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Managing a small business is challenging at the best of times. There are a lot of tasks to cover by a relatively small amount of people. It’s normal for certain areas of the business to take greater precedence over others. If one area is thriving from the get-go, it can be easy to neglect the less obvious functions.
This is a significant risk for any small business. Statistically speaking, 20% of small businesses fail after one year, 30% fail within two, and 50% fail after only five years of operations. There is a myriad of reasons for this, but one of the determining factors is over-reliance on key staff members. This imbalance can cause negative impacts on aspects of the business.
Photo by Burst from Pexels.
Managing a small business is challenging at the best of times. There are a lot of tasks to cover by a relatively small amount of people. It’s normal for certain areas of the business to take greater precedence over others. If one area is thriving from the get-go, it can be easy to neglect the less obvious functions.
This is a significant risk for any small business. Statistically speaking, 20% of small businesses fail after one year, 30% fail within two, and 50% fail after only five years of operations. There is a myriad of reasons for this, but one of the determining factors is over-reliance on key staff members. This imbalance can cause negative impacts on aspects of the business.
Photo by Burst from Pexels.
For many companies, getting a well-designed website up and running is viewed as a destination rather than a journey. Once the page is live, it is neglected. Small businesses should be using it as a tool to grow and develop the business continuously. Your website is far more than a catalogue.
A company website is not only a direct communicator of the vision and values of the business, but it is also a research and customer service tool.
More traffic to your site generally translates to better business, and it also provides you with valuable data about your customers and their behaviour.
Here are ten essential steps to optimizing a website for any small business.
1. Set goals and targets
Your small business has a mission and vision. There is a reason that it exists, and it has value to customers. This should be demonstrated through your website.
As well as the overall vision, you should establish measurable targets for your website. Create your digital strategy around these targets, and monitor them closely. Outline KPI’s and work toward reaching your goals.
2. Clean visuals
Your website’s visual appearance is crucial. As the virtual storefront of the business, it must be attractive. This doesn’t mean it needs to contain loads of information and novelty quirks.
A common mistake that’s made by many businesses is that they overly complicate their website. It becomes cluttered and chaotic, with too many images, links, and windows.
A simple, clean and practical design can give off a more appealing effect to users. It is accessible and can be scanned easily. Other benefits of a simple design include loading speed, conversion rates, host pricing, and suitability to Google’s search algorithms.
Don’t let your website suffer because of poor visual design.
3. User-friendly
Websites today must be user friendly. The modern consumer is exposed to high quality and high functioning websites daily, meaning their tolerance for clunky, hard-to-use sites has reduced significantly.
A lot of web browsing is now done on mobile devices, so don’t ignore them.
Ensure that the site is easy to navigate and offers relevant information and functions. Get to the point and be direct when solving customer problems.
Photo by Format from Pexels.
4. Quality content
Optimizing your website is all about solving customer needs. Inbound marketing strategies grow your customer base by providing high quality, valuable content.
Perform keyword research to discover what your target market is searching for. Your content strategy should be aimed at engaging these customers and attracting them to your website.
Excellent copywriting is essential in delivering quality and engaging content. It might be worth your while hiring an experienced copywriter to ensure that your content hits the mark.
Don’t overlook the importance of high calibre content.
5. Drive traffic
An amazing website is only useful if it used. One of the main goals of your marketing activities should be to drive traffic to your site. The more visitors that you get, the better chance you have of converting them to customers.
There are many effective ways of doing this, such as social media marketing, paid advertisements, website blogs, e-mail marketing, and SEO oriented website copy.
6. Compelling call-to-action (CTA)
Driving traffic to your website is essential, but it’s only part of the process. Once customers are visiting your site, it’s your job to convert them. There’s no point developing quality blog content that pulls in thousands of visitors to your site if there isn’t a relevant call-to-action function on the landing page.
Don’t overcrowd the page with “BUY NOW” or “SIGN-UP” buttons. Be strategic and install effective call-to-action options.
7. Analyze
Analyzing the performance and data of your website and its operations is the key to improving and growing in this area. Use tools such as Google Analytics to gain insights into your website and its users.
Click testing is another useful way of measuring performance. It provides data that shows how users interact with each page of your website. This can demonstrate what aspects of the design are working well while identifying problems or areas for improvement.
Analysis should be performed regularly.
Photo by Lukas from Pexels.
8. Upgrade and update
Once your analysis is performed, it’s vital to act on it. All decisions to do with your site should be based on analysis and data. Make the necessary changes that the analytics are pointing to, giving your webpage a useful update and upgrade.
9. Create an optimal customer journey
The ultimate goal of most websites is to make a sale. If that’s the case, how easy is the customer’s journey to get there? How many pages do they have to go through until their sale confirmation is received?
That path from the homepage to the checkout, and from the checkout to the sale confirmation, should be a straightforward one. Eliminate unnecessary steps and create an optimal customer journey.
10. Security
You might think that because your business is relatively small that cybercriminals won’t target it. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The fact that you are a small business could be the reason you’re targeted. Many small business owners don’t realize this until it’s too late.
There are simple but effective measures to put in place to keep your website safe:
Get traffic
If you would like to make a website for your business, I would highly recommend SEO for Bloggers, a guide which covers everything you need to know to get a high level of traffic from search engines for your website. Additionally, Pinterest is also an amazing way to drive customers to your product or service, this guide tells you everything you need to know to send thousands of potential customers to your business.
Do you buy supplies for your business? Get a free Amazon business account and save money on bulk buying.
A company website is not only a direct communicator of the vision and values of the business, but it is also a research and customer service tool.
More traffic to your site generally translates to better business, and it also provides you with valuable data about your customers and their behaviour.
Here are ten essential steps to optimizing a website for any small business.
1. Set goals and targets
Your small business has a mission and vision. There is a reason that it exists, and it has value to customers. This should be demonstrated through your website.
As well as the overall vision, you should establish measurable targets for your website. Create your digital strategy around these targets, and monitor them closely. Outline KPI’s and work toward reaching your goals.
2. Clean visuals
Your website’s visual appearance is crucial. As the virtual storefront of the business, it must be attractive. This doesn’t mean it needs to contain loads of information and novelty quirks.
A common mistake that’s made by many businesses is that they overly complicate their website. It becomes cluttered and chaotic, with too many images, links, and windows.
A simple, clean and practical design can give off a more appealing effect to users. It is accessible and can be scanned easily. Other benefits of a simple design include loading speed, conversion rates, host pricing, and suitability to Google’s search algorithms.
Don’t let your website suffer because of poor visual design.
3. User-friendly
Websites today must be user friendly. The modern consumer is exposed to high quality and high functioning websites daily, meaning their tolerance for clunky, hard-to-use sites has reduced significantly.
A lot of web browsing is now done on mobile devices, so don’t ignore them.
Ensure that the site is easy to navigate and offers relevant information and functions. Get to the point and be direct when solving customer problems.
Photo by Format from Pexels.
4. Quality content
Optimizing your website is all about solving customer needs. Inbound marketing strategies grow your customer base by providing high quality, valuable content.
Perform keyword research to discover what your target market is searching for. Your content strategy should be aimed at engaging these customers and attracting them to your website.
Excellent copywriting is essential in delivering quality and engaging content. It might be worth your while hiring an experienced copywriter to ensure that your content hits the mark.
Don’t overlook the importance of high calibre content.
5. Drive traffic
An amazing website is only useful if it used. One of the main goals of your marketing activities should be to drive traffic to your site. The more visitors that you get, the better chance you have of converting them to customers.
There are many effective ways of doing this, such as social media marketing, paid advertisements, website blogs, e-mail marketing, and SEO oriented website copy.
6. Compelling call-to-action (CTA)
Driving traffic to your website is essential, but it’s only part of the process. Once customers are visiting your site, it’s your job to convert them. There’s no point developing quality blog content that pulls in thousands of visitors to your site if there isn’t a relevant call-to-action function on the landing page.
Don’t overcrowd the page with “BUY NOW” or “SIGN-UP” buttons. Be strategic and install effective call-to-action options.
7. Analyze
Analyzing the performance and data of your website and its operations is the key to improving and growing in this area. Use tools such as Google Analytics to gain insights into your website and its users.
Click testing is another useful way of measuring performance. It provides data that shows how users interact with each page of your website. This can demonstrate what aspects of the design are working well while identifying problems or areas for improvement.
Analysis should be performed regularly.
Photo by Lukas from Pexels.
8. Upgrade and update
Once your analysis is performed, it’s vital to act on it. All decisions to do with your site should be based on analysis and data. Make the necessary changes that the analytics are pointing to, giving your webpage a useful update and upgrade.
9. Create an optimal customer journey
The ultimate goal of most websites is to make a sale. If that’s the case, how easy is the customer’s journey to get there? How many pages do they have to go through until their sale confirmation is received?
That path from the homepage to the checkout, and from the checkout to the sale confirmation, should be a straightforward one. Eliminate unnecessary steps and create an optimal customer journey.
10. Security
You might think that because your business is relatively small that cybercriminals won’t target it. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The fact that you are a small business could be the reason you’re targeted. Many small business owners don’t realize this until it’s too late.
There are simple but effective measures to put in place to keep your website safe:
- Install anti-malware protection.
- Install cyber theft preventative software.
- Practice safe log-in and password procedures.
- Use a protective firewall.
- Back up your data.
Get traffic
If you would like to make a website for your business, I would highly recommend SEO for Bloggers, a guide which covers everything you need to know to get a high level of traffic from search engines for your website. Additionally, Pinterest is also an amazing way to drive customers to your product or service, this guide tells you everything you need to know to send thousands of potential customers to your business.
Do you buy supplies for your business? Get a free Amazon business account and save money on bulk buying.
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