{"id":1717,"date":"2018-04-30T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themodernconnection.com\/?p=1717"},"modified":"2018-04-30T09:00:59","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T13:00:59","slug":"6-things-every-website-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/6-things-every-website-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Things Every Website Needs to Have in Place"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let me let you in on a secret: <\/span><b>every business needs a website<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Maybe (hopefully) that\u2019s not a big secret to you, but if it is, allow me to explain.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here at The Modern Connection, we don\u2019t like to make blanket statements like this all willy nilly. We understand that every business is different, and in the digital marketing world, there is no such thing as a one-strategy-fits-all kind of deal.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But when it comes to websites, there\u2019s one thing we\u2019re sure of. <\/span><b>Every business needs a website<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s talk statistics, because you can\u2019t argue with cold, hard, facts:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"rank-math-link\" href=\"https:\/\/espresso.digital\/small-business-website-statistics\/#.WuhyTNPwYWo\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">91% of consumers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> enter a store after an online experience with them<\/span><\/li><li><a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"rank-math-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/publications\/eNewsletters\/MNE\/Pages\/company-content-brand-websites.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than half<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of all consumers want to go to your website first when learning about your business or product<\/span><\/li><li><a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"rank-math-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.adweek.com\/digital\/81-shoppers-conduct-online-research-making-purchase-infographic\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">81% of consumers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> do online research before making a purchase<\/span><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And if your business doesn\u2019t have an online presence, you\u2019re missing out on <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">all<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of these consumers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just being on social media isn\u2019t enough. You need a domain that you own, an online space that you can do what you choose with. After all, we could easily wake up one day and Facebook is gone, along with your Facebook Page and your only online footprint.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So now that we\u2019re on the same page, and you understand why it\u2019s so essential for your business to have a website, let\u2019s talk about the six things that every single website should have.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. SEO Copy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Optimized for search means that your copy includes keywords that you\u2019ve found your customers tend to use when searching for businesses like yours. So your home page copy, about page copy, service page copy, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> contact page copy should all be strategically created so that it contains search terms, but isn\u2019t <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">stuffed<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fact, your home page should have between 100 and 1,000 words of copy alone that introduces your business to new website visitors. Each of your services should have between 1,000 to 1,500 words of keyword-optimized copy that thoroughly describes what you offer to your clients\/customers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1218\" height=\"1264\" src=\"http:\/\/themodernconnection.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.49.55-PM.png\" alt=\"6 Things Every Website Needs to Have in Place\" class=\"wp-image-1718\" srcset=\"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.49.55-PM.png 1218w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.49.55-PM-289x300.png 289w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.49.55-PM-987x1024.png 987w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.49.55-PM-768x797.png 768w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.49.55-PM-106x110.png 106w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.49.55-PM-193x200.png 193w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1218px) 100vw, 1218px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Good news for you? We specialize in SEO copywriting. So we can write those 1,500+ words for you.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. A Blog<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2018, people are wondering if blogs are still necessary. Literally every single business website has a blog now. Does it really help anymore? And do people even read them?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s start with the short answer: <\/span><b>yes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1781\" height=\"972\" src=\"http:\/\/themodernconnection.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.50.37-PM.png\" alt=\"6 Things Every Website Needs to Have in Place\" class=\"wp-image-1719\" srcset=\"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.50.37-PM.png 1781w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.50.37-PM-300x164.png 300w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.50.37-PM-1024x559.png 1024w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.50.37-PM-768x419.png 768w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.50.37-PM-1536x838.png 1536w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.50.37-PM-160x87.png 160w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.50.37-PM-250x136.png 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1781px) 100vw, 1781px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blogging has so many benefits for your business that it very much still makes sense to create one on your website.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Updating your blog regularly shows search engines that your website has fresh content.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search engines like seeing unique content on websites, and writing new blog content gives you plenty of that.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A blog helps people who are deciding between you and a competitor to see who is more knowledgeable on the subject.<\/span><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And there are more, but we\u2019ve got other things to talk about right now.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Social Media Links<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sure, we do social media marketing here, so of course we\u2019re going to say that you need social media links on your website.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1785\" height=\"783\" src=\"http:\/\/themodernconnection.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.51.23-PM.png\" alt=\"6 Things Every Website Needs to Have in Place\" class=\"wp-image-1720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.51.23-PM.png 1785w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.51.23-PM-300x132.png 300w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.51.23-PM-1024x449.png 1024w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.51.23-PM-768x337.png 768w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.51.23-PM-1536x674.png 1536w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.51.23-PM-160x70.png 160w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.51.23-PM-250x110.png 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1785px) 100vw, 1785px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But let\u2019s actually think about this.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your website is typically going to be the first stop for most of your potential or first-time customers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What if they want to follow you so they remember your business later? But you have no social media links on your website, so they assume you\u2019re not on social media (big mistake in 2018). So they don\u2019t follow you and five months later when they need your product\/service again, they can\u2019t remember you, so they move on to a competitor.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So sad, friend!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do the right thing. Include social media links on your website. Make it easy for people to find you and follow you in as many places as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. Secure Hosting &amp; SSL<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You want to make sure your website doesn\u2019t go down or disappear randomly, right? And that your website doesn\u2019t get hacked and destroyed and you\u2019re left without an online presence?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Yes, I said you want to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">own<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> your domain so that nothing happens to your online footprint, but you also need to take the necessary precautions.)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ensuring that your website is on a secure server and an SSL certificate is installed is essential for many reasons. As I mentioned, it helps against hacking and shared servers going down on you.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can also improve your website speed, keeping website visitors on your site longer and reducing bounce rate.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re unsure about how secure or reliable your host is, talk to us! We offer two different hosting packages and would be happy to install an SSL certificate.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1503\" height=\"31\" src=\"http:\/\/themodernconnection.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.52.09-PM.png\" alt=\"6 Things Every Website Needs to Have in Place\" class=\"wp-image-1721\" srcset=\"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.52.09-PM.png 1503w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.52.09-PM-300x6.png 300w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.52.09-PM-1024x21.png 1024w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.52.09-PM-768x16.png 768w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.52.09-PM-160x3.png 160w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.52.09-PM-250x5.png 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1503px) 100vw, 1503px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and is what turns your URL from http:\/\/ to https:\/\/ and highlights your website as secure in the URL taskbar. SSL is required if you will be receiving customer information through your website, but the search engines have also started to penalize websites in results if they don\u2019t have SSL.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>5. Mobile-Responsive Design<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search engines will also penalize your website if your mobile site is messy or hard to navigate. In fact, with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/2018\/02\/webweds-get-search-engines-love-website\/\" class=\"rank-math-link\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google\u2019s mobile-first indexing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, they look at your mobile site before even taking a look at your desktop site when deciding where to rank you in results.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So mobile-responsiveness is not an option.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most WordPress themes these days come with responsive design, but you need to ensure that your website designer is testing your design and its capabilities on every type of device and browser so there are no issues.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>6. CTAs On Every Page<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CTA stands for call to action, and is what you are telling your website visitor to do next. So they\u2019ve made it to your home page. Now what? Or they\u2019re on your about page. What\u2019s next?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You should have a call to action that leads to your contact form on every single page of your website to maximize leads and conversions.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1784\" height=\"657\" src=\"http:\/\/themodernconnection.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.55.18-PM.png\" alt=\"6 Things Every Website Needs to Have in Place\" class=\"wp-image-1723\" srcset=\"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.55.18-PM.png 1784w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.55.18-PM-300x110.png 300w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.55.18-PM-1024x377.png 1024w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.55.18-PM-768x283.png 768w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.55.18-PM-1536x566.png 1536w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.55.18-PM-160x59.png 160w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.55.18-PM-250x92.png 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1784px) 100vw, 1784px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1785\" height=\"311\" src=\"http:\/\/themodernconnection.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.56.26-PM.png\" alt=\"6 Things Every Website Needs to Have in Place\" class=\"wp-image-1724\" srcset=\"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.56.26-PM.png 1785w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.56.26-PM-300x52.png 300w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.56.26-PM-1024x178.png 1024w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.56.26-PM-768x134.png 768w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.56.26-PM-1536x268.png 1536w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.56.26-PM-160x28.png 160w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.56.26-PM-250x44.png 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1785px) 100vw, 1785px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1780\" height=\"293\" src=\"http:\/\/themodernconnection.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.57.29-PM.png\" alt=\"6 Things Every Website Needs to Have in Place\" class=\"wp-image-1725\" srcset=\"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.57.29-PM.png 1780w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.57.29-PM-300x49.png 300w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.57.29-PM-1024x169.png 1024w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.57.29-PM-768x126.png 768w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.57.29-PM-1536x253.png 1536w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.57.29-PM-160x26.png 160w, https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-30-at-5.57.29-PM-250x41.png 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1780px) 100vw, 1780px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is the goal that you want all website traffic to get to? Include a CTA for that everywhere. Make it as easy as possible for your website visitors to make it to your end goal.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re in the market for a new website, look no further. We\u2019re a full-service digital marketing agency, so pretty much anything digital that you need, we\u2019ve got you. Let\u2019s talk about your website needs and more. <\/span><b>Fill out <a href=\"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/get-in-touch\/\" class=\"rank-math-link\">this form<\/a> for a FREE one-hour consultation with us all about you and your business and how we can help you grow.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let me let you in on a secret: every business needs a website. Maybe (hopefully) that\u2019s not a big secret to you, but if it is, allow me to explain. Here at The Modern Connection, we don\u2019t like to make blanket statements like this all willy nilly. We understand that every business is different, and in the digital marketing world,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10,40,41],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/targetmarket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}