There’s nothing more frustrating – especially for small and fledgling businesses – than making a huge investment in a sleek, modern website, only to see the traffic trickling in at alarmingly low numbers. Not only will this leave you feeling like you’ve wasted a huge amount of time, cash, and energy, but you’ll be tearing your hair out about how to convert a great-looking website into one that functions well for your business.
This article is all about how to get the perfect website that kills two birds with a single stone: working excellently, and drawing in a huge amount of customers, too.
Your URL
It’s not an overstatement to say that your URL is the very base of your website. It’s one of the first things that you’ll have to decide when you’re setting up your business site, and it’s what your customers will be typing into their search bars when they want to browse your website on a repeat visit. Select your URL name wisely, and ensure that your business’ name is represented in it – even if you have to make a subtle change in order to accommodate it – Moreover, always use a verified SSL certificate on your website.
Security & Backup
Although 100% security is a myth, implementing it on the maximum level on your website is a must. It is advised to use DDoS protection on your website and choose a hosting service that is genuinely aware of the growing threat of cyber attacks on websites. Furthermore, backup your data and do not give crooks a chance to steal your work and destroy your reputation.
Your Brand
The second aspect of any business that’s looking to make a successful website is to concentrate on the branding. Your business will no doubt have some rudimentary branding – it may even be fairly impressive – but you need to recognize that the rules of the game are slightly different online. On the internet, you need a selection of different branding materials to use in all the formats that the internet requires. This means:
- Large-scale brand names and logos
- Smaller logos to adorn different elements of your site
- A color palette that you lift into features of your website
- A tiny logo to fit in the Google search box and in the tab element of browsers
- Cut-down logos to use in social media and other branding items
Clearly, you’re going to need a number of different design elements that work as one cohesive whole – a difficult feat to achieve for your in-house designers. As such, you should turn to an agency that can help you with the design – or a freelancer with experience designing brands – in order to get them prepared for use by your web designer.
Your Web Design
Now we’re onto the serious steps that’ll get your website up and running. Website design is no easy feat – especially if you’re working with user experience (UX) in the forefront of your mind. As such, it’s absolutely imperative that you either onboard a very talented individual who can help you code your site, or you instead outsource to companies that are specialists in making websites from companies on the net. Web designers know exactly how to layout your site map in order to direct customers to the things that matter – which are, of course, going to be your sales and products pages, and the check-out.
Your Friction-Free Delivery
Customers tend to leave websites if they don’t find what they’re looking for – sometimes in a matter of a few seconds. As such, making your site as friction-free and painless to navigate as possible is a very important step towards creating something that is truly free from friction and a joy to use. Some web designers suggest that you should only offer three clicks from your home page to the point at which a customer will be clicking on the ‘purchase’ button – something to bear in mind when you’re thinking with your web designer about how best to set out your website’s blueprint.
Your Marketing
A website is one thing – and it’s certainly an important asset to build to the right standards – but in actual fact, it’s your smart and savvy marketing that’ll make your great website into a successful one. Too many websites lie gleaming but barren on the world wide web, waiting for customers to come and engage with them, and as such you’re going to be best served by a site that knows how to draw people in. And, of course, that’s achieved through marketing in the digital era.
Your Digital Campaign
There are numerous ways to launch digital media campaigns. You can go with an in-house strategy, built around your social media channels, or you can ask for an agency to come up with their own strategy for your business, too. Either way, you’ll be attempting to do three main things:
- Build up the visibility of your brand by exposing large networks to your branding, your company name, and the products or services you provide.
- Promote your website up Google’s rankings in order to get it high on the first page of search results.
- Encourage people to engage with your brand, whether that means sharing your content, talking about your products, or parting with their cash.
See: How to secure your website – InfoSec tips for newbie website owners
Great digital marketing campaigns will see huge numbers of extra web traffic flowing through your website. The sheer traffic advantage that you achieve through marketing online, with simple hyperlinks back to your site, are sure to generate more sales and bigger profits for your business.
Your Blog
Keep that traffic ticking over by creating a blog on your website, too. Whatever business you operate, you’re sure to be an expert in it – so why not share your insights through regular blog posts that reengage your target audience and show off your prowess and knowledge to your customers. Blog posts can be shared easily over your social media channels and will show up independently on Google’s search results, which increases your chance of getting click-throughs to your website.
Optimization
With everything now in place to see your website increase its traffic figures steadily over time, your final duty to squeeze the most out of your website and the traffic it draws is to optimize all the processes outlined above. Your brand, web design, and marketing campaigns are all works in progress – elements of your overall business that you should continually revisit and tinker with. The insights provided by digital data can help you optimize your website, catering increasingly towards the customer base and demographics who value your company the most.
There you have it: a complete guide to making a successful website that’ll serve your company terrifically over the months and years to come.
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