Building a website for your business is an important step towards building a brand on the internet. You need to create a domain that attracts visitors, encourages engagement, and looks good. However, websites need to be designed with the customer in mind, to make sure they are user-friendly, easy to interact with, and informative. This is the first hurdle that most business owners fail at. They believe that any website and domain address will do. In reality, you have to think with the customer’s head, and find out what they are really looking for, before you engage a web design company to put your brand online. Read our tips on creating customer-friendly business websites below.
Easy-to-remember Web Address
The first step of creating your website is choosing your domain. While your company or personal brand name seems an obvious choice, you need to remember that people will have to type the address into their browser. Make it easy to remember, snappy, and short. If the domain name is hard to spell, your visitors might give up before they would land on your page. Look through domain name suggestions based on your main keywords and products on hosting companies’ pages, and take a pick. Register the domain, and start thinking about the design and the content. Look through domain name suggestions based on your main keywords and
products on hosting companies’ pages, and take a pick. Just take a look
at the domain chosen for the insurance website ConsumerInsuranceReport. They've integrated the keyword insurance seamlessly in their domain.
Straight to the Point Design
Many website owners make a mistake when choosing a template or design for their new site. They simply over-complicate the main page or put too much text on it. The result is a high bounce (turn-back) rate and lower search engine rankings. You only have a few seconds to capture the interest of your visitors, and you need to use this time carefully. Create a slider video or image slideshow that tells them why they should check your website out and what you are about. If they have difficulties finding out what your industry is and why you are better than the other 1000s of sites out there, you have lost your first battle.
Simple Navigation
The next element you have to pay attention to is the navigation. If your visitors and potential customers cannot find the button to send you a message or call you, chances are that you will never get any customers through your website. Display contact links, terms and conditions in a simple navigation menu, and don’t forget to include your home button on each page, so they can go back to your main site. If you don’t have these features, you might need to get a professional to redesign your website. Build your menus in a logical order. If you have products featured on your site, categorize them, so visitors find what they are looking for easily. Implement a simple shopping cart system if you are planning on
adding eCommerce features to your site, and add a search button to help your blog users find posts relevant to them.
Page Speed
Not many online business owners know about the importance of page speed. An increasing number of people are now using mobile phones to search for companies and offers. Mobile internet speeds are still lower than regular broadband speed, therefore, you need to make sure that your web host is fast, images and videos load on time, or you will lose important visitors who don’t have the patience to wait for your site to load. A simple website page speed test can help you check for areas of developments. If you use WordPress on your site, you can find free or paid plugins that will automatically optimize your page loading speed, and make sure that your site visitors get the best possible user experience.
Mobile Design Matters
While most recent templates and unique web designs come with a mobile version, not all of them are created equal. You have to check your website’s appearance in different browsers, as well as various mobile devices. Today, over half of the people around the world look for products and recommendations online using mobile devices. If you fail to impress iPhone users because your template simply falls apart on their device, you will lose potential customers. Get your website evaluation created by See All Media to find how the appearance of your site can be improved and how you can target mobile users better. Keep it simple, easy to navigate, and fast.
Social Media Integration
Getting your business website up and running is only the first step. If you don’t integrate social media into your design, you are likely to lose visitors who are looking for recommendations from their friends and acquaintances. You have to take care of creating professional business profiles on social media sites, such as Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Get people to notice you on social media sites by communicating your website offers and encouraging them to visit your pages. Social media marketing can deliver you targeted visitors, and adding sharing buttons on your site can get you followers. Display your social media profiles on your site, and put your website links and blog posts on your social media pages.
Making It Easy to Interact with Your Brand
If you would like to create a successful business online, you should make it easy for people to get in touch and interact with you. An approachable brand that responds to customer queries and concerns is always more appealing to customers than one that fails to check emails and takes days to get back to them. You can stand out from the crowd by making it easy to contact you. Add “call now” buttons on your main page, integrate Google Maps on your site to allow people to get directions to your offices, and have a simple contact form that they can fill out with queries. In the 21st century, the speed of communication is one of the most important things for customers.
Building a website for your business is more than a finger exercise. It has to be completed with your potential customers in mind. Try to find out more about their wishes, wants, and preferences, and tailor your web design to their needs.
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