Usually, when a company is undergoing website development and design they think mainly about how a site looks. This is important but it is equally important to consider the things that cannot be seen. The bones of a website will ensure that it works properly, can be found using search engines, and that it can be maintained and updated as quickly and easily as possible. Here are three main things you need to make sure are included in your website for it to be as functional and effective as possible.

A Content Management System

This is critical to any website’s success. A content management system allows you to change, remove or add text, html and images to your site. It puts the power to maintain and manage your site back into your hands and allows you to make changes on your own schedule rather than relying on your website design and development company to do so.

A content management system needs to be one that is easy to use. If you can find one that does not take any special steps to use and is as close to point and click as possible you will be better off. You don’t want to be taking a massive amount of time learning how to use a CMS if it is at all possible.

Analytics tools

These tools can give you valuable insight into how your site is functioning. They can be particularly valuable for an e-commerce site but any site can benefit from the reports that are generated. It is possible to learn how many hits you are getting daily, how many of those are first time hits and how many are returning, and other pieces of valuable information. They can help show you which areas are getting the most attention and interest and which areas may need to be changed or updated in order to make it more appealing to visitors.

Search engine optimization

It is important to make sure that search engine optimization is built into your website. This means using a variety of different items in order to make your site more appealing to search engines. You will need to use keywords and phrases, links and tags on your site in order to get the best ranking possible on a search engine. A website development expert can explain the process to you and give you input on how they plan to incorporate search engine optimization into your website.