A business website is your portal to the online world. Without one, the millions of people who go online to look for the products or services that you provide would pass you by. You could set up pages on various social media sites to promote your business, but your control over the design and function of these pages is very limited. That’s why you need your own website. However, launching a business website that generates revenue and increases awareness of your business requires a number of necessary ingredients. These are discussed next.
Understand What You Wish To Accomplish With Your Website
This is fundamental because it determines the type of website you will build. For example, a pizzeria may only require a website that lists their menu, location, and contact information so that they are easily discovered by people in their locality. Another type of site is an e-commerce website that’s a kind of online catalog that allows visitors to place their orders online. Both examples have a different purpose which require a completely different kind of website.
Have A Clear Call To Action
A clear call to action helps those who are ready to buy to quickly get down to business. People ready to buy are in “action mode.” This means they aren’t inclined to read through lots of content in order to figure out what you offer and how to buy it. The call to action also makes it abundantly clear to those in research mode what they should do if they decide they want your product or service.
Provide Contact Information
Visitors with questions about your offer are “warm contacts.” Provide a means for them to contact you with their inquiries so that these warm contacts can become customers.
Market To The Right Audience
If you sell outdoor clothing and equipment, make sure that the content on your website is about that topic as well as related topics that interest your buyers. This seems obvious but some websites stray too far from what they’re about which causes the search engines to send the wrong type of traffic. What your website is about should be unambiguous to your visitors and the search engines.
If you are creating content centered around keywords, they should be the kinds of phrases that prospective customers would be typing into the search engines. The same principle holds true when doing your social media campaigns. They should center around the interests and products that are specific to your niche.
Make Your Website Load Quickly
There are millions of websites out there. This means people have plenty of online options. If visitors must wait ten seconds for a page to load, they won’t have the patience to look at more than a single page if even that.
Make Your Website Easy To Use And Understand
There are certain website conventions that people expect to see. Upon landing on your site, they want to quickly assess with a few glances what your business is about. They expect simple and easy to use navigation and perhaps a search bar at the top right. Each page should have a single purpose where the content and design elements are subordinated to that purpose.
Make A Professional Website That Inspires Trust
Make sure that your website design reflects the legitimate business that you are. It should have a clean and professional look. Include trust indicators such as security seals that many security services provide to their customers. For example, Symantec, McAfee, and Hacker Safe will examine your website for security issues (for a fee) and then allow you to display their seal.
Include An About Us Page
Show your visitors who you are and tell them about your business values. Photos of yourself and your team also help your visitors get to know who it is they are doing business with. The Internet lacks the direct personal contact of the offline world. The about us page remedies this.
Make Your Website Mobile Responsive
Most people carry their mobile devices with them throughout their day. The odds are good that when they need to go online to research or to buy something, they will use their mobile devices because it’s expedient. Few will wait until they get back to their desktop or laptop computer. This is why mobile traffic is “exploding” today. Websites that don’t accommodate these people are difficult for them to view and use. This results in lost conversions. Today there’s no excuse for not having a mobile responsive website, especially if it’s WordPress based.
While it’s fun and educational to build your own WordPress website, we offer “done for you” option for those who prefer to concentrate on the business side of things and hire a professional WordPress setup and theme customization service.
