Marketing a product today requires more than the ability to manufacture a high-quality good. In order to optimize your marketing strategy in any industry, you will need to know how to design a successful website. Learning how to design a successful website is not only a way for you to develop an online presence, but it also provides opportunities to network, scale, and continue to grow in just about any market today.

1. Research Successful Competitor Websites

When you are in the process of learning how to design a successful website, you must first familiarize yourself with the competition. Regardless of the industry you represent and the product you intend to promote, you will need to know what other websites and products are vying for the same audience and demographics. Spend time getting to know more about your industry competitors based on the product, service, or brand you are trying to promote. The more familiar you are with your competitors and how they present themselves both offline and on, the easier it will be for you to cultivate a winning strategy for your own website’s design.

2. Prioritize Responsive Design

While you learn how to design a successful website, you will discover the importance of responsive design. In the past, website design had to align with specific requirements based on the browser you wanted to appeal to and reach. Today, however, millions of users browse the internet with different web browsers and with the use of various devices. Responsive design ensures that your website will not only load properly but that it will appear as intended whether someone is browsing using a traditional computer or if they are browsing the web with the use of a smartphone or tablet device.

3. Feature Your Top Products Properly

When choosing the layout for your website, consider how you want to present your products. What is the first product that you want your visitors to see when accessing your site for the first time? Whether your eCommerce store sells custom boat covers, hose clamp types, a particular windshield wiper kit, or vape products, you need to choose which products you intend to feature and highlight on your front page. Your landing page of any eCommerce storefront can ultimately help a user determine whether or not they want to learn more about the brand and the products the brand has to offer.

Along with placing your featured products towards the top of your eCommerce store page, consider what type of contrasting elements you will also incorporate. Using contrasting colors, banners, and alert graphics can help divert the attention of your visitors to a particular area of your website. If you’re unsure of how to go about demonstrating your featured products, take a peek at some of your top-performing competitors’ websites for even more insight.

4. Create a Newsletter

Developing a newsletter is integral when you are learning how to design a successful website, whether you plan to produce content or promote a particular product for sale. Creating a newsletter for your website is not only a way for you to collect the emails of prospective customers, but it is also a great way to showcase professionalism. When a visitor views your website as professional and trustworthy, they are much more likely to make a purchase from you or refer your website to someone else they know.

Newsletters allow the opportunity to keep your visitors informed regarding your products, sales, and even upcoming promotions you intend to host. You can use newsletters to maintain brand relevance and to help to spread the word about your business and brand. This is especially helpful for brands in industries that are currently highly saturated or in locations that are rife with local competition.

Tips for Creating a Newsletter

If you are building and creating a newsletter for your website for the first time, there are a few tips to remember. When creating your newsletter, be sure to state your intention to your users upfront. If you intend to share promotions and questionnaires, inform your visitors before they submit their email addresses to you. When users receive emails that they perceive as unwanted and/or unsolicited, you run the risk of having your newsletter and your website itself reported or marked as spam. With numerous reports of spam, you may be blacklisted from sending a newsletter to any of your subscribers.

It is also advisable to test all of your newsletter emails before sending them out en masse, especially if you currently have hundreds, if not thousands, of followers. Using a testing platform for emails and newsletters can help you to preview the look and design of the layout before it is sent out to the public. Testing the layout, design, and overall messaging of a newsletter email is always recommended for those doing so in a business capacity, especially when attempting to promote or sell a product.

Using A/B testing once you launch your newsletter live is also recommended. A/B tests can provide valuable insight into the messaging, visuals, and overall marketing methods that are most effective for your target demographics.

5. Use Slideshows to Feature Products

Whether you are interested in marketing tractor attachments, clothing, home decor, or even equipment such as a glass crusher, you can do so with the right layout on your eCommerce store’s homepage. Using slideshows that run automatically and that are interactive can help you to prioritize the display of top-rated products and products you are currently promoting or featuring. You can use fully-integrated slideshows to draw attention toward the top of your page or any area of the page where the slideshow is integrated.

Using slideshows can help attract attention to particular products while simultaneously helping your website appear much more professional and legitimate. When designing the slideshow for the products on your homepage, consider linking the images or graphics that represent the product to the actual product page itself. This can help with boosting engagement on your website while also assisting in getting users to where you want them to go.

6. Encourage Visitor Engagement and Communication

If you want to make your mark as a brand or business online, you must first work to develop ongoing communication with your audience and your dedicated followers. When building your website, allow users to leave comments by integrating a robust commenting system that is safe, encrypted, and, when desired, also anonymous. Allowing visitors to leave their opinions and voice how they feel about a particular product can go a long way in building a sense of community.

If you are a new brand just entering the market for the first time, open and honest communication will help you to stand out from your competitors. Allowing users to speak freely about how they feel when it comes to your products and services will also help to boost transparency when it comes to your business.

7. Integrate Social Sharing

When you are in the process of learning how to design a successful website, you will need to understand the importance of social media, especially when it comes to eCommerce, building brands, and ultimately, generating revenue. While you are in the process of designing the layout and theme for your website, consider how you will integrate social sharing options for your visitors. Social sharing solutions allow visitors the ability to quickly share an article, piece of content, or even an entire product with the social platform of their choice. Social sharing buttons and integration are not only optimal for boosting engagement and visibility, but they are also ideal for SEO, or search engine optimization purposes.

8. Pay Attention to the SEO of Your Website

SEO, or search engine optimization, is one of the foundational elements involved in learning how to design a successful website. Those who are unfamiliar with the basics of SEO will have a difficult time optimizing any website for online visibility, regardless of the website’s purpose or market. Incorporating SEO tactics organically can help to boost your website URL’s ranking within top search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo, and Bing. The more SEO-optimized your website is, the more likely it is that it will appear within the first pages of top search engines with popular keywords and search terms.

Ways to Organically Boost the SEO of Your Website

Many different professionals and SEO-oriented companies today offer SEO solutions and packages to help boost a website’s ranking. Unfortunately, these services are not cheap and more often than not, they are not reliable. In order to organically boost the SEO of your website, you will need to cultivate a content schedule with original, unique, and interesting content that is difficult to find anywhere else online. You will need to focus on implementing the appropriate keywords and phrases that are relevant to your website within page titles, headers, and even with both internal and external links. Additionally, you will need to avoid spamming keywords and phrases throughout all of the pages of your website, as this can quickly cause your website to become blacklisted by top search engines.

Research Keywords, Phrases, and Trends

If you are new to building a website or marketing products, you will need to spend some time getting familiar with the market you are invested in. Research keywords, phrases, and trends to gain valuable insight into the audience you intend to appeal to with your product. You can use solutions such as Google Trends free of charge to get started when it comes to researching relevant phrases and keywords that are most likely to bring traffic to your own website or product page.

9. Create Promotional Countdowns

If you are hosting a time-limited promotion or offer, be sure to inform your visitors that you are doing so with a fully-integrated promotional countdown. Using a live countdown on the homepage of your website will not only make users more intrigued about the product and promotion you are hosting, but it will also provide them with a sense of urgency. When a customer feels a sense of urgency while they are browsing for products and services, they are also more likely to make an impulse purchase.

10. Offer Custom Packaging and Shipping Solutions

If you are searching for a way to help your eCommerce presence stand out while marketing a product, consider offering custom packaging and different shipping solutions, based on the location of your customer. Custom packaging can include your logo and other elements that help to tie your brand together. Using custom packaging is a way to distance yourself from traditional shipping solutions which can help your product and your business itself to stand out.

11. Launch a Unique and Interesting Blog

One of the fastest ways to establish and grow an online presence is with the use of an online blog. Launching an online blog is not only a way for you to create content for your website, but it can also help to maximize your reach as you establish yourself as a trusted and authoritative source. Using your blog as a focal point to share information related to your product, including product details, prices, and even promotional information if you are currently hosting a sale.

You can also use your blog as a platform to provide your visitors with tips and guides that they may not be able to find anywhere else on the web. In addition to using your blog as a hub for sharing content, it is a helpful tool when it comes to boosting SEO, especially when it is updated regularly. A consistent blogging and content schedule is a must whether you are promoting vape products that are new and unique or if you offer services that deliver custom boat covers. When a new visitor accesses your website for the first time, they are more likely to place their trust in your brand if they can verify an ongoing and consistent blog schedule is in place.

Anytime you want to know how to design a successful website, you will need to learn the basics of both web design and digital marketing. Whether you are offering a specific German nutcracker to a particular audience or if you sell CWS windows or metal studs, learning how to design a successful website is key in all industries and markets today.