Building an optimal business website is a complex task because it requires you to be proficient (or at least proficient) in the basic principles of web design and marketing. Undoubtedly, its primary goal is to send a message, but the nature of this message varies depending on factors such as industry, product, audience, and how they first reached you. This may seem daunting on the surface, but with the tips that we present here, things become easier to understand.
Invest In Responsiveness
One of the unwritten rules on the Internet is that you have about 5 seconds to attract the attention of visitors, but even this number is worth talking about. Most visitors expect your site to load within the first 2 seconds; otherwise, even those who decide to stay will inevitably bring a negative first impression. After 4 seconds of inactivity, approximately 25% of your visitors will be ready to leave. This is why your first investment needs to be responsive.
Safety
The next thing you need to know is that hacking doesn’t just happen to large companies and well-known brands. Of course, a successful attack on one of the targets will bring greater rewards, but for small businesses without network security, there is no risk. In other words, this risk-reward ratio immediately makes you an excellent target. Moreover, data loss can sometimes be more severe than client or resource loss. For this reason alone, you may also need to consider installing appropriate backup software.
Proper Style
The next thing to consider is the style of the home page. We don’t even talk about the right things anymore, but about what works. When people click on your website for the first time, they usually expect something they want to see. Of course, finding a way to improve the quality of the game is always a good thing, but you still need to follow some rules. Therefore, it is best to visit a considerable number of competitors’ sites before you start planning your optimal business website design and seeing what works.
Traffic Source
Regardless of whether your demographics are homogeneous, you can still risk relying on a single source of traffic. In 2020, managing your presence across multiple platforms is easier than ever, so why not spend some effort? At the very least, you should conduct social media marketing, email marketing, and improve your presence on Google through extensive SEO campaigns. In addition to this, diversifying the format of content by turning to podcasts and videos can also be very useful.
Invest in SEO
We already hinted at this in the previous section, but this is a topic worth revisiting. When it comes to your site’s ranking, it is influenced by off-site factors, which is why you should invest the same time in on-site and off-site optimization. The quality of your content, meta descriptions, and improving the site map are just some of the things you should do around your website’s structure. On the other hand, you should never ignore the efficiency of carefully planned link building activities.
Data-driven Design
Another thing worth mentioning when designing your website is that we now know more about ordinary website visitors’ pattern behavior. For example, we know that the left side of the screen receives more attention than the right side, which is just one of the rules that can benefit you. In addition to this, an extensive A/B test-based survey concluded that the CTR (click-to-click rate) of the red CTA (call-to-action) button has increased by 21% compared to the green CTA.
Clear Message
Now, it’s time to be subtle! Your website must have a plan, and because of that, your visitors will pay close attention to every CTA. The site needs to show them products and services as soon as they enter the page. Although some people may think this method is too difficult, the fact is that this simple method can help you build trust from the beginning.
Set The Correct Index
Finally, to know whether your website is successful, you need to select indicators based on the evaluation you want to conduct. In some cases, traffic dominates, while others worry more about conversion rates, and then some people only care about sales. “What is suitable for your website” is a question that only you can answer.
Conclusion
With these tips, you will become unstoppable. However, the best part of adopting these “rules” is that they can provide you with relevant knowledge that can be used no matter what industry you are in. Even if your current business efforts are not successful, you can still obtain actionable information and skills to build your optimal business website.
If you are ready to improve your website but do not have an in-house team to do it, Optimal Websites has a great group of experienced developers that know how to tailor optimization for your unique needs. Contact us or browse our website for more information.