What features do you need for your website?

Features can really make your website stand out and work for you. As an important step in the website design process, choosing the right features is one of the ways your site can be tailored to your needs. Below is a list of features that The Digital Notebook can add to your website and which are commonly used on websites. If there’s something you don’t see on the list, please use the contact form to ask about it. There’s probably a good chance it can be done or has been done, but just didn’t make it to the list.

• Shopping Cart/e-commerce – Shopping cart software is used when you are selling something. You could be selling digital or downloaded material, or physical items you will ship to your customers. Whichever items you are selling, you will need a reliable way to display your items, allow visitors to add them to a shopping cart, and receive payment.
• Forum/Community – If you would like a way for your visitors/customers to communicate with each other, you will need a forum feature added to your website. This allows users to create usernames & passwords so that they may add content to a forum area.
• Blog – A blog is a great way of building a rapport with your site’s visitors. It allows you to add information on a regular basis that can be personal, related to your industry, informational, etc. It shows that you operate an active, current, and up-to-date website and won’t be that “dead link” that we find so many times online. Blogs can also sometimes increase your search engine ranking and help your site appear closer to the top during searches.
• Contact Form – This has become increasingly important with the use of so many webmail clients. Website designers used to just add a “mailto” hyperlink that pointed to the appropriate email address, which then launched the user’s mail program. The problem with this now is that if you are on a mobile computer or even at home, and you use a webmail program such as Yahoo!™ or Gmail, you don’t send mail from mail clients such as Outlook. The better option is to go with a contact form that sends a message with the user’s email address to the designated mail recipient.
• SEO Techniques – So, how do you show up in Google, Yahoo, and other searches? You utilize Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques. If you are trying to build an online business or presence, this will be very important. Using appropriate keywords, titles, and summaries can help drive traffic to your site.
• Photo Gallery – Do you have photos you’d like to show to your site’s visitors? Maybe you’re a company that provides a service and would like to display a “portfolio” of past work. Perhaps you’d like to share personal photos on your blog or website. Whatever the reason, a photo gallery is a very appealing way to share them, especially with the Flash capabilities that are available.
• Online Forms – Similar to a contact form, but tailored to your needs, an online form is a great way to gather specific information from your visitors or for them to contact you regarding a specific topic. These forms will also avoid important messages from your users or clients ending up in your spam or junk mail folder.
• Logo – A quality logo is a great way of “branding” your site. Choosing colors, shapes, and images that portray what you want your visitors to experience with your website is extremely important. You can also use your logo to advertise your site through business cards, apparel, and stationery. There are also sites such as CafePress and Zazzle that have print-on-demand features that allow your visitors to order your “brand” items.
• Images – Images can mean the difference between someone staying on your site for 30 seconds or 30 minutes. Think about your own reading habits. Do you like to read straight text or would you prefer to have a nice relevant image to accompany your text? As a general guideline, try to have at least one image per page of information. It gives the reader a “visual break”. Professional stock photos can be provided if you do not have any of your own company images.
• Other Graphics – Are you trying to “brand” your company? If so, you may want to consider adding a family of graphics throughout your site that reiterates your company’s theme. Many times using graphic boxes as links instead of text links can really make a difference in whether or not our site becomes memorable.
• Media – Audio and video clips can spice up a site too … IF they are RELEVANT. Adding a short video or audio piece just for the sake of adding one is not a great idea. However, if you have an important message you want your visitors to see or hear and would like them to have the option of playing a clip of it instead of reading it, then that’s a great idea.
• Calendar – Would your website’s visitors benefit from a calendar of some sort? Do you have events you’d like for them to be able to plan for? A calendar is a nice visual solution for letting your visitors know what you have going on.

Once again, this is not an exhaustive list. There are many features and touches that can be added to a website to make it do exactly what you want it to do. If there’s a feature not listed, I’m sure it can still be done. Just use the contact form below to ask about it. I’ll get right back to you.