going to put off potential customers, damaging your ecommerce site or tarnishing your reputation. As 67% of mobile users are more likely to buy from a website with a responsive web design, you need to build a website which doesn’t exclude a large chunk of your target market. 

Having a responsive website also markets your image as a professional: with only one URL, users who share your content on their social media only have one link that they can share. With two URLs, a site user might share your link on their desktop, which is then seen and clicked on by another person who is viewing your website from a mobile device. As the link won’t respond well to their mobile device your website will seem clunky and poorly designed, prompting them to lose interest in your business before they’ve even properly explored it. With one URL, you can avoid this issue completely – your site will be ready to view on any device. 

Improve your SEO ranking 

Boosting your SEO ranking can boost your business’ success dramatically: considering that Google recommends a responsive website pattern, it’s best to follow its guidelines to make sure you rank as highly as possible on search engine results pages. Having a responsive website isn’t just good for SEO because Google likes it – there is actually a method behind it. By using a single URL structure, you’re giving Google’s spiders less work, as they don’t have to crawl and index both versions of your site, and then decide which version to show on its search engine results. 

Building a website with a responsive site design also improves your SEO ranking as it means site users are more likely to stay on your website for longer. Having a low bounce rate tells Google that your site is valuable and should therefore be listed higher on its search engine results, whereas a site with a high click-off rate suggests to Google that your website is of poor content, and should therefore be lower on its index. 

If you want to build a website, but don’t have the time to spend hours coding, or the money to hire a professional website designer, Go Sitebuilder offers ready to go site designs at an incredibly affordable price. One of the best things about our site? It delivers responsive websites so site users can access from any device, and you can even update or make changes to your site anywhere you want. Our website builder provides a professional finish, without the premium prices – to find out for yourself, start our free 14-day trial to discover all the benefits we offer, and more!

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Do I need a privacy policy statement on my website?

Three businesswomen looking at laptop and smiling as they have confirmed the privacy policy statement on website

If you’re building a site which requires people to give you their personal details, it is now required by law for you to provide a privacy policy statement. This is especially important if you’ve built a website with an ecommerce platform, as you are handling sensitive payment information and people need to be reassured that their details won’t be misused by your site. 

However, even if your website doesn’t take payments over the internet, but still requires people to give you their phone number, email address, home address etc then you still must include a privacy policy statement.

This is covered in EU law under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as a UK Act of Parliament: the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). A privacy policy statement isn’t just to look professional: the penalties for breaching someone’s privacy rights can be up to 4% of your global revenue, or €20 million – whichever is the highest. Don’t worry if you’re worried you might write an incorrect privacy policy statement: we’ve broken down how to tackle it, so you can build your own website stress-free!

What is a privacy policy statement?

A privacy policy statement is a written statement that details how your company uses and manages a customer’s details. It is necessary if you’re collecting personal information from your site visitors, and it needs to be clearly visible on your site, as well as on a mobile app if you have one. 

Covered under both EU and UK law, a privacy policy statement is legally binding: you must tell your site visitor what kind of information you’ll be gathering from them, what you’ll do with these details, and how you’ll keep them safe. Not only does the law state that you must display this notice, but you also must not breach any of its regulations. This ensures the privacy of your site users is protected, and you can’t use their personal information for other purposes without their consent.

Why do you need a privacy policy statement?

Whilst you need to include a privacy policy statement when building your site as you are legally bound to do so, it also is important from a marketing perspective. If you have an ecommerce platform, then people are not going to want to give you their personal details without being reassured that they are completely protected. 

If you have an online store, then people aren’t going to put in their credit card details if they think there’s any risk of you stealing this information, meaning you’re less likely to sell products online. 

Personal information doesn’t just mean card details: it can include even seemingly trivial details, such as an email address. Without a privacy policy statement, a site user may be unsatisfied that their email address will be properly protected, thus deterring them from giving you this information. This means you can’t add them to your mailing list, barring you from sending them emails about the latest deals and updates to your website. 

How to structure it 

Don’t worry – you don’t have to trawl through the GDPR and the DPA to try to work out how exactly to structure your privacy policy statement. There are plenty of free resources to use online which can help you: SEQ Legal has an easy-to-follow template that you can download for guidance, or for official guidance, the EU template can also be downloaded for free. Of course, you’ll have to edit some of the details so that it’s relevant to your business, but it is a handy guide to refer to if you’re not sure where to start. 

If you need a breakdown of the language used, then the EU has produced a guideline to the wording. If you want to read the legislation to see the exact wording in the legislation, then read Articles 12, 13 and 14 of the GDPR. 

According to the GDPR, a privacy notice must be:

  • Written in concise, legible language 
  • Written in clear and unambiguous language, with special care taken if the site is directed to a child
  • Provided for free

When building your site, you’ll want a website builder that is easy to use, but still delivers stunning website designs for a professional result. Go Sitebuilder includes an ecommerce platform within our bundle, making us one of the cheapest website builders with this feature in the UK. Don’t let creating a privacy policy statement deter you from building your dream website; once you’ve downloaded one of the free web design templates, Go Sitebuilder makes everything all the more simple – try it today, with our free 14-day trial!

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Why is navigation so important on a website?

Core Features to Look For in a Site Builder

Well thought through navigation can make the difference between a visitor spending 30 seconds on your website or one hour. If your website navigation is too complex or poorly designed visitors will be put off quickly and may not decide to continue exploring your website. Therefore, by properly planning your website navigation, your visitor’s user experience will be improved significantly. This blog outlines some of the key reasons why you should keep navigation in mind when designing a website.

What is Website Navigation? 

Website navigation refers to the way a visitor will access different sections of your website. This often includes features such as links and menus embedded in your website design. 

What Different Types of Navigation are There? 

There are a few different options websites opt for in terms of navigation. One is having a header at the top of the website, this is either fixed (staying on your screen as you scroll) or stationary (moving with your screen as your scroll – thus disappearing). Below is the Manchester United website’s homepage, as you can see there is a header with various titles. This allows visitors to easily navigate to sections of the website they are interested in. 


https://www.manutd.com/

Alternatively you could opt for a drop down menu. This is often signified by three horizontal lines or simply the word menu. When visitors click on this they are given various options for different areas of the website. This can be very effective if you want a more clean and simple look to your webpage. A menu option can also be better for mobile phone viewing of your website. Clothing retailers will often use these to section their website into women and mens, as in this example of the Pull & Bear website.


https://www.pullandbear.com/gb/woman-c1030007507.html 

Some websites combine both together to create multiple navigation options. See Gourmet Burger Kitchen’s homepage below, where the top bar menu opens up into a translucent extra menu without taking you off the homepage. 


https://www.gbk.co.uk/

So Why is Navigation Important? 

Navigation that has been well thought out can be very effective in gaining more interest in your website. There are a variety of reasons for this: 

Increased Duration of Visit – navigation that is easy to understand and use, will increase the amount of time visitors spend on your website. If a visitor can access the different areas of your website they were looking for easily, there is a higher chance of them staying on your website longer.

Increased Chance of Sales –  more time spent on your website means visitors are exposed to your products/services for a longer period of time. Therefore, if your website is being used to sell products, navigation can be particularly important in increasing sales. 

Improved User Experience – an easy to use navigation system on your website makes using your website a more enjoyable experience. Therefore, visitors will be more likely to spend more time on your website and they are more likely to revisit your website. 

Good Design – navigation and website design go hand in hand. The style of navigation you choose can alter how your website is viewed by visitors. Therefore, ensuring that your choice of navigation fits in well with the rest of your website design is extremely important. 

The best websites will have thought through various factors before they decide on the type of navigation that works best for them. Some questions to ask yourself are: 

  • What kind of products/services are you selling? What is the best way to organise them?
  • Can you group your products/services/content under umbrella themes or titles?
  • How many titles do you need? 
  • If there are many titles would a drop down menu be easier?
  • Which type of navigation would fit in best with your website design?
  • Who is your target audience?
  • Does your navigation style work on a mobile phone or tablet?

If you consider these questions before creating your website you will create the best navigation for your products/services/content. When thinking about them, always try and have the fewest number of titles possible, as too many make your site look cluttered and confusing to navigate. 

Still unsure? Take a look at these examples of the best types of navigation. Many website builders will also have many different options that you can experiment with.

If you are looking for a good website builder for your company, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder! Our simple design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. With different types of navigation there are so many options for your new website, and with Go Sitebuilder you can rest assured that all our websites are fully optimised for both desktop, tablet and mobile devices, regardless of the navigation style you choose. Try our 14-day free trial today.

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What are the most successful local businesses?

Couple partnership the bakehouse with how to make their e-business online successful using Go Sitebuilder

Starting a business can be a daunting prospect. But if you’re ready to take the leap, starting a local business could be a great idea, especially if you already have a good set of contacts and a good reputation – that’s the hardest part!

You might already have a useful skill that could easily transfer into a business setting, but even if you’re just looking for ideas, we’ve got you covered. We’ve compiled a list of the most successful businesses that work in a local setting – but don’t rely on word of mouth, you’ll need to find a good website builder to make the most out of each business. 

Pet grooming, boarding and walking

According to Pets Business World, the value of UK pet products and services is forecast to reach £2.1 billion by 2023, which would be a 25% increase from 2018. 

Across the country, owners are treating their pets with more care and attention, meaning they are ready to spend money on accessories as well as high quality dog food and treats – did you know that dog beer existed? By becoming a one-stop-shop for everything pet-related, you’ll stop pet owners having to drive to the speciality shop further away. 

If you have the space, having pets boarding at your home can be incredibly lucrative; many owners baulk at the idea of sending their precious pet to kennels and would rather they stayed in a comfortable domestic home. 

Another low-risk way to capitalise on this industry is to start off walking dogs. As many people work all day, they don’t have time to walk their dogs in the day, opening up a market for a dog walker. Once you’ve gained a reputation as a knowledgeable dog walker, people are more likely to trust you if you start selling other pet-related products. For all these services, convenience and distance are both factors for potential customers, making this a great idea for a local business. 

Speciality food shop

Even in mid-sized towns in the UK, speciality products can be difficult to find as smaller supermarkets only offer a limited selection. The rising demand of alternative, free-from products is on the rise; according to a survey by Compare the Market, in 2016 there were 542,000 vegans in the UK, and by 2018 this number had skyrocketed to 3.5 million. The market for organic food has been steadily rising for nearly a decade, with the UK market set to be worth £2.5 million this year. 

By opening a local business that sells allergen free, vegan friendly and organic food, you can capitalise on the change in eating habits currently sweeping the UK. The good part is that it’s not a fad, as increasing awareness of the negative environmental consequence of eating meat has seen a rise in long-term flexitarianism, where people eat a mostly plant-based diet but occasionally eat meat or fish. This means they will also be looking for vegan options for their everyday meals. 

If you live in an area where people could be daunted by the prospect of meat alternatives like tempeh and seitan, do some local marketing by making recipe cards or organising a small cooking class to show them how to cook with it.

Coffee shop 

Every area needs a local coffee shop! If you don’t want to commit to a full shop straight away, start with a small coffee van and set it up in an area with a lot of foot traffic. This is the best way to do some local marketing; you can grow your reputation and gauge the demand in your area. 

Once you do start having your own space, it’s a good idea to get an alcohol licence. There’s no need to invest in beer taps, but as coffee consumption begins to tail off in the afternoon, offering an alternative like wine or craft beers could keep people in your cafe until the sun goes down. 

The most important part of creating a coffee shop is to find a gap in the market. Does your area need a cafe that is comfortable for people to work and study with their laptop? Or are people prepared to spend a little extra for speciality coffee and home-baked treats? Do some market research to find out. 

Capitalise on your skills and tools

If you’ve got skills and tools then use them! If you’re great at DIY, have no problem fixing some broken pipes and can help fix a door hanging morosely off its hinges, then you’ve got a skill that many others don’t. And, if you also have the tools – or you’re ready to make a small investment to get them – you just need to market your services to make sure people know where to find you. 

The same goes for sewing and alteration services. If you’re a dab hand with a sewing machine and can hem a pair of trousers with your eyes shut, this is a great avenue to go down. The rise of slow fashion and second-hand clothing means that there is a growing demand for clothes alterations, but many people lack the skills to do it and the resources to buy a sewing machine. 

There are many other good local business ideas that might require a qualification, like becoming a personal trainer or a massage therapist, but the most important part is making sure that there is demand for the services you want to sell. Once you’ve decided on your niche, then you’ll need to create a website to market your skills!

Although local businesses can use word-of-mouth to gain traction, those new to the area or those in a different social group are likely to search for services on the internet as their first port of call. Try a website builder like Go Sitebuilder to make your first website – it’s easy, fast, and with our ready-made templates, you can have a professional-looking website up in no time! Try out our 14-day free trial today.

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What makes a website user friendly?

Business woman using laptop in office viewing a friendly Go Sitebuilder website

When was the last time you visited a website and had no idea what the company was offering? Maybe you clicked around to find some more information, but, failing to do so, clicked away in exasperation. This is exactly what you don’t want to happen with your website. Let’s look at how you can apply our website design tips to ensure your visitors have the best possible user experience when they visit your site. 

What is UX design?

UX design, or user experience design, is a type of website design that contemplates how a user feels when they visit a website for the first time. This can include ease of use, efficiency in performing tasks, and how useful the site is for them. When building your website with UX design in mind, you need to make sure your website answer three key questions, the why, the what and the how of your product:

Why should your customers want to use your product?

What can customers do with your product and what is its functionality and features?

How can they buy or access the product?

If your website can answer these questions quickly and efficiently, then your user will enjoy the experience they have on your site. This makes it more likely for them to convert into a customer, recommend your site to others and have a positive first impression of your company. 

Why is UX design important?

If you have good UX design, then your users are more likely to have a positive experience with your company and therefore your product. In fact, according to HubSpot research, 75% of respondents stated that they thought ease of finding information is the most important element of a website. So, when you’re using your website builder and trying to work out a good website design, you need to put functionality and ease of use at the top. 

But how are you supposed to know what your users want in your website? Sports network ESPN decided to find out by asking their users what features and functionality they wanted on the site to improve the UX. By taking the suggestions on board and altering their website accordingly, they managed to increase their revenue by a staggering 35%.

It’s clear that a good UX design can have a huge effect on how your visitors view your site and how likely they are to convert into customers. 

How can you improve your UX?

The first step in making sure that your website design is optimised for good UX is to always have your audience in mind. Remember they’re not necessarily interested in the product you sell, but rather the problem your product will solve for them and the benefits this will have in their day-to-day lives. Make this clear, but don’t over explain.

Simplicity

Simplicity is key. We know it’s easy to think that the more bells and whistles you put on your website, the better it will be, but actually it just makes it more complicated for the user. Here at Go Sitebuilder we know this; that’s why our website builder has just the right amount of tools for you to create a professional-looking website with good user experience. No more, no less. When you think of adding another feature to your website, stop and think about what it will actually provide for your user. 

If you sell complex products, or a variety of different services and you’re struggling to keep the website simple, think about creating an interactive guide, or a helpful infographic that will help them decide quickly and easily what they need. Canva and Venngage are both free-to-use online infographic makers with ready-made templates so you can easily input your company’s information. 

Compatibility

Especially now, compatibility with a variety of browsers and devices is crucial to avoid putting people off. Recent research from Visual.ly shows that 85% of adults think that a mobile website should be as good or better than their desktop website, showing how much people value looking for information on the go. 

You can check what your site looks like on mobiles with Google mobile site tester, but it’s not that fast. If you choose Go Sitebuilder as your website builder, you can instantly see what your site looks like on mobile or tablet at the click of a button – all our website templates are compatible with all devices. 

Call to Action

Did you know that 70% of small businesses don’t have a Call to Action (CTA) on their homepage? This is the section that tells the user what to do, either to buy your product, to register for a free trial, or to contact you for more information. Without this, a visitor can feel directionless when they arrive at your site – you’re not answering the why, what or how questions they have. A CTA is easy to add; just make it short and snappy and put it on your homepage – make sure it stands out!

If you’re tempted to design your own website now but are still daunted by the prospect, then try Go Sitebuilder! We make your life easy by giving you ready to go templates, colour schemes, and font choices, and with our fully mobile-compatible website builder, you can design your website on the go! Try our free 14-day trial today to see what we have to offer.