Today getting a website for your business is pretty straight forward and there are a number of ways to go about it.
If you enjoy rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck in, then you can take advantage of the various software and platforms that are available and pretty much do it yourself or you can employ a web developer to take your ideas and build your website for you.
Either way you understand the necessity for being seen online and you’ve taken the time to invest in a website for your business, but now what?
Unfortunately, most business owners who have gone through the process of creating an online presence with a website do very little with it once it is up and running. There could be any number of reasons for this but the bottom line is businesses could be doing more with their websites. With this in mind we’ve put together some simple tips that you can use to develop your website to help you grow your business.
Think of your website as a business tool.
Your website is a key business tool and it can be used to communicate your business values, brand and unique experience. Your potential and current customers will use it to evaluate your products and/or services as well as to keep informed, often before talking to you or a member of your team. It’s important that all decisions regarding its development be tied to delivering your businesses objectives.
Think of your website as a product that is constantly evolving.
Business needs change. Markets change. Customer needs change. Technologies change. Many businesses create a website that they are happy with and forget that as times change so should their website. Ask yourself is your website fit for purpose? Does it meet your business needs? Does it meet market conditions and satisfy customer needs? Is the technology fit for purpose? It’s important to review and reflect on the content to ensure that it does what it was created to do.
Use design to make yourself stand out from your competitors. Great design is not only a way to differentiate yourself it can also be used to better communicate your message or drive positive actions.
With improvements in technologies such as broadband and web browsers your ability to use images, graphics and video to tell your story also greatly improves. You can use better quality pictures, more typefaces and short video clips to create an immersive experience unique to you that will drive improvements in website conversion rates.
Use design to differentiate yourself.
Make your website search engine friendly.
When people need information about products or services the vast majority will look online. With 60% starting their research with a search engine before going to a specific website. It’s critical that your website is optimised to take advantage of the opportunities that this channel has to offer.
It’s important to know that one of Googles primary objectives was to make it possible for small companies with limited budget to have as much of a chance as larger companies with big budgets to feature prominently on its search engines.
You should ensure that your website is built in a search engine friendly way so that search engine spiders can access it. You should ensure that the content on your website is engaging and interlinked. You should create a blog and other social media content that you can put on other websites with links back to your own website. This will ensure that your site features prominently on the search engines. Keep in mind that this is an ongoing process as search engines are constantly changing.
Your work is never done.
‘Website Under construction’ was a term commonly used when a website was being built. Unfortunately this has resulted in the idea that when a website was built that was it, it was finished. However a website is never finished. You should be continuously working on your website updating it with information about changes to your products and/or services. In addition to these updates you should change your website to support your offsite and offline initiatives such as social media, events or instore activities. These regular updates not only keep your audience informed and returning to your website but it will also improve your position on Googles search engine.
