Top Tips for Building a Business Website
The COVID-19 pandemic is an ever-shifting situation, but one thing that seems set to stay is our increased use of technology and the internet. Whether it’s a Zoom call with work colleagues or just some shopping, we’re all spending more time online and that spells opportunity for businesses who can make their presence known.
For business owners, this opportunity is matched in equal measure by the challenge of creating and maintaining a website that attracts users and closes the sales needed to keep the financial wheels turning. Web development, hosting, and eCommerce are all terms that are bounded around freely, but knowing what they are is another thing altogether. Fortunately, it’s not as hard as it sounds, and in this guide, we count down some of the top tips for business owners who want to supercharge their sales by boosting their online presence.
What is the Business Case for a New Website?
There are lots of benefits to having a great business website, but there are also a great many misconceptions that are used to justify not developing an online presence. “I’m not good with computers”, “it’s too expensive”, and “I already have enough business without a website” are excuses that are heard all too often, and what’s frustrating is that these are usually quite far from the truth. In reality, you don’t need to be a computer whizz, a website won’t cost the earth, and to put it bluntly, not having a website is costing you time and money.
For one thing, a business website will attract new customers, and that in turn will make you more money. In the 21st century, people like to research the businesses they spend their money with and this means that companies lose out if they don’t have a website.
Consumers like to know what they’re getting before they pay up – whether that’s a restaurant meal or a new gadget. It’s also worth remembering that your website will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means that you could be making money and attracting new customers whilst you’re sleeping – and nobody’s going to argue against that.
How to Build a Small Business Website?
With the hard sell over, it’s time to start building your digital storefront. Getting the right fit is important regardless of whether you’re building a site for a new start-up, or if you’re just revamping your existing online offering. With this in mind, here are some of the best tips for business owners who want to crack the online market.
Get a Great Domain Name
Your domain name, which is also known as a website address or ‘Uniform Resource Locator’ (URL) acts like a digital sign hanging over your business website. It helps customers to find your business online and could help you to rank better in search engine queries. For the best possible results, make your domain name short, easy to spell, and memorable. To check that your shortlisted names are available, and to find out more, use the Whois search function.
Make it clear and easy to use
Nothing spells out ‘wasted opportunity’ like a business website that doesn’t help customers identify what a business does or buy goods or engage with service providers. Make sure that your customers know who you are and what you do by displaying prominent banners detailing what you offer on your front page.
Make sure also that your menu bars and any other site maps contain a link to a clear and concise ‘About Us’ page, to ensure that people can easily find out more and decide that you’re the best business for their needs.
Choose the best payment solution for you
If you’re planning on selling goods or services through your website, you’ll need to make sure that it’s equipped for eCommerce. The great thing about selling online is that it can increase your profits and reach without you having to lift a finger, but that’s only possible when customers can pay for what they want to buy quickly and efficiently.
A popular option is to implement an eCommerce Payment Gateway such as the ones offered by merchant services provider UTP. This is a system that allows your customers to make payments via credit or debit card, with the ability to serve patrons 24/7 no matter where they are in the world. What makes systems like this even better is the fact that for an extremely reasonable and flexible price, you’ll get fast and accurate transaction reporting that will help you cut down on accounting work – making this an all-around business solution.
Optimize your website for search engines
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is effectively a means of getting your website to the top of the rankings on Google and other search engines. Your website will be competing with other similar businesses and the better your site design and content are, the higher up the search results you’ll go. An enhanced site design and compelling content can propel you higher in search results, making it imperative to consider acquiring WordPress maintenance services for sustained competitiveness. There are lots of elements to SEO, but among the most basic are to ensure that your site is accessible, has a mobile-friendly version, loads quickly, and is easy to navigate.
Your space online
No matter what your motivations are for getting on board with a website for your business, now is the time to be making your online debut. As the world spends more time looking at screens and browsing the web, there’s money to be had by putting your brand out there. Whilst this won’t necessarily be the easiest business project you undertake, it could be one of the most lucrative.
