A website serves a purpose. It may have more than one clearly defined objective. If a website does not generate enough traffic and fails to help the business sustain its profits, increase its revenue and grow as a brand, then the whole existence of the virtual asset is insignificant and irrelevant. A website cannot be successful unless it has the components necessary to make an impact. Here are the top components of a successful website.

A website should have a simple design. It should not look dated. The website should be live and dynamic. It should not teleport a person to the bygone century but it does not have to dazzle a visitor in any way. The purpose of a website, especially one of a business entity or individual, is to be informative and to promote a product, service or idea. The website does not have to champion graphic design and offer an unprecedented browsing experience to a visitor. The design should be conceived to be a facilitator that simplifies browsing and shares the information hosted in the most effective manner. Fast loading speed, navigation, readability of the content, coherent layout of every page, clickable features and convenient browsing are the essential objectives.

A website should be responsive. A responsive web design is basically an approach wherein the website is adaptable. It can conveniently fit into any display, regardless of size and the browser. Responsive web design is quintessential since the target audience may use a desktop, laptop, tablet, smart phone or a smart television to access the website. Traditional designs are not responsive. Some businesses and individuals go for a conventional website and a mobile friendly website. It is unnecessary to have two websites or an exclusively desktop first or mobile first approach. One responsive website is going to be accessible on all devices.

Content is definitely the most important component of a website. The swankiest web design, the fastest loading speed, the most mobile friendly website and all such cosmetic elements will only matter till the time a potential customer starts to read the content on the site. Not only should the content be readable and convincing but it should also be optimized for the search engines to appropriately rank the webpage or the whole site. Keywords are the essential requisite for this. Keywords should be used for optimization and also for relevance. One aspect of using keywords is to draw the crawlers or spiders used by search engine algorithms. The other aspect of using keywords is to convey the essential message to the target audience. The target market must know what the website is about, what every webpage is discussing or the nature of information that is available on the site.

A website will not promote itself. There has to be a sustained promotional internet marketing campaign. This is often a perennial exercise, unless the website already has millions of subscribers. Every business and also individuals should have some kind of a subscription or follower system. There may be newsletters. One can use mailing lists. Even the big brands across industries keep sending emails to their potential customers, regardless of whether or not they are interested. Small to medium businesses and entrepreneurs should promote their website and keep communicating with their target audience till the time they subscribe, buy something or simply block the sender.

One of the most influential components of a successful website is the section for reviews. Websites should feature testimonials from customers. All positive feedback and opinions should feature on the site itself. It is better to have snippets of the positive feedback with live links, redirecting users to the specific webpage, platform or forum, blog or social media site where the reviews were first published. Static images of positive reviews are questionable and they do not have the same impact.