In the past, having the perfect physical location was critical for a business. Without being where your customers could find you, your business might have been doomed. With the rapid growth in utilization of the Internet, that has changed. Now, the quality of your website is a huge key to business success. Not only do you need to have a fully functional, professional website, people have to be able to find it.
Having a great website alone won’t guarantee your company’s success, but it will go a long way toward improving your results. With the right strategy, you can turn your business website into a powerful online marketing machine. Today’s websites must be geared toward search engine optimization, include social media integration, and have amazing content. If you want to help your website become all that it needs to be, here are six essential elements to focus on.
User-Friendly Design
One of the most important elements to a successful website is having a user-friendly design. While you want to convey a professional, modern design on your website, it’s not just about looking pretty. It’s about keeping your visitors on the site once they get there.
Search engines, like Google, measure how long visitors stay on your website and how long they stay on each page. They use this information to determine the quality of your content. If people are getting to your website and then immediately clicking the “back” button, that can be an indicator of a poor design. When a site is easy to navigate and good information is easy to find, users are more likely to stick around.
Use a welcoming color scheme and visual elements. A lot of psychology goes into choosing the right color scheme, and a good web designer will be able to lead you in the right direction. For example, people associate bright red with aggression, and may not feel comfortable if the background of your site is all red.
Using the right fonts, images, and design elements is also critical. The fonts should be easy to read and the content organized with bullets, numbers, and other features that encourage skimming. You also want to create a website that is mobile friendly, as many users now surf the web on their phones.
Quality Content
Content is most definitely king in the internet marketing world. If you don’t build great content, there’s not much of a reason for people to come to your website. Search engines also are looking for sites with amazing content to send their visitors to. When it comes to making good content, there’s really no way to fake it. People are going to need to enjoy the information they’re reading and find it valuable. Otherwise, they’ll hit that dreaded “back” button and go find what they’re looking for somewhere else.
When crafting your content, be sure to mix in some clear calls to action as well. After all, this is a business and unless your website visitors take some kind of action that you want them to take, what’s the point? Use white papers, videos, articles, and other types of content to keep them engaged. Don’t just inundate them with ads for your products over and over.
Be transparent and show your real voice. One great way to do that is take your audience “behind the scenes” by showcasing your corporate culture. Just be yourself and be open with them. It’s difficult to pretend that you care about the visitor. Approach it as if you’re helping them solve a problem.
Credibility and Social Proof
People need to feel comfortable once they get to your website. Comfort and safety can be conveyed in a few different ways. Using badges, certifications and any awards you’ve won on your website can put potential customers at ease. Make sure you don’t have any spelling or readability errors in your content.
Customer testimonials and reviews are also very powerful. When someone sees that other people have bought your product and loved it, that puts their fears to rest. Try to limit advertisements as much as possible, and put all of your contact info on the site clearly. Seeing a phone number they can call if they have problems, lets customers know you’re a real company.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization or SEO is critical if you’re going to get traffic to your website. There’s a lot that goes into optimizing your site for search engines. You’ll either have to do a lot of research on the latest trends and recommendations or put your faith in an SEO expert that you trust. Leaving it to chance isn’t going to work.
Regardless of the latest tips and tricks, certain timeless principles always apply. Building quality content that people want to read is the first step. However, search engines also look at off-page criteria. How many other sites are linking to your site? Are the sites high-quality? The link profile your site has is crucial in improving your search engine rankings. Are people talking about your site or product on social media?
When building your content, mix keywords into the content, the header, and title of the page. This lets the search engines know what your content is about. Don’t overdo it though.
Using pay-per-click marketing is a great way to get traffic in the meantime, until your site starts getting organic search engine traffic.
Website Conversion Optimization
Once you get traffic to your website, you’ll need to convert them from visitors into customers. This is done by optimizing your site for conversion. It takes some patience and a lot of testing to see what works. Utilize strong calls to action to get them to do what you want. Whether it’s filling out a contact form, or making a purchase online, gear your site toward conversion. Make the calls to action clear and concise.
Social Media Integration
Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram have exploded in growth in recent years. Millions of people spend time on them every day. When they see something they like, they want to share it with their friends. Integrate social media buttons and links into your site to make it easy on them. Make it easy for people to share your content.
Overall, building a successful website won’t be easy. But with some dedication and consistent work, you can turn your website into a lead-generating, sales machine. Keep in mind that your website is a constantly-evolving, ever-changing thing and that it can always be improved. With the right growth mindset, there’s no limit to what you can achieve with it.
