The web industry is ever-changing. There’s always new stuff just around the corner. If you are getting a new website in 2022 or upgrading an existing one, this checklist will come in handy. We’ll cover some of the fundamentals yet often overlooked aspects as well as some new trends that you can use to add some personality to your website. So without further ado, let’s jump right into it.
Optimize your Logo for Web
Logos are a big part of any business. If you are getting a new one, make sure it is versatile. That is, it will work on large and small screens, over different backgrounds. Sometimes to achieve that you might want to go with different (derived) versions of the logo. If you have an existing logo, you might want to get a variation or two or if feasible get a new one.
Adopt Consistent Branding
Your website should stay and look similar throughout. If things look out of place they can bring down the outlook of something good. But it’s not just about the looks, it’s also about how it feels.
Here are a few tips to help you with branding:
- Use appropriate color schemes and fonts.
- Don’t use too many fonts – 2-3 is a good number.
- Stay consistent with your tone.
- Utilize similar images.
Use Professional & Optimized Images
Photos taken off of a phone by just anyone will be nowhere near what a professional photographer will get you. Hiring a good photographer for portraits, some on-field work depending on if it’s useful will go a long way. It’s one of the often skipped aspects that is an investment that pays back for itself quickly and then a lot more.
You can also utilize stock images depending on your use case. Another part of the puzzle is to optimize these images for the web. What does that mean? To put it simply, their size needs to be reduced to ensure fast loading.
Show Valuable Information
People go through a number of websites. The world has never been busier which means you have to deliver essential information quickly. Tell your visitors who you are, what you do, what you offer, and how they can connect. Attention span is something you have to keep in mind when thinking about your paragraphs. You definitely don’t want a block of text that takes ages to get to the next section which might be what the customer was looking for. Too much can be harmful to your sales. But so is too little information. Finding the balance & assigning priorities is a good way to proceed here.
Offer Insightful Content
Content is king. If you want your visitors to keep coming back to your website your content strategy is what helps you achieve that better. It’s also a good way to share your expertise and keep your customers with all that’s happening around your business. Think of what your audience will be excited about and curate some content around. Curate something unique, always respect copyrights. If you are having a hard time writing, you might want to hire a writer.
Responsive across Different Devices
At this point, this should be a no-brainer. But there are still so many websites out there that aren’t responsive. Mobiles phones now account for more than 50% of the traffic. Make sure your websites work just as well on phones and tablets as it does on larger desktops.
In 2022, you should be taking this a step further, think about how you can deliver a quicker experience for those on the go as one insight to keep in mind is visitors on phones spend a lot less time (per visit) on your website than on desktops.
Ensure Fast Loading Times
Earlier, we talked about optimizing images and how that is to optimize load times. Let’s talk about why your website should load fast and how it affects your business. As you might expect people don’t really like waiting. The ideal loading time would be 2-5 seconds, in fact, anything above 2 increases ‘bounce’ rates (no. of visitors that exit your website right away).
You can check your website performance via Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
Good User Experience (UX)
User experience is a highlight and a deserving one in 2022. A larger focus on it is an indicator that even small businesses now understand its importance. If you are wondering what UX is, let us simplify it for you: UX is an approach to designing by focusing on the way your website will be used instead of the way it looks. This ensures your visitors have a pleasant experience on your website and aren’t frustrated with having to click too much, close tons of popups, go through a lot of pages to get to something, etc.
Be Found
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media & advertising will all help you build more traffic. Depending on your type of business & exposure some priming might be needed in the form of advertising to get traffic to your website and get the ball rolling. Research on how people search you and things around your industry and adopt that into your content and marketing strategy. Make use of tools like Google Analytics to visualize how your visitors access and browse your website. List your website on your business cards, emails, and more.
Delightful Motion
Animations, videos, GIFs, and micro-interactions are all getting more adopted as they help make your website just that much more lively. Check out tools such as LottieFiles with tons of free-to-use animated graphics to spice up your website.
Conclusion
We are glad that in 2022, it’s not just about having a website. UX is now much more prominent as the world is going truly digital and there’s that much more thought and strategy as the industry matures further. Is your business looking for a professional website? We hope the above has been insightful. If you’d like us to help you build one feel free to reach out.
Top comments (5)
Would you say this is advice for a website whose purpose is to attempt to drive business? present professional views and options and statements? A personal informal website? or just any type of website at all?
Hi, Michael. I think, this is something that one can use as a guide in general. There are some websites where things might apply differently.
I ask because I feel like there's SEO to be had, yet not, for what could now be considered a "non-traditional", "old school" site that doesn't necessarily but does still need optimizations of some sort. There's always discoverability, but really what other parts for sure apply, especially for personal-based things? And what modern best practices apply in those contexts? It's an interesting question to answer.
Yeah, that is an interesting one. So, think about it like this... what's essential to a website is what it's users need. In terms of modern best practices, you might not need to go all in but you (and your users) will benefit from having them in place.
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