When having your first website built, it can be an overwhelming experience. You may ask yourself questions such as:
- How do I come up with text for my website?
- What type of pictures should I use?
- How many pages and what should the page names be?
- What domain should I use?
There are so many things to consider, that if I tried to include an all inclusive list, this blog post could easily be 10 times as long as it will be. Consider this a short list of ‘absolutes’.
1. Professionalism
A small business’s website is the first point of contact that your business will have with a potential client– so you can see how quickly coming off as tacky or having sloppy spelling-errors can turn that potential customer right away from your business. While it’s safe to say that a website visitor probably won’t turn into a business customer because a website has proper gram
mar, spelling, and an up-to-date layout, it’s certainly also true that if you don’t have a website with proper spelling, grammar, and a slick-looking layout; you’re putting yourself at a sore disadvantage. Do you really want people coming to your website and having an experience like this lady here?
As a rule of thumb, set a standard for your website. We prefer to treat a company website as equivalent to sitting down with the business owner and having a chat. If you have a website that looks tacky, it can hurt your business’s image; so you don’t want to compromise on the quality of your website.
As a side note to this, remember, the website is not for YOU. The website is for potential visitors. If your website designer makes recommendations, you may want to consider them. Your website is meant to ultimately represent your company and your brand online, and to help you grow your business, making you more money.
The other day I had a business owner contact me about getting him more exposure online. We didn’t end up working together, partly because I was too expensive, (he was looking for the lowest price), but partly because he loved his flash based website. He thought it was cool and had gotten a lot of compliments on it. I had told him that his flash based website needed redone because it didn’t offer a very good user experience for multiple reasons, including it didn’t work on mobile phones. Anyhow, moral of the story, your website isn’t for you, it’s for your visitors.
2. Search Engine Optimization
Most of the traffic on the internet goes through search engines like Google. This is because internet users only remember a handful of website names. If you’re a small business; you’re probably not one of those names. What people can remember is what they want. So if they’re looking for a dentist in the South Jordan Utah area, they probably don’t type in “yourdentalwebsite.whatever” into the URL bar and hit send; they type a few keywords into a search engine and that search engine delivers them a list of possible matches, then they click the one that looks best. Internet users typically don’t bother looking passed the top-half of the first page of a search results page, so if your website doesn’t pop up near the top of a potential-customer’s relevant search; you’re out of luck.
That’s why Search Engine Optimization is so crucial. It makes sure that your website has the right text-content and every one of the quirks that search engines look for when they organize those lists that people see when they search for something. If you get Search Engine Optimization right, search engines will funnel quite a lot of traffic to your website; and a bunch of customers to your door. Truly a must-have.
There’s two types of SEO. On Page and Off Page. On Page has to do with how well your website itself is coded to be read by the search engines. This is essential! It all starts with On Page SEO!!!
[rad_rapidology_inline optin_id=optin_4]3. A Catchy Domain Name
Search Engine Optimization is great for getting customers to find out about your business and get them in the door, but if you want repeat visitors to your website, or if you want people to recommend your business to their friends; you’re going to need a name that’s easy to remember and easy to pronounce. This is because you want to avoid having one of your happy customers’ friends ask them “Hey what’s a good dentist I can go to?” and your customer having to go “Yeah man just go to indeciperheablelongdentistURLname37.obscure!”— That probably wouldn’t happen. So you want to have some sort of catchy name that fits really well in a sound-byte so people can share it with one another.
4. Links to Your Social Media
One advantage that small businesses have is that they’re more personable than large companies are. Take advantage of that! If you have a twitter handle or a Facebook page that you keep up with, definitely include some kind of link from your website to your social media so you can stay in touch with your customers and keep them up to date about any changes in your product or service, as well as dazzle them with your business’s likable personality! A big step-up from your larger corporate competitors!
5. Use Images
A picture is worth a thousand words– maybe even more so in the fast-paced internet world of internet-traffic. Images are important to set the tone of a website before a visitor even reads the first word. If you have a visual service that you offer such as landscaping, painting, tile work, etc. then you will want to use your own photo’s if you can. However, stock photos are also an option if you don’t have any. Images are among the fastest information-communicators on the internet– even better than video, so in a way they’re like the first-impression of a website. It’s important to get the right ones that set the exact mood and personality of your business and illustrate that to the website visitor right away.
6. A Slick Layout and Solid Functionality
Web-design is part engineering and part art. Most of what visitors see is the ‘art’ side of web-design, and most of what they complain about is the ‘engineering’ part of web-design. A well-engineered website runs smooth without hiccups or errors, and seems “solid”, whereas a well-designed website feels clean and professional; it flows well from page to page and seems “polished.” If you have the engineering side of your website done right; no one should think to notice. If you have the design side of your website done right, people shouldn’t be able to help but notice. People remember:
shapes, colors, and problems the most out of any other memory– if you want people to remember your website, you want them to remember the pretty shapes and colors, and none of the frustrations that come with shoddily-engineered websites.
Check out the clean, uncluttered, easy to navigate look of this website. Is it perfect? No, but it is a great start.
7. Easy to Spot Contact Info
The most important thing about your business website is your business; not your website. Often times when people Google something up and your Search Engine Optimized website pops up first; they’re just looking for a phone number to call to talk to a human being. Make sure you give them that as easily as possible if you’re a small business. Your business phone-number, hours, and address should be visible from the landing page if you want your website to route customers to you and your business as soon as possible.
8. Informative Landing Page
The landing page is the first thing that a website visitor sees. A good landing page should have close to all the information a typical website visitor needs. In most cases, this can include basic contact information and a brief, but very readable and satisfying explanation of the business you’re operating. Contact info, call to action, etc.
***BONUS***Responsive or Mobile Version
What does your website look like on a mobile phone? Do you have to pinch, zoom, and pan all over the place to find information? If you are a potential customer and you come across a site that isn’t optimized for mobile, are you going to spend the time trying to find the contact info or are you just going to hit back and go somewhere else? Which of the sites below would you rather visit?
As I mentioned in the beginning, this isn’t a complete list of everything that you need, but it should help you get started. Don’t want to try and figure it out yourself? I don’t blame you! If you need help getting your website up, let’s talk, it may make sense for us to work together.