Everyone knows that your online presence goes a long way when building up your company’s brand and image. However, very few people actually tackle it with a plan in mind. One of the most problematic areas is the company’s website. Without a proper goal for the website, it falls short of expectations and it easily becomes a taint on the company’s image. So instead of making a website for the sake of it, here are 10 essential tips to help you get started with your business website.
1. Give your website a purpose
If your website doesn’t have a clearly defined purpose yet, take it down. Your website needs a purpose for it to exist and be used. It could be an information page leading to your physical store, or it could be an online store that allows your customers to purchase your services and products. Whatever it is, give it a reason for existing and taking up your money, time and effort.
2. Don’t neglect images
Remember to use images on your website. Whether it’s to break up long walls of text in your articles or to show your customers what they are buying, include lots of images. Just remember the saying “a picture is worth thousand words”.
3. Have a logo
Some of the best graphic design companies out there charge serious money for a logo and companies are willing to pay those prices because they understand the importance of being recognised. If your business doesn’t have a logo yet, get one.
4. Care about the design
If you want your visitors to come back, make your website appealing to them. If you don’t want to hire a website designer, you’ll need to learn about colour theory, colour psychology, and how to keep your website minimalistic yet informative.
5. Avoid templates
Using templates is a tacky way of getting a website up and running. Although it helps if you’re in a rush to establish an online presence, you don’t want to stick to a template for too long because it just looks boring and dull.
6. Don’t hire writers… yet
If you need content written for your website, do it in-house. Don’t use the extra money onfreelance writers because your business needs your input. It needs your own comments, it needs your thoughts, and it needs your writing!
7. Utilise comment sections
If you have multiple articles in a blog-like section, or if you have comment sections under each product, make sure you use them correctly. Look at them for feedback, respond to comments, and converse with your audience.
8. Integrate social media
Make sure you have widgets to share your products and comments on Twitter and make sure there’s a link to your own social media accounts to help expose your brand.
9. Make it easy to navigate
No one wants to click on 5 different links just to find your contact details. Streamline your navigation and stop forcing your visitors to navigate a labyrinth of links to reach what they want.
10. Don’t tell, show
Instead of lengthy paragraphs detailing your achievements or listing technical details, show people with images, videos and brief descriptions. Leave the technical details for later or include links to them.
