You did the research and knew you needed to create a website for your small business. You used a drag and drop site builder and created an online presence that looks pretty good. If you are like many other small business owners, you may be poised to make the mistake of thinking that creating a website was enough.
A small business website that isn’t designed with your customers in mind can be just as detrimental to your company as having no website at all. Now that you’ve taken the time to create a website, you need to make it work for you. It may mean editing the site you’ve created, adding to it or simply updating it. You’ll have to be the judge of that after you read the information below.
Your website can work for you and help your business thrive. Here are the steps you need to take to optimize its performance.
- Contact Information
Where can customers figure out how to contact you? If they have to dig through pages and pages to find out how to send you an email or call you on the telephone, they aren’t going to search for long. Instead, they will close your page and open your competitor’s.
As people are making a decision about which business to support, they want to know that there will be someone available if they have a question or problem. If a potential customer feels like they may have a hard time getting in touch with you, they will spend their money elsewhere.
There is nothing wrong with having a dedicated contact page, especially if you are offering customers the chance to fill out an online contact form. Make sure you have a prominent link to your contact page. In other words, it should be one of your menu headings. If you welcome queries via phone, place your number not only on your contact page, but also on your homepage.
- Think of Your Customer
Have a few friends look at your small business website and navigate it. Ask for their honest opinions. The first thing you want to ask them to look at is whether or not your site is attractive. Is it too flashy? Is it easy to read? One of the most common mistakes is to add so many design elements or colors that a site becomes difficult to read.
Next, you want your website to target your local market. For example, if it makes you look pricey, you may be turning off potential customers. If it makes you look boring, you may be driving off others. Think of what your target market will be looking for.
Lastly, ask the people reviewing your website to tell you if things are easy to find. Is information presented in such a way that potential customers can find what they are looking for? Today’s consumer wants information quickly. They may be looking at your site on their phone. If someone can’t find what they are looking for in a matter of seconds, they will look elsewhere.
Depending on what your friends say, you may have some edits to make. Don’t take it personally. Your website should be driving business your way, not sending it to your competitors.
- Make It Mobile Friendly
Let’s touch more on the mobile customer for a moment. Your site should be ready for mobile devices. Don’t assume that this happens automatically. For example, you may be selling a very specific product to a niche market. Do they really need to know about the history of your industry or look at photos of everyone on your team?
Keep the mobile experience in mind when you are developing your website. Only 5 percent of small business websites are built on a mobile platform. This means the space is wide open for you to conquer. If you need professional help with this aspect, it will be money well spent.
- Keep It Fresh
We need to speak for a moment about keeping your site fresh. In the old days, you built your site and left it alone. People found it, and it worked well enough. You updated it when your information changed. If you’ve still got that mindset, you could be losing potential customers. Today’s website has to be kept new. That means keeping things updated.
An easy way to do this is with a blog. You can create content weekly fairly easily. If you don’t have time to do it yourself, hire someone to do it for you. However, updating your content isn’t enough. You may need professional help, unless you have time to research best SEO practices.
Fresh content will not only keep your customers interested, but will also help you rank higher with Google. That means that instead of being buried on page three or four of search results, you’ll be front and center on the first page. When you are easy to find, you attract more customers and increase your bottom line.
Having a website used to be enough to attract more customers. When people didn’t have home computers, a small business didn’t need to spend much time deciding how to set up and maintain their site. Today’s requirements have changed right along with the consumer. Use your website as a way to grow your business and make more profits.
If you would like more ideas about the best ways to optimize your small business website, reach out to our team at Company.com today. We have solutions for small business owners who are interested in watching their business grow. We are happy to answer your questions and help you determine which of our services and tools would best meet your needs.
