We are all aware of the virtues of social media and how a successful Twitter account or Facebook page can increase sales, build leads and generate traffic. However, if those carefully crafted tweets and statuses lead customers to a poorly designed and confusing website, then all the effort put into promoting it will be fruitless.
Without seeming too obvious, a great website It is essential to a successful business. . A functional website that reflects the spirit of your business is your best sales tool and a bad website can damage reputation and sales.
“With around 36 million Brits online every day and 48% of people who start any kind of search for a product or service online are almost at a stage where they can’t afford to be offline,” says Lynsey Sweales CEO of SocialB, a company of online marketing and social media.
Where to start?
Before you start building your website, you should have a clear idea of what you you want exactly and how you want to create it. Vanessa Austin Locke, a partner at Austin & Locke, just went through the process of creating a website. The firm specializes in creating brand partnership strategies and pitching ideas that boost reputation, influence decision makers, and generate content.
Austin Locke chose to use a designer, saying he was looking for ” a combination of technical capacity and creative vision”. “A strong sense of aesthetics was the most important thing to us,” she added. She aimed for simplicity with impact when it came to her website design. “Simple and easy to use, but still engaging in a classy way that’s not intrusive. We all get advertised constantly, and it’s irritating. We designed it with customer comfort in mind.”
Website designer or hosting platform?
Building a website doesn’t have to drain your savings; there are a plethora of hosting platforms like WordPress, which allow you to develop both functional and aesthetically pleasing websites. “If you already know how to use WordPress, then don’t make things harder and more expensive by using a new designer or building a CMS,” says Austin Locke.
She continues: “If not, invest in a designer website, but be warned, there are a lot of cowboys out there. We were quoted some absurd prices and had a terrible first experience with a ‘designer’ with a lot of technical ability to build a website but no aptitude for aesthetics or design.”
When deciding how to build your website, Sweales believes that it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. “With the likes of WordPress, there are some great templates you can use, but if you want something a little more custom, find a website designer. But keep in mind that you want to be able to update the website once it’s up and running, you should keep that flexibility.”
The Design
The creative aspect of your website design can be the most enjoyable part, but it is essential that you understand it . correctly and your online appearance reflects the essence of your business.
Digital designer Maria Withers, who designed the Austin & Locke website, believes that design trends are temporary, but keeping up with them them is essential when designing a website.
“Your design should be focused on the needs of your user, if a website is not aesthetically pleasing or intuitive, your website may become redundant and users will abandon your web page.
“Content is key to your website. The weight of images on a website depends entirely on the message you want your website to convey. Images should be relevant to your product or company so as not to confuse a user.”
When sourcing images, SMBs can try image libraries like signelements.com or ingimage.com, or partner with students like Austin Locke did it for the Austin & Locke website.
“We took our own and my advice is almost always to be creative, it’s fun and you’ll learn some new skills while retaining creative control. Find some promising photography or videography students or young professionals, and they may be able to give you a good price for some original images, as well as some invaluable insights.”
A few strong, key images that succinctly express nature of your company, they are more effective than many poorly obtained images.“Attention span is short online and a picture can communicate 1,000 words,” says Austin Locke.
How to increase sales
Managing your website correctly can drive sales and SEO and social media play a key role in driving potential customers to your site.
“You can make money with a website in many ways. You could set up Google Adsense, which will show Google ads on your website,” says Sweales. “Or you could accept banner ads on your website; this is more time consuming and both can distract from your main objective. If you have a website that markets your business, I wouldn’t be persuaded to accept ads if it affects the business brand.It’s worth setting up your business on Google Places for free, as well as key directory sites like Yelp and Yell, as they can help in the meantime,” says Sweales.
“If you build a website, what you need to do is by configuring your Google Analytics. This tells you how many website visits you get, where they are coming from, and where your inquiries or sales are coming from. Setting up a website without it is like wasting your money, as you can’t measure the marketing you’re doing.”
Avoid building a bad website
Building an attractive website is not enough to attract visitors, it has to be easy to use, easy to navigate and ensure that customers return.
“A bad website consists of irrelevant content, which does not represent the product or business you are advertising. A website that is not intuitive or that does not answer a user’s questions when they are on your website indicates that your website is not useful and the user will not stick around. SEO must also be ensured to drive traffic to your site and rank high in search engines,” says Withers.
Austin Locke believes that static content is one of the worst website offenses and businesses need to “keep it up and flowing, a website is like a room…it needs ventilation.”
This article was originally published August 2014.
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