Small Business Website
Creating a website for your small business can be a complicated and daunting task but it doesn’t have to be. While there isn’t a magic solution that will ensure that everything will fall into place, taking heed of the following will ensure that your website is more than just an electronic business card.
Get the basics right.
The first step, while seemingly obvious, is to get the basics right – if you get this down, everything else should fall into place. Your basic elements are your domain name (pick a logical one!), logo and images, a section for each product or services that you will be offering, a logical navigation bar, a good description of your business, clean code and good hosting.
Enable a basic analytics platform.
This is to ensure that your website performs in the way in which you want it to. Your analytics platform will track the number of visitors to your website and what they do when they arrive at your site. You should be analyzing your statistics on a monthly basis to make sure that you are on top of your game. Google Analytics is a fantastic tool to make use of and, best of all, it is free of charge!
Create a mobile version of your website.
This is crucial to your business’s success as more and more people today are using the Internet on their phones, tablets and other mobile devices. Did you know that 57% of users will leave your mobile website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load? Statistics also show that 30% will not make a purchase on your if the shopping cart is not optimized for your mobile website. Getting your mobile website right is therefore incredibly important!
Set up your blog.
While this may seem like a secondary aspect to your website, your blog is a crucial element as it is your communication platform with your clients and a place where you can share fresh content. It is also a great way to drive traffic to your website, by sending creating links to your blogs which lead to your website.
Ensure that your contact information is complete.
Your contact information should, at all times, be 100% complete and accurate. It should also be included in the most visible place on your website. It does not just have to be in one place – include it in the bottom header as well so that your customers know exactly where you are! When visiting your website, a lot of the time, customers search for contact details (telephone numbers, email addresses, etc), so don’t frustrate them but make it easy for them by making these details easily accessible.
Creating a user-friendly and professional website for a small business involves a lot of hard work and dedication but if you get the basics right, you will reap the benefits for a long time to come!
