Websites have transformed from a luxury item to a necessity for businesses, organizations, and communities. Simply having a website isn’t enough these days. Your website will likely be the first impression a future resident has with your community. To make a great impression, it’s critical that you have a modern, user-friendly informative website. Here are three things your website must have.
SSL
SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, is the industry standard in ensuring user information on your website is safe. SSL keeps internet connections secure, protecting any sensitive information passed between the user’s keyboard and your website. Even if your site doesn’t collect credit card information, other personal information can still be at risk. For example, your website should contain a form so prospective residents can reach out to you. Without SSL, their personal information from that form submission could be at risk. An easy way to check if a website is secured by an SSL certificate is to look for “httpsor a lock at the beginning of the URL.
Did you know having a secure site can impact your site’s visibility on Google, which ultimately can impact traffic to your site? Google has indicated secure sites may receive preference in search rankings. For example, if there are two very similar websites, but one doesn’t have SSL, there’s a strong chance Google will list the secure site above the non-secure site in its search results. Google is even going as far to warn Chrome users about potential security risks when they click websites that lack SSL.
Responsive Design
With around 75% of internet usage coming from mobile devices, you simply cannot have an outdated website that doesn’t display well on mobile devices. In order to properly serve modern internet users, a responsive website is a must.
Responsive websites automatically adjust their display based on the type of device being used. That means the way content and imagery is laid out automatically changes based on the screen size of the device being used. This ensures you’ll provide an excellent user experience to everyone, whether they arrive on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, as they will never again have to zoom, pinch, or squint in order to read the content on your site.
User-Friendly, Reliable CMS
A content management system, or CMS, is a program used to create and manage digital content (i.e. your website). A CMS provides digital asset management (your website’s content) and role-based access to the website, allowing people within your organization to easily make updates to the site.
One of the most popular CMS platforms on the planet is WordPress. WordPress powers around 32% of the internet with over 19,500,000 websites. WordPress is the ideal CMS as it’s:
- Up-to-Date: major versions of WordPress are released every 152 days, on average. This ensures your site is running on the latest, greatest technology platform available.
- Customizable: There are over 50,000 available WordPress plugins with over one billion total downloads, making it easy to add enhancements and unique capabilities to your site.
- User-Friendly: With different access levels, it’s easy to allow various team members to make simple updates to your site without needing a developer or third-party coder.
Good news! FRONTSTEPS offers modern, responsive websites as part of our community management software package. We even offer SSL certificates to keep visitor information safe. Learn more about our beautiful website templates.
Are your searching for a new community management provider? Download our software checklist to help guide your search!
