The 3 Secrets to Building a Successful, Modern Website

[Image description: A group of four small business owners all in the midst of building new websites find themselves hanging out on larger-than-life website graphic elements begging the question, “what drugs did these business owners take?” and, “where can I get some?”]

I've found the secret to creating incredible websites, and it's remarkably simple. After years of building websites for clients and myself, and years of research and studying users, I've narrowed it down into 3 major areas that you need to grasp to make your site a great success.

The 3 areas are: great design, great photography, and great copywriting.

These are the most important things to focus on in a website, more than any fancy features or novel functionality. But the order really matters.

I'm going to give you the order-of-importance in two ways, from the viewer’s perspective and from the builder’s perspective.

Order of importance from viewer’s perspective:

1. Photography

2. Design

3. Copy

With our human anatomy, your photos and design hit our eyes way before our thinking mind can comprehend words. Get the photos and design right and we will develop a trustworthy gut feeling relationship with your business. Get it wrong and we'll feel at best slightly off about your business.

But there’s actually a different order for building a site.

Here's the order you should build in:

1. Copy

2. Photography

3. Design

If you don't have photos and copy, you won't know what to design around, create space for, and fill in. If you don't have copy, you won't know what photos to take. Copy is the Rudolph of your website, always start there. If you want more help or you just want to pass your whole web design project over to the experts, my small business agency at Worth The Journey has you covered!

L:et’s dive deeper into each area.

1. Original, high-quality photography

Not all photos are made equal! There's a reason good photographers are always in demand - professional photos make or break your website. There, I said it! Even if you can’t get professional photos, good photos are the most important element of a website.

Now some of you may disagree, but let’s think about this from a biological standpoint. As humans we primarily use our visual field to make decisions, so we like to see other humans or products if we’re going to interact with them so we know what we're getting into before we're in the middle of it.

If you do this correctly on a website, your prospects will already be sold on you by the time they meet you (if you're in a service-based business), or before they decide to check out their cart (if you're in a product-based business).

Pro-tip: It's really hard to sell to someone who isn't already sold on you from context.

So, front-load your sales path properly! Take lots of photos, like hundreds. And take really good ones too. Use your smart phone, use portrait mode, and if possible hire a photographer. It makes a massive difference.

If you need a photographer, just DM me. I know some great ones.

2. Spacious, clearly branded design

The next most important element is design!

First off, you need a brand. Even if your brand is just the colors and fonts you've decided on, you need a brand. I'll dive into that more in another post, but let's assume you already have a brand for the moment.

To make your business look phenomenal on your website, you need to have everything on your site be consistent with that brand. That means you can't use 10 different fonts, instead use 2-3. And if you use 25 colors just because you like unicorns people will be real confused. I know you like unicorns and I do too, but on your website you're trying to communicate clearly to your people and not confuse them. Prioritize that clarity on your website and people will stay around longer.

Finally, even if your brand isn't minimalist, make it spacious. I can't emphasize this enough because I hate to say it but there are so many horrible, horrible websites. Honestly it doesn't take much to stand out. Don't make people hunt for info, make everything real easy to find, read, and watch.

Lastly, invest in a designer. It's 100% worth it. The difference between a professionally designed site and a botched together one is stunning. If you don't know where to start in finding a designer, don't worry, my small business agency has you covered! We have phenomenal designers and know just how to make a brand shine.

3. Well structured, SEO rich copy

There's a secret to breaking up your copy in a way that is both super easily readable by your clients and also works wonders for your SEO on Google. The secret is to create a clear information hierarchy by using nested headers to structure each page.

Here's an example:

• [Heading 1] This heading describes what this page is about

  • [Heading 2] This heading says there are 3 service offerings

    • [Heading 3] Service offering #1

      • [Paragraph] Description of service

    • [Heading 3] Service offering #2

      • [Paragraph] Description of service

    • [Heading 3] Service offering #3

      • [Paragraph] Description of service

  • [Heading 2] This headline describes how to contact

    • [Paragraph] Describes email and phone number with instructions to contact

If you break up your text like this, you make it soooo easy for humans to read. Hint: it’s how this very page is broken up!

This principle goes hand-in-hand with good design: when it's easy to use, it's easy to sell. But just as powerfully, Google indexes your site in a heading hierarchy. You can check out how google sees your site through this popular simulator: browseo.net.

Check it out, it'll all make sense when you see how Google views your site. If you don't have a clear heading structure, Google won't know what to make of each page.