How to Build a Website to Grow Your Business

Why should your awesome business have an impressive website?

Imagine Donald owns OrangeBeans, a coffee shop and bakery. He has put in a lot of effort in designing her coffee shop for a comfortable experience and to entice the visitors to stick around for longer.

Donald, being a small business owner, believes that his website’s content and design don’t really matter. Since his business is a small brick and mortar shop, he is easily lead in believing that well designed websites can only be owned and afforded by big franchises and chains. Is he right?

How can a website help me reach more customer and achieve my goals?

Believe it or not, your website is an extension of your business. The physical location of your business is just as important as the attractiveness of your business website. You would want your website to showcase your products or services, have a prime location on the internet and convert website visitors into customers. What type of a website should Donald go for?

How can I create an inspirational website?

Just like the traffic footfall depends on your physical location, finding a prime spot on the internet is also helpful in luring the browsers to your website. Hence, the first step in creating an attractive website is to find a good domain name. Domain name is also known as your web address.

Services like GoDaddy and NameCheap can be used to look for and register domain names for your business. While you are at it, do not forget to turn on automatic renewals to avoid losing domains by mistake.

The best strategy to get a good domain name is to include a keyword in the domain name. OrangeBeans is a clever business name but visitors might not be able to find it if they search for ‘coffee’ or ‘bakery’. Adding these keywords can help people find Donald’s business without an effort.

While .xyz and .blog TLDs (Top Level Domains) are gaining traction, but .com TLD is still the safest and most successful. Not only do the search engines prioritize .com domains, but also the audience feel safer visiting .com sites. Hence, step one should always be to search .com extension for availability.

Email addresses play an important part in business communication. Set up custom email addresses for your domain, like donald@orangebeans.com. Not only does this help increase brand awareness, but also makes your business look professional. Get custom emails on G Suite by Google, Zoho Mails or Rackspace Mails.

What should be the Nuts and Bolts of my Website?

The website design and content should be such that it satisfies the needs of your audience while reaching your goals like driving sales, converting leads and increasing awareness. Contact page or website footers play important part in raising awareness. Start off with adding business name, physical location and other contact details like phone number. Clearly mention a reachable phone number and/or email address and encourage customers to contact you if they may have any queries.

Another important page or section is about the company or business. This page explains what the business does, its mission and any unique offerings. Usually you don’t try to sell on this page, it’s more of an informational section. Don’t forget to link your social media accounts from this page, add legit customer reviews and staff bios to increase visitors’ confidence in your business.

Show off any unique offerings that your business is proud of and wants to share with the visitors. For example, Donald brews coffee beans with a hand brewer instead of the commonly used electrical coffee brewers. This give unique taste and blend to the coffee, hence adding the pictures and maybe illustrating the process of brewing the beans by hand will be an attraction for visitors.

Website’s content should be descriptive and relevant as search engines pull words from your web pages in order to analyze what your website is about. Hence it’s essential that only original content is crafted, else the search engines might not like to rank your website among the top search pages.

How can I Convert More Leads into Customers?

Some services or products that are a little complex or not really run of the mill, usually have a separate FAQs section (Frequently Asked Questions). This section bridges any understanding gaps that your visitors might have. Customers are able to learn more about your business without even getting in touch with your staff. They get more reasons to judge whether the product or service is for them or not.

Aesthetics of the website play a vital role in converting leads into paying customers. Make sure the font type, font sizes, color palettes and other aspects of the website are in sync with your brand logo or persona. Consistency is also key here, so make sure all the page follow a similar theme. Finally, it’s also your job to ensure website is tested, seems presentable and professional.