What goes into a marketing web site? Something that’s little more than a poster on the web. It’s easy. Just put some web file things somewhere…and you’re all set! Kind of, but there’s more to it. You need some really great designs (by a place like StoryArc).
And not just designs that look great on your wide screen monitor. A big chunk of web traffic is mobile. In the US it’s about half. The design needs to look good on big monitors, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. GenX and the vanguard of the Millennials are getting older. A lot of us wear readers when no one is looking. Those phones will have lots of differing font sizes & text enlargers settings.
You’ll need to spend a lot of time checking how things look across devices—otherwise your site might turn into a mess of broken CSS in certain form factors. It might look great on your iOS devices but about 50% of US mobile web traffic comes from Android devices. Chrome dominates desktop traffic but 25% of desktop web traffic comes from MS Edge and Apple’s Safari.
Are you collecting email addresses? You’ll want to send out email blasts to everyone who showed interest in your thing. There are a number of email sign up services but you’ll need to get an account and style that form to look like your site. Now you need a Privacy Policy and most likely a Terms & Conditions. You can get that from a site like termly.io but you’ll also probably want that to be styled like the rest of your site. Any 3rd party cookies? You need a cookie banner. You’ll need a 404 page. All of these need to be themed with your main content.
Consider, we already have four different pieces of external content for your site. The forms they provide are fairly easy to implement but they all have limited options as far as changing the look and feel. You want to know what those limitations are ahead of time and figure out what you can live with. You don’t want your user to feel like they are on a totally different website just because they clicked on the Privacy Policy or the Email signup form.
Are you selling tickets or accepting donations? You’ll need a service for that! That has to be configured so that you can accept funds and have a bank account for the funds to land in.
Once your site goes live you’ll want to know how it’s doing. Sure you can plop Google Analytics on there to watch traffic but I’d recommend something like Plausible.io. They are GDPR compliant and they are cookie free!
And let’s go back to designs and the web page itself. Does it adhere to the accessibility guidelines? You’ll want to make sure you’re following best practices for:
- Color contrast
- Alt text for images
- Keyboard navigation
- ARIA roles as needed
Get all of that lined up and you’ll have a sharp looking site. It’s not rocket science, but there’s more to it than registering a domain name (oops! left that out, but you’ll want that and a TLS certificate to go with it).
Here’s a checklist to wrap it all up:
Simple Website Checklist
1. Hosting & Infrastructure
- Domain name registered
- TLS certificate installed (HTTPS)
2. Design & Responsiveness
- Professionally designed layout
- Mobile-friendly (phones, tablets)
- Looks good on desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones
- Supports variable font sizes and text enlargers
- Visual consistency across all sections (forms, policies, etc.)
3. Accessibility
- High color contrast for readability
- Descriptive alt text on all images
- Full keyboard navigation supported
- Appropriate ARIA roles used
4. Cross-Device & Browser Testing
- Site tested on Android and iOS devices
- Site tested in Chrome, Safari, Edge (major browsers)
- No broken layouts or CSS issues in different form factors
5. Forms & User Interaction
- Email sign-up form present and functional
- Form styled to match site design
- Integrated with email list service (e.g., Brevo, Buttondown)
6. Legal & Compliance
- Privacy Policy page styled to match site
- Terms & Conditions page styled to match site
- Cookie banner in place (if using third-party cookies)
7. Error Handling
- Custom 404 page created and themed
8. Commerce & Donations (if applicable)
- Ticket sales or donation service integrated
- Payment flow tested end-to-end
- Funds deposited into verified bank account
9. Analytics
- Lightweight analytics installed (e.g., Plausible.io)
- Tracking is GDPR-compliant and cookie-free if possible
Enjoy your day and if you need help with any of this, let us know: [email protected].