Top Tips For That Successful Business Website
When you have found a product and developed your brand, it’s time to craft a formidable business website. With many platforms, apps and integrations to choose from, the majority of people just don’t know where to start. This post is written to clear up some of the confusion of building a website and to help you make right choice along the way.
Over the last few years I have built and run over 80 websites and have work with many different people from marketing and website development firms. They all have there pro’s and con’s and believe one way is better than another but out of all that confusion, I have identified the six key elements that every business website must have in order to be successful.
1. Great Website Design
Among the first things on your job list is to design a good website. How visitors have the ability to navigate through your site is a crucial factor in converting sales. Designers typically get carried away with colours, fonts and fancy graphics that might distract from your product and interrupt the flow of your website. The design must be easy to use and user-intuitive– it is the individual client who will make the purchase, after all. Concentrate on the end goals of high conversions and purchase rates when creating your website.
2. A Clear Call To Action
Take your visitors through the purchasing process, and convert them into paying customers. Despite what you are attempting to achieve, whether it is producing leads, making sales or telling a story, catch your visitors’ attention and eliminate any possible diversions that could keep them from moving down the funnel process. Avoid confusing your customers by showing them exactly what you want them to do. Use language like, “Click here”, “Shop now” and “Watch our story.” You would be surprised to find how such frank tactics sway people’s choice to buy. Do not be afraid to be direct with your call to action.
3. A Story Page
It’s important to develop a connection between your brand and the consumer. A great way to do this is by telling your brand’s story on your website. People like to understand who they are buying from, and the credibility of a story is a perfect bridge. A free research tool to utilise is tv commercials. It’s a great example of people telling their stories and after that relating right back to the product is the people on the Home Shopping Network. Watch how they introduce the product then cleverly tell a story about how they once took their son to the river and wished they had a product like this at the time.
Do your potential online clients have kids? Do they remember great times they had with their families on trips? They likely can identify positive times in their lives that make them consider your product favourably. Share details about the creators, why you started the company and your mission. This allows consumers to make a connection to the brand name, and in turn develops a sense of trust and familiarity with you and your product.
Search Engine Optimisation
4. Organic Search Ranking
Think of your long-term SEO Strategy when constructing your website so that you can increase your organic search results. Taking the time to set up the appropriate page titles, product descriptions and meta tags can make a huge difference in the organic search results down the road. One of the most important things you can do is get third-party websites to link back to your website, which helps increase your organic search rankings.
Another excellent method is developing a blog. A blog allows you so to write short articles surrounding your services or products that will rank on search engines for key terms.
5. Social Proof
Transparency plays a huge role in website conversion rates. One of the best ways to showcase the real people behind the brand is to integrate social media into your website. You can add social media feeds to your homepage or simply link to your social media channels. In an attempt to be professional, companies sometimes sound as though they are run by artificial intelligence robots rather then people. Including fun, relatable copy and day-to-day images from social media helps enhance brand identity as well as trust.
I also advise showing favourable reviews from your customers on your homepage or your product pages. There are several great apps that you can use to integrate user-generated reviews of your product and services.
6. Mobile Responsiveness
Having a website that is mobile responsive is the most important thing for a business. If your website traffic is driven by digital marketing, chances are most visitors are on mobile devices. I have personally seen approximately 60% increase in mobile traffic across my websites over the past few years. For this reason, it is important that your website is optimised for mobile so that you are not missing out on sales opportunities.
Remember, your website is supposed to serve as a silent salesperson. Walk your visitors through the buying process, and convert them into satisfied, passionate customers. Help guide them down the funnel, and present them with the relevant information, personal stories and brand reliability that they need to make buying decisions. There are no guarantees in life, but if you apply these six tips for website success, your business or brand will surly grow in the years ahead.
