Let’s assume you already have a website for your small business. You’re a savvy business owner and you know the value of a solid website. However, beyond providing factual information about what you offer, you may be unsure how that website should be working to gain you new customers. Bottom line is your website should be working FOR you rather than against you. Let’s go over three things your website should be doing for your company in order to thrive.
1. Convert traffic into leads. The whole purpose of increasing traffic is to turn that traffic into leads or customers. Analyze what people are doing while on your website. Are they browsing and leaving? Are they purchasing your products online? Good news is, you can make changes on a regular basis to help you achieve the goals you want. You can essentially do what you want with your website, making it work for you in the most efficient way possible. Add contact forms for estimates or pre-qualifications if you want potential customers to contact you in a specific way. Or, if you prefer leads to call you on the phone to place an order or ask about more information, make sure it’s clear on your website. Setting up your website to facilitate further communication is key. The first step is to really think about how you want your website to generate and send leads to you.
Tell your online visitors what you want them to do with clear tones of direction, whether that involves calling you for a free quote, signing up for online coupons, or adding products to the shopping cart, says Entrepreneur.
2. Make your site accessible to all devices. Your website should have the capability of displaying correctly on all devices and platforms, from laptops to smart phones. This is important because customers aren’t all sitting at home behind their computers — they’re on the go, shopping, comparison pricing, and looking for on-demand information. If your site fails to support mobile devices, you’re losing out. Period. There are two ways to go about this: creating two distinct versions of your site (one for desktop use and another for mobile use) or a site featuring Responsive Web Design (RWD) which converts screen sizes and loading times automatically according to the device it’s being viewed on. This is a personal decision, and one that depends on your type of business, your budget, and your overall goals. Your trusted web designer can help you make this decision.
3. Ensure your website is easy to manage. A website is a living, breathing thing in the online world. It needs nourishment, nurturing and tweaking in order to work in your best interests. There’s no reason why you should struggle with a website that’s not easy to use, as you won’t reach your business’ full potential that way. Make sure your website is easy to update without giving you headaches. For example, publishing new blogs to your website, adding a new image, or changing the hours of operation shouldn’t take all day. For that, it’s good to have a content management systems (CMS) in place which allows you to continually post new and engaging content and graphics with all the right configurations and minimal work on your part. One way in particular a CMS makes it easy to manage your website is in scheduled postings. You don’t have to physically post a new blog or Facebook status every time; instead, schedule them out on a regular basis so you can concentrate on more important things — like running and growing your business.
If your website sorely lacks these three components, or even if you want to improve upon what you have, schedule a free consultation or give us a call at Up and Social at 617-939-9315. We love helping small businesses achieve greater visibility online to attract more customers and meet short- and long-term goals for success.
