Digital presence and business websites have become vital in success of most businesses today. If you operate a business, you need to have strong presence online. Your business website is a great platform to help your business grow, provided you utilize it optimally.
Most businesses have a website. Unfortunately, a lot of business websites are no more than online signboards or visiting cards. These websites are unable to perform and support the business growth.
Stop ignoring your website!
Creative and smart thinking can turn your website into the most important tool for your business. It can help you acquire new business, impress prospective clients, create a streamlined communication with your customers and a whole lot of other business objectives.
Here are a few ways to revamp your website into a business asset.
1) Professional Design to Match Modern Taste
Do you wear outdated clothes? Like clothes, web design changes constantly. Due to rapid changes, your website can turn obsolete within a year. You need to invest in keeping your website updated with expectations of your visitors. When people are used to simple and clutter-free elegant design, you cannot let your website continue with flashy text. Your business website also needs to perform on a wide range of devices, including smartphones.
Though design is superficial, it does play an important role in creating an impression on your customers. It also influences your customers, and can make or break a prospective sale.
Your website should stay updated with latest design trends, use the fonts that people are accustomed to and impress your prospective customers.
You also need to consider your business model: B2C (business to consumers) or B2B (business to business). Your customer expectations differ when you are dealing with general end-buyers and other businesses. B2B web design has to incorporate industry jargons and established practices. It also has to meet the general requirements of business buyers, who may need faster processing and bulk orders. In contrast, B2C web design will incorporate a look, feel and usability for someone with little or no exposure to the sector.
2) Integrate Your Website with Business Automation
Business websites generate queries, sales and other communications. You should integrate your website with other digital tools that your business has adopted.
For instance, your website queries can be integrated with your business ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system.
You can also trigger acknowledgement emails and SMS text messages to your customers when they interact with your website.
Learn from the popular e-commerce platforms on how to keep customers engaged and informed.
3) Promote Your Website – SEO, Social & More
Simply having a website isn’t going to bring much business. You need to promote it too. Start with search engine optimization. Take to social media for promoting your business website. Spend on advertising too. Drive traffic to your website with ads and social media campaigns.
In addition, you need to consider content marketing and blogging too. Most business websites tend to under-perform due to lack of fresh content that prospective customers are looking for. Check how aggressively successful companies blog.
4) Turn Your Website Into Your Business Extension
Don’t just have a plain website. Instead, turn your website into a store or customer center. Allow your customers to reach you via your website. Integrate contact forms, query forms, support queries, and allow customers to place orders for products and services.
When your website is one of the ways to conduct business with you, it will start functioning as a more active tool in bringing new business and customers.
5) Monitor Your Website Performance
Not just optimizing, it’s important that you track and monitor the performance of your business website. Keep a track of queries and sales generated through your website. Check how many customers are acquired through your website. Keep a record of how your website performs. When you conduct any improvement or engage in promotional activities such as ads and SEO, you need to record them too.
Review your website performance every month (or each week). Based on your analysis, see what is helping your website. Identify the impediments too. Keep improving your business website.