[An uber.la quickie is a streamlined takeaway from today’s best marketing sources]

HubSpot continuously puts out great informational ebooks. And this one on website best-practices is no exception. So let’s cut to the chase and dole out the gems of this 62 page resource, so you don’t have to read it all, but you can HERE.

Tune up your website with these essential elements. Once you’ve dialed in the basics, then you can begin the innovative programs and marketing to build inbound momentum.

GETTING FOUND ONLINE

1. Inbound Links

2. On-page SEO (keywords and optimization)

3. Page Titles and Headlines (H1 and H2) and Meta Tags

4. XML Sitemaps

5. 3o1. Redirects (the permanent redirect to prevent 404 errors)

DESIGN & USABIILTY

6.  First Impression (design, color, font)

7. Layout and Structure (consistent and well implemented)

8. Compelling Images (Kill the clip art, get some original graphics or have some designed.)

9. Clean Navigation (can the visitor easily see where they want to go and get there in a few clicks?)

10. Lose the Animation and Flash (The Intro animation is dead, go with a few slider panels.)

11. Responsive Design and Accessibility – how does your site look on a phone? Does is scale as their browser width changes?

CONTENT

12. Good Copy get your headlines and pages written by a pro

13. Show the Value – don’t sell, show why your product or services are valuable

14. Quality Content – well written, appropriate reading level and style for your audience

15. Kill the Buzzwords

16. No Tricks or Gimmicks – don’t offer one thing and deliver another

17. Current Content – a blog can be updated frequently and with hot topics, search engines love current and fresh content

18. Sharing is Easy if you Give the Buttons

19. Content in Various Forms – Video, Copy, eBooks, Downloads

20. Client Testimonials – let your happy customers tell why they love you

CONVERSION REQUIREMENTS

21. Great CTAs – Calls To Action – Buy Now or Click Here probably don’t have much value these days

22. Location, Location. Test the location and design of your CTAs, it might be that top right corner is the best place for your CTA

23. Landing Pages – your website cannot be as specific as your marketing campaigns, when someone clicks on a "marketing automation" search result you’d better deliver them a page that says "marketing automation < you are here"

24. Forms that Work – the name and email form is okay, but if you can coax a tiny bit more information on the front-end you might be able to prioritize the flood of incoming leads due to your new sparkling website. Forms need to be easy and also effective.

25. Subscribe Options – email, rss, twitter, newsletters, give your new visitor plenty of touch points that might engage them in a longer conversation.

That’s pretty comprehensive if not a bit rudimentary. It’s hard to create innovative content when you are also trying to cover the blocking and tackling that needs to get done. These are the basics, but you’ve got to do a lot more to create an engaging experience. That’s where Fluent Social can help.

resource: get HubSpot’s 25 Must-Haves for Website Design

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)

permalink: https://uber.la/2014/08/25-website-requirements/

Check out the Strategist’s Notebook page and these other posts about online marketing:

• Workin Facebook < all the Facebook Posts in one place
• uber.la quickies < a streamlined takeaway from today’s best marketing sources
• Social Media University < 2 minute educational videos
• Social Business MBA < the reading list
• Becoming a Social Media Rockstar: The Quick Path < um… let’s discuss

Let me help you jumpstart your social marketing:

FluentSocial (Social Media Marketing)

FluentSearch (SEO, Google Adwords)

Most people don’t really enjoy being mean; they do it because they can’t help it. (from Graham’s Hierarchy of Disagreement)