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Looking to go global? Then you need a website that works.
The internet gives every business owner the power to promote products and services on an international level with just a few clicks. Having a website is also an easy way to be “open for business” 24 hours a day.
When building your website, certain considerations and a lot of planning is needed to ensure that the site does exactly what you need it to do for your business. Layout design, functionality and ease of navigation are just some things to start thinking about. A site should be fully functional (ever hit a broken link and been happy about it?) and interesting enough to capture the attention of your visitor. You’ve got between 3 and 6 seconds to make a first impression before your visitor clicks away.
Once set up, you need to regularly update your site to keep the interest of your followers and do a regular audit (at least once a month) of all links and pages to make sure the site is working as it should.
So where should you focus your attention?
Quality Content
The information you provide on your website has to be relevant to your target market and written in an interesting manner to easily capture attention of visitors. Make your content easy to understand as well by using simple English.
Opt in form
There’s no point driving traffic to a website if you have no way of knowing who stopped by! Build a list of potential clients by capturing the name and email of anyone that visits your site. Up your opt in by offering a free widget in exchange for a name and email address.
Business Branding
Stand out from the crowd. Be consistent in the message you convey about your business and if you are looking to build a website as an information portal or online business card, use your logo on the main banner of your website. This will raise brand recognition for your business.
Of course, websites designed to generate sales (such as squeeze pages) should not be branded. Rather, the focus needs to be on a killer headline.
Easy Navigation
Not all web users are skilled in browsing through websites. For this reason, you have to ensure your website is user friendly which means, as mentioned earlier, all pages must be properly linked together with no dead links. Get this right and you can direct your readers to the exact page they want to visit.
If you’re selling products and services on your site, check your shopping cart regularly. A broken cart will lead to lost sales.
Layout
Absolutely vital. Confuse your reader and they’ll leave. Don’t go overboard when choosing your colours either. White or yellow text on a black background is an absolute no no. Your reader will quickly get tired as that colour combination is very hard to read.
Pages to Include
What message are you trying to convey to your reader? At a minimum, include your main Home page, About Us which provides information about who you are and what you do and Contact Us which should outline easy ways for the visitor to get in touch (phone numbers or a contact box).
Other pages may include Testimonials, specific pages introducing your products and services, Events or Social Media Links.
Remember, a well built, functioning website is your online business card 24×7. Put it to work for you.
About Wendy Moore:
Wendy is the founder of www.savvywebwomen.com and creator of the Web Secrets Success Club – the step-by-step program that shows business owners and entrepreneurs how to better understand the internet to build a highly responsive, targeted list fo clients specific to their business niche. To receive your FREE Special Report and weekly how-to articles to expand your online List Building toolkit, visit www.savvywebwomen.com.