Your business website is the face of your brand to the rest of the world, and investing in it is a major decision. Done correctly, a high-quality business website can be a sales-generating machine for you. Here are the top factors to consider when building a killer website:
1. Identify who your audience is
For your website to work, you need to have a clear understanding of who your typical audience members are and what they expect to achieve on a website that offers what your business does.
Do they want to schedule a free consultation? Do they want to subscribe to your services? Do they want to read helpful insights in a blog? Narrow down what your user’s expectations would be. Then write the web copy and build the website to meet those expectations.
2. Invest in secure and scalable website hosting
Your web hosting provider allows visitors to view your website securely on the internet. Depending on your budget, opt for a dedicated server (which is the most secure but also the most expensive) or a virtual private server (VPS).
Make sure that there is a user-friendly server interface in place for you to access your server, and check on the kind of support they offer (email, chat or voice) for any queries or issues you may have in the future.
3. Choose the best CMS
A high-quality content management system (CMS) makes it easy for you to create and manage digital content. WordPress theme is the most popular one – it is easy to install, offers a plethora of customisation options and is user-friendly.
However, just because WordPress is the most popular doesn’t mean that there are no other reasonable alternatives. Wix, Squarespace and Drupal all offer content management systems with different degrees of flexibility, user-friendliness and security.
Choose a system that fulfils your content requirements and can scale as your business grows.
4. Choose the best eCommerce platform
If you plan to offer goods and services for sale through your website, you need a reliable and secure eCommerce platform that lets you display products the way you want and also enables your customers to pay securely.
Perhaps the most popular option is WooCommerce, which helps you convert your WordPress site into an online store. It allows you a high degree of flexibility and control, but you may need a WordPress website builder’s help to set it up.
A more user-friendly option to build a website is Shopify, which you can link to websites you have built with WordPress, Drupal, Wix and others.
5. Use a strong domain name
You may come up with an incredibly creative domain name only to realise that someone else has already registered it. Instead, keep it short and easy to remember and be sure to use your brand name in it somewhere.
Use the right domain extension – in most cases, .com (or .co.uk for UK businesses) is the most appropriate (as opposed to .co or .net). Moreover, avoid using symbols and punctuation marks in the domain name, as that will make it harder to search for it. Stick to numbers and letters.
GoDaddy, Nominet and Namecheap™ are popular domain registrars where you can register your desired business website URL at an affordable rate before building your website.
6. Include multiple calls-to-action [CTAs]
Ideally, every page of your website should have at least one CTA. This is what will motivate your target customers to do what you want them to do, be it downloading a brochure, signing up for email updates or subscribing to a paid service.
Be sure to make the CTA easy to understand and position it prominently on your page – complicated CTAs will simply increase your bounce rate.
7. Mobile optimisation is key
With more than half of web traffic originating on mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website is an absolute must. Be sure that every element of your website design – including text, logos, images, copy, and videos – is optimised for easy adaptation to smaller screens.
Work with your design team to create a website that is equally responsive across devices and browsers. We at TLBM are pros at building responsive websites. Sign up for a free consultation to understand how.
8. Stick to a budget
All too often, businesses get over-excited about the possibilities in web design and end up having to pay huge bills to designers. Decide how much you are willing to shell out beforehand and consider your options accordingly.
Typically, it makes sense for a new business to use template designs and existing customisations rather than setting up a new website from scratch. You will also need to budget for SEO and copywriting services if your internal team does not have the expertise to handle them. Good news is TLBM can manage both for you!
9. Social media and email marketing are essential
Merely setting up a good website is not enough to get the visitors rolling in. You will need to inform your customers and leads about the site by promoting it through social media and email marketing.
Depending on the kind of business you are in, different platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn could work for you. It is also essential to share emails only to those who have opted in for updates – spamming random users will simply put them off your business, and you don’t want that especially if you are fast-scaling your operations.
10. Getting website traffic takes time
Particularly if you are a new business, it is crucial to remember that building website traffic takes time. No matter how much you invest in SEO, there is just too much competition out there for you to rank #1 in search engines right away.
It is essential not to lose hope if you are not seeing the number of visitors you are hoping for within a month. Keep sharing quality content, make upgrades and fix website bugs wherever necessary, do your online marketing and have patience.
If customers like what they read about your business, they will soon start coming to your website – not once but over and over again.
Every website has a story to tell, and we help deliver those stories through our high-impact web designs and responsive interfaces. While our expert writers write an excellent copy that tells your brand story, our expert designers can design a website that reflects your vision.
Our brilliant web developers, on the other hand, hand, beautifully manage the function that happens at the back-end. So, what are you waiting for? Give your business an edge in this competitive digital world!
Build a website with us today! Email us at contact@thinklittlebig.com.