How to Ensure Your Web Presence Crests the Competition
Advanced surfers know what to look for in a great wave. Large, fast, and powerful waves with a hollow a-frame and continuous break offer the best rides. Once such a wave is spotted, it’s time to hang ten!
Likewise, web surfers find themselves in a similar ocean — albeit one filled with a sea of words and images rather than one swelling with water and fish. Most likely, they will find an abundance of sites to wade through when searching for what they want or need. If you are lucky enough for your site to appear at the top of their search, they might drop into yours quickly. But if it lacks substance and creativity, a visitor is most likely to label yours as a “mushburger” and quickly pit dive out. In terms that anyone will understand, surfer or not, your website has just wiped out. For web surfers, good websites are not “good” enough. Your website has to be totally awesome, or what real surfers call “heavy,” to grab the attention of potential or returning customers and make them brand ambassadors.
Before we reveal our tips for adding traction to your online tool, let’s take a quick plunge into the reasons why a strong web presence can be so beneficial. Let’s start with the 1-2-3’s of advertising. First, your online presence can be an effective tool in getting your message “out there,” beyond your local market, in response to an online query or question posed to the virtual Alexa. Second, access to it is simple when people know your URL. Third, it is one of the lower cost advertising tools available to you, depending on the platform selected, versus printed brochures, airtime on television or radio, billboards, and purchased digital ads on social or media platforms.
Your website has to be totally awesome, or what real surfers call “heavy,” to grab the attention of potential or returning customers and make them brand ambassadors.
When it comes to marketing and brand-building, you can quickly and easily introduce new products or services and strengthen your identity with reviews and testimonials. A great website can increase your team’s productivity by allowing team members to direct customers to it for product or service details and how-to tutorials, as well as to quickly respond to customer concerns through online forms or chat sessions — freeing up time for other tasks. Not to mention, a well-functioning website has the potential to reduce the number of employees needed to handle certain types of tasks which will add additional cost savings to your bottom line.
Have these website benefits gotten you amped up enough to program your site to greatness? If so, hop on board and catch a wave to greatness.
1. Pick your platform.
There are numerous building platforms out there, known as content management systems (CMS). CMS are software that allow you to create a website’s content and then manage it. For complete control of customization, you will need to enlist an experienced firm or individual with both web design skills and programming knowledge of languages like Java, C# (C Sharp), PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), or Python. If ease and low cost are driving your decisions and you like technology, consider WordPress or Joomla if you want something more unique, Squarespace for its features and add-ons, or Wix or Weebly if you are a new to design and want to give things a whirl. Depending on your selection and whether your CMS choice offers web hosting services (meaning the technology needed to view the site on the internet), you may have to find a hosting provider.
2. Claim your domain.
Your domain name is what shows up after the “www.” In your online search. Some CMS platforms proffer domain names free as part of your service agreement. Accredited domain registrars like GoDaddy, Domain.com, Hover and Network Solutions provide additional registration-related services like bulk domain packages, other domain extensions, and name generators. Whatever you pick, make sure it incorporates your company’s name or keyword and is memorable.
3. Map it out.
When designing your website, pick what features and pages you want to include. Your navigation should clearly guide your visitors to take desired actions. Keep navigation bars at the top of your website free of too many options or long menu names so your customers can easily find where they want to go whether they are specifically searching for something or just browsing . When it comes to the menu bar, remember this: Less is more. Use hovering sub-menus to display paths to similar groups of information and bold links or buttons to encourage visits to other pages.
4. Lay out the welcome mat.
Your home page is your virtual front door; make it welcoming. Confirm your home page prominently highlights your company logo, company name, company information, image, headline, and attention-grabbing company introduction. Lay out a call to action encouraging visitors to immediately set up an appointment with you or start shopping. At the very least, your other pages should educate customers on your products and services, tell them about your company, and give them an easy way to contact you. Be obvious, succinct, and catchy; your website is not your company manual nor the place to tell them everything you know.
5. Design with your brand in mind.
For starters, if your company logo is blue and you really like purple, don’t weave purple into a place of prominence throughout your website. Your color palette should harmonize with your brand. Likewise, keep your font in the family by selecting one that is the same, similar, or in balance to your logo or company font selection. Overall, your design should reflect your brand’s intended audience. Fun and whimsical elements do not necessarily complement a medical practice focusing on internal medicine, while pages bereft of human images do not compel someone to use your product or service.
6. Picture this!
Pictures should be clean and crisp and represent what you are marketing and who you are marketing to on your site. While you may take an awesome selfie (in your opinion), your picture taking abilities may not be on par with the quality needed online. Hire a professional photographer to capture your product or services in action if possible. If you do decide to use team members as your models, consider how you will feel about using those photos if their employment status changes over time. And like your color choices, your photos should work together to tell your story. The careful placement of a color or an element like wood or greenery in your final selections can synchronize your site.
7. Make it unique.
Instead of using gadgets and gizmos of all types throughout your website, pick something cool and have it stand out on your homepage or consistently throughout. For example, if you like rounded buttons, then all of your buttons should be rounded. If you like to connect with your customers on video, design a specific layout for your video content that is similar on each page. Whatever you chose, ensure it is functional, does not “break” easily or stop working when a plug-in expires, or does not slow down your pages from quickly loading.
8. Be spellbinding.
Tell your company story to your audience in a way that makes sense. Use words they will understand and avoid acronyms and workplace or industry jargon. Include specifics about your product or service appropriately based on your intended customer. Err on the side of being informative rather than promotional. Your blog or video library can be a good place to showcase your expertise and tell your customers what you can do for them in a professional manner without pressure. Strong headlines and compelling descriptions throughout will show you have the right stuff and are a brand your customer would be proud to buy and associate with. If you are not adept at prose, hire a copywriter. The investment will be worth it.
9. Sell. Sell. Sell.
If you never ask your customers to buy or connect, they won’t. Encourage your visitors to load up their cart, read or share content, follow you on social media, download freebies, join your mailing list, or learn more about you on each page. It can be the same ask, or different one. But. Just. Ask.
10. Size it all up.
Pull out your laptop and try out your website on multiple browsers: Surf it on Safari, Google it on Google, fire it up on Firefox, browse it on Bing, and investigate its appearance in Internet Explorer. Then, do the same on your laptop and phone. Some CMS tools will even let you do it from the design platform itself. Click on all the menus and buttons, check out the appearance of your images, and proofread for errors.
11. Optimize your new ride.
Search engine optimization, otherwise known as SEO, is the continual process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for the types of products or services you offer. The higher up you appear in search results means the more people will see you. Search engines constantly collect information from pages on the web to collect information and index it. You can help their bots do their job by placing keywords throughout your site and links that real people would search for, use appropriate headlines and meta tags on each page, add sharing links throughout, and clean up your code.
Creating a website means you are ready to take the plunge by adding credibility to your business with an online presence. You will soon have a powerful tool that will contribute to your company’s reputation, build your customer base, position you as an expert in your field, and enjoy sales. Cowabunga!
Are you ready to get cranking on your website but are unsure of your creative or technical abilities? The Bulb team can help! Contact us today to put yours in motion.
