I Want a Better Website: What That Means with WordPress and Toast Websites
Your website is often the first impression your customers have of your brand. But what if your website isn’t meeting expectations? It feels old, doesn’t reflect your business’s personality or struggles to convert visitors into customers. If you’re saying, “I want a better website”, you’re not alone. Many business owners know that a website that looks good, works well, and supports their goals is essential.
This post will explain what’s involved in having a better website, why WordPress is so popular, and how Toast Websites can help make it happen.
Why Your Website
Your website is more than a digital brochure; it’s the foundation of your online presence. Whether you’re a small business, growing brand or established organisation, your website should:
- Reflect your brand’s personality and values.
- Engage visitors with a user experience.
- Work across devices (mobile, tablet and desktop).
- Drive specific actions, such as buying, booking a service or contacting you.
If your current website isn’t doing these things, it’s time to upgrade.
What Does “Better” Mean?
Before we get into the technical stuff, we must define what “better” means for your website. This will depend on your business goals, audience and industry, but here are some key things to consider:
1. Aesthetics and Branding
Your website should look like your brand. Is it clean, modern, and professional? Does it consistently use your brand’s colours, fonts, and imagery? A good-looking website builds trust and makes your business memorable.
2. User Experience (UX)
Is your website easy to use? Can visitors find what they need quickly? A better website prioritises intuitive navigation, fast load times and responsive design for different screen sizes.
3. Functionality
Does your website do what you need it to? Functionality is key, whether it’s an e-commerce store with a smooth checkout process, a booking system, or a blog. Broken links, outdated plugins, or clunky features will frustrate users and drive them away.
4. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Can people find your website on search engines? A better website isn’t just good looking; it’s SEO optimised so your target audience can find you easily.
5. Scalability
As your business grows, your website should grow with it. A better website is built to allow for new features or pages to be added without starting from scratch.
Why WordPress?
WordPress is a flexible and powerful platform for a better website. It powers over 40% of the world’s websites, and here’s why it’s the popular choice:
1. Flexibility and Customisation
WordPress offers endless possibilities for customisation. It can be moulded to your needs, whether you need a simple informational site or a complex e-commerce platform.
2. User Friendly Interface
WordPress has a dashboard for those without technical skills where you can manage content, upload images and update pages without writing code.
3. SEO Friendly
WordPress is SEO-optimised. Plugins like Yoast SEO allow you to optimise your content, meta descriptions and keywords for search engines.
4. Responsive Design
Most WordPress themes are responsive by default, so your website will look great on any device.
5. Community and Support
With a massive global community of developers, designers and users, it’s easy to find WordPress support, tutorials and plugins.
What Does Building a Better Website Involve?
Building a better website involves planning, strategy and execution. Here’s an overview:
1. Defining Your Objectives
What do you want your website to do? Whether it’s to generate leads, increase sales or showcase a portfolio, clear objectives will guide every decision throughout the project.
2. Researching Your Target Audience
Who is your target audience? Knowing their needs, preferences, and behaviours will help you build a website that speaks to them.
3. Planning the Architecture
Think about the pages and sections your website will need. Typical pages are Home, About, Services, Blog and Contact. For e-commerce sites, you’ll also need product pages, a shopping cart and a checkout process.
4. Look and Feel
Now aesthetics come into play. Work with a designer to create a great layout that matches your brand.
5. Building
Using WordPress, you can bring the design to life. This involves choosing or customising a theme, adding content and installing plugins for extra functionality.
6. Testing and Optimisation
Before you launch, test your website thoroughly for issues. This includes checking for broken links, testing forms and ensuring the site loads quickly.
7. Ongoing Maintenance
A website is not a “set it and forget it” project. Updates, backups and performance checks are required to keep it running smoothly.
How We Can Help
At Toast Websites, we build beautiful, functional, user-friendly websites aligned to your business objectives. Here’s how we can:
1. Bespoke Website Design
We take the time to understand your brand and audience and deliver a custom design that sets you apart from the competition.
2. WordPress Knowledge
We have years of WordPress experience, so your website is built on a solid, scalable foundation.
3. SEO and Performance Optimisation
We optimise for speed, usability and search engine rankings.
4. Ongoing Support
From updates to troubleshooting, we’ll support you long after your website goes live.
In Conclusion
A better website is the first step to improving your online presence and achieving your business objectives. Whether starting from scratch or upgrading an existing site, a good website will make a big difference.
Beautiful and practical: what does that mean for your website? Get in touch.