Website Tips for Businesses | ProductiveandFree

Your website is the central hub of your business. It’s where people find you, learn more about you, read your blog posts, buy your products, and book your services.

While there are a lot of factors that go into making a “great” website, it’s important to make sure that your website is there to help your business (and not hurt it) by making it as effective as it can possibly be in turning visitors into customers or clients.

Here are 5 website tips for businesses.

01. Make your website cater to your target customer

This first tip is supposed to be a no-brainer but you’d be surprised how many businesses make their website primarily about them, and not take their target customers into account at all.

They use images they themselves find attractive, fonts they think are cool, colors they find pleasing, and copy that only they resonate with.

Take note that your site isn’t an internal communications tool. It’s an external marketing platform which means the goal of your business website is to attract and convert customers or clients.

Yes, your business website should showcase the products you sell or services you provide; however, it should all be displayed and designed in a manner that your target customer would resonate with and therefore be inclined to take an action that would benefit them and ultimately, one that would help your business as well.

Your website should show (immediately and without a doubt) that your business helps your customers or clients reach their goals or that your business provides the solution to their problems - that's where a skilled Freelance SEO Consultant can help optimize your online presence for maximum impact.

In terms of copy, consider the words, phrases, sentences, and calls-to-action (CTAs) your target customers would use, understand, or respond to. In terms of your visuals, consider the images, fonts, icons, layouts, and colors they would be attracted to. In terms of your website navigation, consider highlighting only the pages that they’d find most relevant to avoid confusion.

To take this first tip one step further, think of ways to make your target customer know, like, and trust you through your website.

Would adding an about page make your target customer get to know you better? Would consistently publishing blog posts that help them with their problems make them like you more? Would having your own domain, adding client testimonials, and including photos of you make them trust you more?

02. Make your website responsive

Since a huge portion of website visitors are now browsing the web via their mobile or tablet devices, it’s only logical for you to make your website mobile- and tablet- responsive as well.

While a lot of website builders already have this feature built-in, it’s still important to routinely check how your website displays its contents through those devices.

You might find your font sizes or spacings are completely off, your images are cut or too small, or the order of the content being displayed doesn’t make sense.

Remember, people who notice your website errors will rarely inform you about them. They’ll simply x-out and might not ever return so it’s up to you to make sure that your website’s non-responsiveness isn’t one of the reasons they’ll leave.

If you built your website using Squarespace like I did, this is very easy to do. Simply click on the line/arrow icon at the very top of your editing window (see image below) and select mobile, tablet, or desktop view.

03. Include a CTA on every page of your website

Consider how your website can serve as a guide for your customers, as if they’re being taken through a process or a journey.

No matter what page of your website a visitor lands on, it’s your responsibility to direct them towards the next step that they should take.

This is where calls-to-action come in handy.

A call-to-action or CTA is a marketing term that refers to a prompt or instruction given to an audience to encourage some form of action or response. The more your CTA stands out, the better.

For example, after reading a blog post, do you want them to read more blog posts? Subscribe to your newsletter? Sign up for a free masterclass or webinar?

What about after landing on your home page? Do you want them to contact you for a free consultation? Browse your portfolio or testimonials page? Read more about your story and how you came to start your business?

Take note that if there’s no clear next step for them to take, they’ll simply choose to x-out themselves since there’s no reason for them to stay on your site any longer.

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04. Prioritize your website’s above the fold

“Above the fold” is a term people used to refer to the upper half of the front page of a newspaper where they would find the most important news story of the day (before they unfold or open the newspaper).

When talking about websites, above the fold refers to the visible upper portion of your homepage right before scrolling down.

Since this is the first area that a visitor sees, it should be designed in a way that makes the best first impression of your business possible.

All within a few seconds, your website’s above the fold should immediately grab the visitor’s attention, let them know how your business can solve their problem or help them reach a goal, and invite them to take some form of action.

This may seem like a lot to include in such a small amount of space, but there are ways to make this happen.

Marketers suggest using powerful imagery that would resonate with your visitors (sometimes called a hero image), highlighting a succinct statement that includes the who, what, why, and how of your business, and displaying one to two CTAs. They also suggest limiting your website’s top navigation to only your most relevant pages so that it doesn’t distract your visitors from responding to your CTA.

05. Provide consistent content through blogging

Even if your website is responsive, strategic, and customer-oriented, there’s still a chance that a visitor will not immediately buy your products or book your services.

Obviously it just doesn’t work that way but there’s still the problem of how to get visitors to return to your site over and over again until they do become a client or customer, or ideally, even long after.

The solution is blogging — a content marketing strategy that aims to attract and convert your target customers by providing high quality, engaging content on a consistent basis.

Blogging is an effective way to give your target customers a reason to keep coming back to your site and continue fostering their relationship with you, your brand, and your business.

Think about it. If there’s nothing new to see, read, or learn on your site, then what reason is there for them to return?

And if people do check out your website and see that you haven’t posted or updated things in a long time, how will they know that you’re still reliable or trustworthy? Especially if your business is about delivering physical products or providing services, how will they know if you’re still in business?

Blogging provides many benefits because it’s a creative way for you to:

help your target customers with problems they have
prove your knowledge and expertise on certain topics
establish your authority in your industry
increase your know, like, and trust factor
increase your competitive advantage
stay relevant and top of mind
humanize your brand and your business
talk about your products and services in a non-sleazy way
highlight the results your clients experienced through working with you
increase your SEO (search engine optimization)
develop your writing and communication skills
and many more.

Conclusion

Your website is a tool that should help further your business goals, not hinder it. Since it’s the central hub of your business, it should cater to your target customer, be responsive, include strategic CTAs on every page, leave a good first impression, and provide visitors a reason to keep returning to your site through blogging or providing consistent content.

Share in the comments below: Does your business website implement these five tips? Which ones do you still need to improve on?