There are so many different types of websites, it is impossible to find one that would suit all sorts of businesses. You need to decide if you need a website where you can sell goods and products via a payment gateway system (also known as an ecommerce site) or if you want a site where you can advertise service or products and gain enquiries. This may be online enquiries such as through a contact for or booking an appointment or to encourage a viewer to pick up the phone and call you.
When designing or redesigning your website it is important that you keep in mind who your target audience is. You can then ensure that your website is actively targeting these sorts of people. If for example you want to advertise your products to young adults or teenagers then it may look and work very differently to a site that is aimed at elderly people.
It is easy to get distracted and start adding in sections to your website that are not really needed. You then run the risk of over complicating the site and actually putting people off.
Make sure that you create a website strategy before you commence with any development as this will ensure that you have included everything you needed to.
If you are working with a marketing or web development agency, they will be able to guide you as to what works and what doesn’t work.
If you already have a website and are finding that your bounce rate is really high and your conversions are low then you often need to go back to the drawing board. It may be that visitors are struggling to find the areas of the website that they want and therefore decide to leave the site altogether. Looking at the number of pages viewed per visit can also help you determine what is happening along with the exit page. If a number of people are leaving on the same page that may suggest that there is something wrong with that page that needs to be rectified.
You need to have access to a good stats package such as Google Analytics as this will give you the information that you need. If you do not have this information then it is almost impossible to know what is happening with your site and where improvements are needed.