Is your business website attracting the right type of attention or driving potential customers away?
Having an online presence is important to establish credibility as a business.
Just like resumes are the first impression for employers, your website is often the first impression that new customers will have of your company. After all, what would be your initial reaction if someone mentioned a business to you? It’s likely you would search for the brand online.
Your website is a visual representation of your business, and ensuring that it is kept up to date, user-friendly and professional could make it a vital tool in generating new clients, as well as keeping your existing ones.
While upgrading your business website can take some time and energy, here are five reasons why doing so could be beneficial for your business.
To Benefit Your Customers
Your website is there for your customers, so it is important that that functions in a way that provides them with a positive and helpful experience.
Visitors expect to be able to use your website with ease, and find important information quickly.
- Is it easy to find your contact information on your website?
- Are your services/products clearly stated on your homepage?
- Does the design encourage interaction and engagement?
Bonus Tip: Get someone impartial to browse your website to search for the information they would require as a customer.
Can they easily identify your business’s products/values/purpose? Is it easy for them to find your contact phone number/email address? What suggestions would they make?
Ensure that any social media accounts associated with your business can also be easily accessed via your website, which allows customers to explore other resources you have on hand that illustrate who you are as a business.
This tactic was used by the team at Smart and Fast Electrical who added social icons to their site to increase exposure, saying “we added links to our business social media channels and noticed an increase in engagement from people who were able to move seamlessly from our site to our socials and vice versa.”
Having an array of platforms for your business builds credibility and widens the means in which customers can get in touch and keep up-to-date with you.
To Improve Web Search Ranking Results
Struggling to get website clicks?
With 93% of online experiences starting with a search engine, finding a business online is the primary method that customers employ, and with so much competition out there it can be difficult to appear on the top search results of engines such as Google or Bing.
Often the best point of attack is improving your SEO (search engine optimisation), which can be conducted by a SEO professional or on your own.
SEO is a set of techniques that allows the information on your website to be discovered on search engine, and is ranked against similar websites.
Through using keywords on your business website and adding new content regularly you can ensure your website has the best chance to rank well amongst your competitors. Structuring your website with searchable characteristics encourage people to interact with your sites – and these send valuable user signals to search engines like Google which help boost your overall rankings.
To Be More Professional
Does your website come across as being professional to your potential clients?
Your website plays a vital role in the image of your business; therefore it is important that this resource reflects the professional nature of your organization.
- Is the text on your website appropriate for what you represent?
- Are the images included on your website of a high quality, and are not just stock images sourced from another website?
- Are there zero spelling and grammar mistakes?
Having a professional looking website creates credibility in your brand, and assures customers that your business is legitimate. A professional website needs to not only look great, but to also perform great. Ensure that links actually direct customers to the correct page, loading times are kept to a minimum, and that information is not cluttered and is simple to navigate.
This is reinforced by the team at Empowered Finance who saw the difference after simplifying their website, saying “we upgraded our website to make the browsing process more engaging. This meant moving our most important information above the fold and increasing the font size for use on mobile phones. These may seem like minor changes, but they can have a great impact on your users and their browsing habits.”
Creating a relevant and professional domain name is also important for building brand awareness and attracting potential customers to your website. Keep it simple, but keep it professional. A simple but memorable domain name could help make your website stand out from the rest.
To Stay Modern
It is important to keep your website content fresh and up-to-date. When a potential customer looks at your business website, they may judge your business as being out of date if your website is.
Visual experts, Strong Images, note that customers are more likely to engage with businesses with modern websites “because these sites convey the image of trust and expertise. Consumers make instant first impressions and the use of design, not just visual aids the full spectrum of web design, has now begun implementing the latest trends and technologies to get ahead.” While at one point customers were exclusively accessing websites through a desktop, nowadays customers are using an array of devices such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones.
Does your website provide a seamless experience across all devices? Ensuring that your website is user-friendly on an array of devices is important, as researching on mobile phones has becomes increasingly common. A mobile-optimized website should adjust to mobile phones to make the layout user-friendly while remaining attractive.
Upgrading your business website could also involve tools such as chatbots, whereby customers can engage with an automated bot who can provide customer service and guide them in the right direction.
To Stand Out From The Crowd
With so many businesses offering similar services out there, it is vital to stand out from the crowd of competitors.
What about your business makes you unique?
Updating your business website to reflect your business’s personality and state your values is important to help customers differentiate you from your competitors. Making personable additions such as a ‘meet our team’ page may create a human and friendly connection that shows your customers that you are more than just your website.
With an exclusive tip on standing out, the team at Unsecured Business Loans reveals “simple is effective. We made our navigational menus more prominent and reduced the clutter to make it easier for people to see our value. Remember, less is more. If you’re trying to stand out, make the most of negative space and white backgrounds.”
Try and resonate with your potential customers through success stories and examples of how you have aided in the lives of existing customers. While using a template website works as a solid foundation, incorporating innovative and unique features allows your website to be separated from the crowd.
Are You Ready to Upgrade Your Business Website?
Upgrading your business website can be an exciting process that can assist in the growth of your business, and provide you with a useful tool for both potential and existing customers.
By keeping your website up-to-date, user-friendly, professional and accurately reflecting the values of your business, it is likely your business exposure and sales opportunities will grow. Is now the time for a web designer to take a look over your business website?
Author Bio:
Melanie Walsh is an Australian writer and uni student living in Melbourne. As a Business Management major, Melanie is passionate about business revenues. She also has a love for pets, she regularly takes her pet dog for a walk in the park.