Professionalism is a big thing in the online game. With so many websites competing for traffic, you need to stand out from the rest and prove your professionalism. If people think your site is professional, they are more likely to click on it and see what's going on. Once there, a professional-looking site will keep people on it for longer and boost your chances of converting users to leads or customers.
Building a professional site is crucial, and here are three easy steps that will instantly make yours look a lot better:
Build on a reputable platform
Firstly, build your website on a reputable platform that people trust. Users know a few of the big website-building platforms around, like WordPress, Magento, Shopify for eCommerce, and so on. Having a site on one of these platforms instantly ensures it looks the part. You will enjoy modern web design, but you also benefit from the authority that these platforms provide. If people see that you're using them, they instantly find you more trustworthy and professional.
Well-known platforms are also becoming a necessity of business as more and more companies undergo data migration (read more) to cloud-based microservices over traditional monolithic applications.
Get HTTPS on your domain & get a professional domain name
Your domain name impacts professionalism massively. It's the address people see when they go to click on your website in the search results, and it's at the top of their screen when they're on your site. Even if you've built yours on a trustworthy and professional platform – and it looks amazing – people will think less of your site if the domain name is unprofessional. It should relate to your business, and shouldn't contain any numbers (unless they're in your brand name). The ideal domain names are just that; your brand name. Don't overcomplicate things here as a good domain improves professionalism.
Likewise, you need to use HTTPS on your domain as well. This basically shows that you have an SSL certificate, which is fancy talk for saying that your website has a secure connection. Anyone that uses it will feel safe knowing that their information is protected – particularly if they have to pay for something on your site. A lack of HTTPS on your domain looks unprofessional, so make sure you acquire an SSL certificate.
Optimize title tags and meta descriptions
If you look at the anatomy of a search results page, you will see that all of the organic results follow a similar structure. You have the title of the page being displayed, the URL, then a little snippet below. Here, you can make your site look more professional by optimizing your title tags and meta descriptions. Doing this will make sure that you have eyecatching titles for every page, drawing the user in. It will also ensure you have a useful snippet providing more information for them to see. Both of these things are basic SEO techniques, but they make a website look far more professional in the search results – particularly if other results don't have optimized titles or descriptions!
Want to make your website look more professional in a matter of minutes? Try any or all of these ideas, and watch the benefits flow.
