Your business website is your online salesperson. It is the front line for all of your marketing initiatives. If it isn’t effective, or if it’s difficult to get through, you are missing out on sales opportunities every day. The following tips will help you make a better site for your business.
Consider White Label Web Design
White label web design is a Web design technique where designers create websites with each client’s company name replacing the original brand name, for example: “Acme Widgets LLC Designs By Jones.” Hiring white label web design services allows you to have a professional-looking website without incurring the cost of having your own in-house web designer. This way you aren’t paying for a web designer’s salary and benefits, but rather the use of their skills.
Tailor Your Site To Your Target Market
Every industry has its jargon, brands, and taboos that need to be respected before you can even begin to understand your audience. Before rushing to build a site with all sorts of bells and whistles, research what your target market expects. For example, if your services are aimed at children, it’s probably not a good idea to have an R-Rated splash page. Here are some common market consumers:
Teenagers
Teenagers are impressionable and extremely tech-savvy. If they’re fans of a brand, it’s very likely that their friends will pay attention as well. Teenagers expect photos, video – anything but plain text – and usually want to see some sort of social proof before committing to your site (e.g., Twitter followers, Facebook likes, etc.). In other words, teens want to see that you’re legit before they take your word for it. The more visually engaging your site is, the better.
Seniors
Seniors have been communicating for decades without using technology but know how to use a mouse or touch screen very well. They don’t have a lot of time on their hands, so they want to get what you’re saying very quickly. Be sure that your site is easy to navigate and run with simple language, but don’t forget about them being more comfortable with words than pictures.
Parents
Parents have a lot of questions before they will buy anything for their kids. Their FAQ section should be super detailed and thorough because parents want to know what they’re getting before committing. Parents want to know how the product works if their kids can use it safely, and why yours is better than other brands on the market.
Keyword-Rich Content
Search engines are always changing their algorithms, but the best way to get a good ranking is by having a site that’s easy to navigate and filled with popular keywords. This means that if you’re a dentist, then “teeth whitening” should be written on every page of your site. Or if you’re a realtor, then “houses for sale” should be all over the place. Be sure to write naturally and come up with your own phrases or words related to what you do. Just remember the more keywords and content on your site, the better chance it has of coming up high on search engines like Google and Bing. So make sure your pages have been optimized for the right keyword phrases so search engines can find you!
A/B Testing
If you’re not familiar with A/B testing, it’s a way to see how users interact with your website. By creating two different versions of a given page and sending them out to different markets, you can see which content works well for your audience. For example, if your site is about clothing, you might send out different emails to men and women. If the email for women gets more clicks than the one for men, you’ll know that your female audience is actually interested in seeing what’s new on your site.
A/B testing can help with many aspects of your website including (but not limited to) your landing page, your contact forms, and even within the content of a particular page. You can A/B test anything as long as you have two different versions to send out at the same time. With this information, you can make future changes to your website and find out what works best for your customer base.
Make Your Site Mobile Friendly
While some people still use desktop computers to visit websites, most devices are mobile these days. In order to get the most out of your site, make sure that it’s viewable on all screens and is easy to navigate on a touchscreen. This means that you’ll want to test out your site on as many devices as possible before launching it. For example, if you plan on using videos to promote your business, be sure that they are compatible by uploading them to YouTube and then testing out the videos on different devices.
A website is something that you need to invest time and effort into even after it’s launched. It’s a long-term process that requires continuous upkeep in order to be effective. If someone comes across your site, or you send them an email with a link to it, they should have the same overall experience no matter which device they’re using.
