Business website: How to up your game
posted Tuesday Nov 14, 2023 by Scott Ertz
The way your business website works will determine how a customer interacts with your business; whether they make a purchase or decide to leave. It's where a customer decides whether they want what you've got or would prefer to move on. As the face of your business, your website has to say it all and say it well.
Business websites need to be attractive, engaging, full of useful information, and user-friendly. Perhaps your website has been letting you down lately or maybe it's time for a revamp. Take a look at how to make sure your website is in tip-top shape.
White Space
White space is important when it comes to website design. It allows you to form a structure in your content that makes your website easy to navigate. When a customer visits a certain page on your website, what they're looking for should be clear and visible.
However, some website owners opt for the minimalistic look which creates a lot of white space. Although it may look clean, too much white space can come across as boring and fail to engage your visitors long enough to entice them to stay and look around.
Don't Start from Scratch
Many business owners choose a brand-new domain for their websites. Of course, there's nothing wrong with building something from scratch but it will take time to build up a loyal following. There is a way around this that allows you the best of both worlds.
Use a site like Domain Hunter Gatherer to search for old domains that are relevant to your industry. You may be lucky enough to find a domain that already has followers from your target market. This way, your website will be visited by people who could be interested in your products before you've even advertised.
Page Speed
How quickly your website pages load is of vital importance. Most people are strapped for time these days and they want to get things done quickly. The average internet user won't wait more than thirty seconds for a page to load before thinking about moving on.
If you visit your website and the pages are slow to load, it's time to do something about it. You don't want this simple to fix issue to hold you back from gaining new customers. You can analyze your website's speed with Google's PageSpeed Insights.
Hyperlinks
Using hyperlinks is a great way to help your visitors navigate your website. It can take them to another page with information they're looking for in the click of a button. This saves your visitors from needing to search your website high and low for what they're looking for.
You can use hyperlinks in any of your website content and it's especially useful if you have a website blog. If someone ends up on your blog to read your content, it can gently guide them towards your products and services.
Call To Action
It's surprising how many business websites are missing a call to action. A call to action encourages visitors to take the next step. Whether it's contacting the business for more information or putting a product in the basket.
The call to action should be visible throughout the whole website and easy to access. Consider creating a button that stands out from the rest of the content and is big enough to see straight away.
Bullet points
The content on your website should be easy to digest. Small bite size chunks of information are enough for a visitor to quickly take in and understand. If you want to make your content easy for your audience, bullet points are ideal.
It's a great way to keep your information short and to the point for any type of reader. For instance, when talking about new business ideas, keep each idea to a bullet point of its own.
Visuals
Visuals are a must for any website but when you want to sell goods to new and existing customers, visuals are more important than ever. We live in a visual world where people would rather watch a video tutorial than read a manual. When it comes to marketing your products, your website should include video material.
It can help to get advice from digital marketing experts when loading videos onto your website. If not done properly, video content can make your website run slower.
Branding
Your brand should be apparent on your website. Everything from color, tones, and voice should be consistent throughout each page. Your brand is what represents your business on everything, from your website to packaging, and social media.
When customers visit your site, there should be familiarity about it. Your customers should immediately recognize that what is being sold is trustworthy and the company is reliable.
Mobile-Friendly
If you want to expand your reach, it's essential that your website is mobile-friendly. So many shoppers are now using their mobile devices on the way to work, during their lunch breaks, and even at home. If your website isn't accessible to mobile users, you'll be missing out on a huge slice of the pie.
Users should be able to browse your website effectively using any device of their choosing. Your website should also still be visible and accessible when a user changes the orientation on a device.
No Broken Links
Have you ever landed on a page you've been searching for only to be greeted by an error message? It's frustrating and time-wasting, and you can be sure visitors won't be browsing through the rest of your website when it happens. You should check your website for broken links regularly.
You can do this by using a broken link checker online and correcting the links appropriately. Checking links at regular intervals will ensure that your customers aren't receiving error messages when they want to buy your products.
Conclusion
Keeping your website updated is one of the best ways to ensure you have a constant flow of online sales. If you've enjoyed this article, take a look at the rest.
