Before you decide to have a website built, think about what you want the site to accomplish for your buiness. Will it be a brochure site, a blog or an e-commerce site? Pick a platform that suits your needs. We like WordPress for blogs. Open Cart and Magento for e-commerce, vTiger for CRM and you may choose certain platforms depending on your special needs or industry standards..
Decide on a proper domain name. When choosing a domain name, look for one that people will remember. Keep it as short as possible while making it memorable Do you want a .com, org or other kind of extension? I still prefer a .com for most businesses although there are many extensions available today. It helps if the domain name includes a keyword or phrase that people will search for when looking for your product or service.
Think about the layout and color that you desire. What colors are right for your industry? Are there other websites that you like the look of? Do you want a one, two or three column website? Would you like a picture slider or video on the front page? Have you thought about a logo? Do you want a website that is framed or would you like it to expand to both ends of the screen?
Your content is the most important part of your website. Make sure it’s concise informative and interesting. There should be a call to action, because a site that just educates and doesn’t ask for interaction will most likely have a poor ROI (return o investment). Make sure your content includes the keywords people will be searching for when they are looking for your services. But write your copy for the people, not the search engines. An excellent user experience should be your number one goal. communicate directly to your prospective audience. Think about who your audience is and address them directly n a manner that appeals to them.
Make sure your calls to action include alluring buttons or links that attract attention but don’t make the site look gaudy. If you try to make everything stand out nothing will. Let the focus of attention point to your most important subject. Let the consumer focus on one thing at a time. Offer a sign-up sheet for a free top 10 list or e-book in exchange for an email address or contact info. An email sign-up form should be considered. Dees your website need contact forms for quotes and requests?
Choose quality pictures and videos. sub-par photos make for an ugly website. By quality photography and make sure your videos are professionally done. The pictures shouldn’t clash with the colors you have chosen for the website.
Make sure your website content, look and feel is unique and not a copy of your competition’s site. If it is you can only be second best. Choose a legible clean font. stay away from fancy, flowery fonts that distract the customer and go with clean simple typography.
Consider the screen resolution of the website you want to create. Make sure it’s cross-browser compatible. Will it be mobile ready? Will the version for PCs offer all of the bell and whistles the consumer wants and will the mobile ready or tablet ready version offer the features needed. Ensure the mobile ready versions give the consumer fast and easy contact information. Include Google analytics and use webmaster tools on your website, so you can track and study your web traffic. This will help you to improve your website based on customer interaction instead of conjecture.
Offer prominent social media links on your site but don’t send them to your social media pages from the website. Instead of sending the customer away from your website which can create transactions, allow them to like and share your content on other social media platforms while keeping them on you website.
Once your website is built and serving your customers, keep working on it. Keep your content fresh and new. Write new articles and human interest stories on a regular basis. Post these article on other websites and social media platforms. This will help keep prospects and customers coming back. Having an effective, lead generating website can be very rewarding and exciting. Enjoy it.
BetterBizWorks, LLC web design and internet marketing is always here to help you with your web design and online marketing needs. Feel free to give us a call to discuss your online goals. 212-904-0020
