Having an effective website is one of the most important assets of a business in this digital world we operate in. Just like a shopfront, a good website leaves a lasting impression and establishes credibility.
So why is a website so crucial?
If you have a business and don’t have a website, you are probably losing out on opportunities for your business. A website can be used to accomplish many different marketing strategies to help your business grow.
Online reach is far more extensive than any other form of advertising. Your website will be the center of your company’s online presence. You can advertise your business around the web on social networking sites, forums and through digital marketing such as pay-per-click (PPC) and search-engine-marketing (SEM).
Having a website and online presence allows you to speak to your ideal customer at any given time. A website is also important because it provides a road map for your customer to navigate what you do, your vision and mission… and also provides your details so prospects can contact online or physically find you.
Having a credible, professional, website that engages your potential customers. In order to have an effective website that converts leads into enquiries, it requires work and patience. With millions of websites scattered all over the internet how will you make yours stand out?
Here are some important things to consider when building your website.
Structure it logically:
When your site looks smart, and is well organised, following a structure, your customers are more likely to trust your business and brand. This is especially the case if your website is taking people’s payment and it requires people leaving their personal information and an exchange for payment. Good websites are not cluttered and are clean and professional, that way visitors will be able to navigate and find the content which interests them the most.
Design simple navigation:
The most common way of getting around your website will be its simplicity of navigation. Visitors must find everything they need quick and easy. If users have to wonder and linger around the site for long trying to find what they need they will emerge impatient and leave. Thus, it is important to include an intuitive navigation bar on your website in order to increase customer reach of your website.
Only use relevant high definition pictures:
Including colourful and attractive pictures in your website catches the attention of your customer, so avoiding blurry or pixelated pictures is always a good idea. Images are a great visual way of showing your customers what you do. Also, you should use pictures that go with the theme of your website which will help your page visitors to assume a sketchy idea without delving deep and read everything that your website includes. If your site is an e-commerce site high-quality images add a lot of value to it.
Now after looking into and planning the structural sides of your website you need to concentrate on some most important technical issues:
Minimise loading time:
Your website needs to load quickly for two main reasons:
- Search Engine Optimisation
- To keep your prospects on your site
In today’s busy world people face both lack of time and patience. Perform a speed test if you’re unsure of the speed of your website. If your website is slow you may also face Google penalising you when ranking amongst competitors.
Secure your website:
Secure websites contain a small green lock appears in the search bar which is called SSL Encryption. SSL is especially important if you require customers to enter their details into your website including email addresses or their bank details for e-commerce websites. Securing websites help in gaining the trust of their customers and will also help to keep their information safe and secure.
Mobile friendliness:
Not all customers sit with their laptop to search a site, especially for which they use tablets or cell phones. Therefore, keeping this in mind, while designing a website you also need to check the mobile view, whether every content is situated in their proper place or not. You need to ensure that whoever is viewing your website, experience the same as all of your other customers.
Search Engine Optimisation:
Designing and publishing a website won’t mean you’ll immediately be found by all of your potential customers. To increase your website visibility to new customers, you’ll need to do something called Search Engine Optimisation. SEO is when you optimise your website by using target keywords that potential customers would use to search for you. It’s best to choose keywords that match the services that you offer. This will then be needed to use across your website in your body text, headings, image descriptions, meta information and more. You can find out how your website can be optimized to its full potential by speaking to one of our SEO specialists.
Email seo@targeted360.digital with your website and the words “Free Audit” in the subject line to get a free audit.
Keep track of your site:
Metrics and site (Google) analysis give insights into what’s going on for your website. Tracking helps to target visiting customers of a site better, generate relevant ads, and create a higher-converting website. In order to have a good website, it is essential to frequently track what’s working and what’s not to make improvements from time to time.
Want to get your effective website up and running? Reach out to us today at hello@targeted360.digital!
