10 actionable tips for building a successful website
A website is an extension of your business. Just like your business location, your website is where you showcase your brand. It’s the online signpost that informs, show, present your various offers to your old and new customers. With your website, you can present information about your business in a clear cut manner. It also ensures you can attract, delight and engage your potential customers.
In this article, you will learn about 10 actionable tips that will help you build a successful website or improve an existing website.
Tips
- Awesome Domain name: the first step to having a successful website if find a great domain name. Your domain name is very unique to your business, it tells your potential customers a lot about your business. Google, Namecheap and HostGator are very awesome choices to find a great domain name.
- Include Keywords right away: As a new or existing niche business, adding a keyword to your domain name make search engine finding your website a lot easier. Imagine you run a startup that offers data analytics services, it’s great you add “analytics” to your name. This will enable potential customers to know exactly what you do without asking.
- Set up your email: Not having a professional email is a major turn off when speaking with potential investors, sending cold emails and offering customer support. Do not use the @gmail domain, instead use yourname@yourdomain.com. It makes your communications very professional.
- Make it stick: your website should appeal to your customers. While your aim is to collecting data, leads, driving sales and creating awareness, do well to create very stunning visuals that relate well with your target audience. Example a website targeting kids, should be playful, colourful and fun to navigate.
- Add the essentials: Your business name, map location, contact address and site descriptions are very important. Potentials customers these days want to explore the option of maps in finding your office. Adding these info ensures you never get your customers confused.
- Tell your story: Tell your visitors what your website is all about through the “About page”. Users should be able to relate with you on a personal level. Through your words, tell them who you are, what you stand for, your vision, mission and other info that might assure your customers of your wonderful service. Also, add your staff bio here if you have any.
- Show uniqueness: what makes your service different from everyone else on the block? Including your unique features or selling points help your business stand out and act as a confidence boost to your potential leads
- Use forms: Forms are some of the easiest ways to receive information from leads. It works for almost all communication needs including customer support. Using a tool like WordPress will enable you to implement form seamlessly. Mail services like Mailchimp, constantcontact, SendGrid, Infusionsoft( now keep) are very great options.
- Be friends with search engines: Search engines are always looking for the most relevant result for every query searched by a user. Find out what keyword you want to rank for and optimize the content on your website for it. Use Keyword research tool like Google keywords planner, SEMrush, Ubersuggest to find great keywords.
- Add an FAQ: Leads and searchers are always asking questions. Constant unnecessary contact between you and potential customers can drain your resources very fast. Use a frequently asked questions page to answer most of the bugging questions on your customer’s mind. An FAQ page is also a good practice for search engine optimization.
- Be consistent: use consistent colours, fonts, image type and formats to make your website very presentable. Avoid making your website parked with words, pictures and videos. Simple is better.
- Install analytics: Use analytics to find out about your website visitors, track their actions through your website and find out what you are doing wrong or right. Analytics is the bedrock off everything that happens online.
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself. peter Drucker.
In summary, to have a successful website, you must answer some very important questions potentials users are either using to find you are will want to find out when they visit your site. The 5Ws comes very handily. It should answer:
Who you are
What you do
When you do it
Where you do it
Why you do what you do (uniqueness)
Thank you very much for reading. Feel free to leave your comments and contrary view.
- PS: Next, I will write about how to self-evaluate your website by asking some key questions.
