Why a Website is Important for Your Small Business
A website is a vital aspect of any business. Not only does it allow you to showcase your products and services but also, it acts as a selling tool for your business. Much like a brick and mortar business allows customers to enter and check out the merchandise, your website, allows potential customers to check you out. This is why a website is important for your smaill business.
But, your website should be a good one. Not only does that mean that it should be attractive but, it should also be optimized so that it ranks well in the search engines.
Elements of a Good Website:
There are many elements to a good website. At the very least, it should be attractive, easy to navigate and user-friendly. Your website copy should address your target audience and, it should be clear about what you offer. The more you keep these elements in mind in your website design, the greater the chance your target audience will remain engaged which increases the likelihood of a sale.
In terms of branding colours, you should consider whether or not they connect with your offering and your ideal customer. So even though you might adore mustard yellow as a colour, it might not be the best choice for your branding.
Potential customers will definitely want to learn about the person behind the business and your personality, but this should not overshadow the products and services you offer and how you solve problems for others. Make sure to always maintain professionalism on your website otherwise, your visitors may click away and buy from another website.
How to Build a Great Website:
First and foremost, you need to define your brand, your ideal audience and your messaging before going about the process of building a website. So if you’re just starting out in business, it might not be the right time to build a website until you figure out what products and services to offer, who you want to offer them to and what makes your audience tick so that they will be prompted to buy from you.
You’ll need to be clear about these things before embarking on a website design project or before hiring a website designer to build one for you. Otherwise, you’ll waste a lot of time and energy tinkering with your website multiple times without actually diving in and started to offer something to the marketplace. Sometimes, it takes putting yourself out there in order to figure out your niche.
Once you’ve figured out your products and services, your target market and your messaging, it’s time to start building out your website. This will include deciding you’re your site pages and navigation, choosing stock images or doing a photoshoot and writing all the content. You’ll also need to select your website design platform, purchase a domain name and buy hosting. I highly recommend that you consider self hosted WordPress for your website because, it’s got much more flexibility and because it’s much better for search engine optimization (SEO).
My personal recommendations for domain names and hosting are as follows:
● For domain names: GoDaddy, NameCheap
● For website hosting: SiteGround, BlueHost
The Benefits of a Good Website:
As mentioned earlier in this post, a good website will help your potential customers find your business in the search engines, and it will keep them engaged so that they are most likely to buy and keep coming back to your site. It helps you to build credibility and awareness of your business and ensures long term profitability.
When Should You Hire a Website Designer?
If you don’t have the time or know how for creating a really great website that will function as a sales machine for you then, I highly recommend that you consider hiring a website designer. A good website designer will help you will all the needed elements from defining your target audience to guiding you with copy development and design aspects.
If you’re ready for a new professionally designed website or website re-design, check out my service page and reach out to me for a consultation.