Guidelines for Building a Small Business Website
The internet has become one of the most powerful tools in our everyday existence. I'm pretty sure that at this point, EVERY business out there has a website, even if it's just for publicity or to show their company mission statement.
Do You Have a Website for Your Small Business?
If you don't, why not? There are plenty of reasons people might think having a website is unnecessary. For instance, some people think that they're too small to bother with the hassle of setting a website. Some people may not have the expertise to design a site, or they may think that it costs too much.
Since so many people are using the internet to find information, small businesses that don't have a website will probably be quickly forgotten or overlooked when it comes time to search. People are more likely to conduct business with someone when they can easily find their site on Google. This is why your company needs to have a professional website.
Get Started Building Your Small Business Website
Getting started can seem intimidating for those who have never had their own website before. In this article I will give you a guide for building your first business website, or updating your current one.
Have a Clear Goal for Your Website
Every small business website is different. Depending on your type of business, you have different needs from a website. For instance, if you run a store that has physical locations in addition to online sales, then you may need to list all of your locations and find ways for people to navigate between them.
If you want your website to be a place for people to buy your products or services, you should build it around that goal. It's important to have a purpose when you're creating a website. If it doesn't serve a specific purpose, then you'll end up wasting time and money on something that won't help your customers or your business.
Write High Quality and Engaging Content for Your Website
Your website needs to have high-quality content that's relevant and helpful for your customers. If you just slap up some low-quality page with a few photographs, then it won't really help anyone. Your site should be informative, educational and entertaining or a combination of those three.
Be Clear and to the Point
You, visitors, don’t want to spend a lot of time reading fluff just to find basic information. Ensure the important information about your business and its offerings are very clear and easy for visitors to know and understand.
State Your Customers Problems and Your Solution
Focus on the benefits you can offer to the customer. Answer their questions. You must understand what your customers need and want, so you can offer them the best possible solution to their problem.
Give examples or case studies of how you have helped other customers with a similar problem in the past.
Utilize Calls to Action
Make sure your call to action is clear and concise. If it's too complicated, people may just leave without giving you the result you want. What do you want them to do? Maybe sign up for your newsletter or call you. Whatever you want them to do, tell them so. Also, make sure that you're not bombarding them with too many calls to action since that can be irritating and confusing.
Develop a Page Hierarchy For Your Small Business Website
You can have as many pages on your website that you want, but the format should be consistent. A home page with about and contact information is a good place to start. Also, there should be a specific page for each service or product you offer.
Choose Reliable Website Hosting
There are many hosting companies available. Your hosting plan should be scalable, customizable for growth. Make sure you pick a hosting company with reliable and fast hosting speeds. Customer service is also very important especially if you will doing the website yourself.
If you plan or hope to grow your business quickly, think carefully before choosing a low-cost platform aimed at a very small website. Platforms like Wix and Squarespace can work great for businesses that plan to stay relatively small and use just a few features. But if you ever outgrow them, transferring all of your site content to a new host can be a pain.
Many small businesses use SiteGround. They are affordable and offer exceptional customer service, they have fantastic uptime and speed with a focus on website security. SiteGround is recognized as a top hosting provider and they are officially recommended by both WordPress and WooCommerce.
Select a Website Host Your Small Business Can Grow With
With SIteground your business can grow without moving to a new hosting provider. Like I have already said moving your website to a new hosting provider can be time-consuming and stressful. If possible stick with your current provider, Siteground makes this easy.
SiteGround has many hosting plans to choose from. You can begin with their very affordable StartUp shared hosting plan and grow from there.
The next plan is GrowBig, perfect for those who have a larger website and need the additional resources to keep it running at optimal speed.
They also offer GoGeek hosting plans, their highest performance plan designed for serious high-traffic websites that require more memory, disk space and bandwidth.
Picking the right hosting company is an investment in your business that will ensure it’s always running smoothly and reliably without interruption or downtime. Siteground makes that easy to do!
SiteGround also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you cancel within 30 days of joining, you get a 100% refund. That is hard to beat.
Select Your WordPress Theme
Once you have selected your hosting you will need to think about the design of your website. If you are doing it yourself there are many WordPress themes to select from. There are free ones and paid options.
The designs are pretty limited in the free versions but they can look great when you know how to use them. I suggest investing in a good premium theme. One of the most popular theme providers is Envato Themes. I would start there.
Keep Your Website Design Simple
Whether you’re working with a designer or just choosing a template, stick with a few colors and don’t add too many different fonts or type sizes. These design decisions can make the difference between a professional look and an amateurish one.
Tell Your Personal Story
A great way to make people feel more connected to your business is by telling your story. Why did you decide to start this business? How was it founded? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them? Customers like knowing about the people who are behind the products they buy.
Telling your story is an opportunity to humanize your business. It helps customers feel connected, and connect customers are loyal customers. Consider using a video to help your potential customers get to know you better and make it more personal.
Make it Easy to Contact You
Every business website should include contact information. This should include name, address, phone, and email address. The use of a contact form is encouraged. It makes it easy for your customers to get in touch with you directly and allows you to capture their contact information for future use.
Add Relevant Images
Great images can go a long way for adding interest to your website. Always use relevant images that help make your point or highlight your products or services.
For example, if you are selling different materials for home improvement projects include some photos of the items you are selling. Include images that show people using your product/service in their day-to-day lives, if it is a service like landscaping use images of beautiful yards and gardens to help sell your services. You should also include team photos if possible.
Include Customer Testimonials on Your Website
Customer testimonials can be another great element of a lot of business sites. If your business is brand new, work on getting some quality testimonials first, rather than just publishing bland, generic recommendations.
Add Video When Possible
You should consider adding video content to your website. It’s engaging, informative, and can help you get your story across. Video content is being used more on business websites all the time so get ahead of the game by starting to use it now!
Ensure Your Website is Mobile Friendly
A responsive or mobile-friendly is key to making your website appealing to today’s users. Sites that aren’t mobile-friendly are losing business. Customers are using their phones and tablets more often than ever before when they are looking for products or services online.
Use Good SEO Techniques
You should use SEO best practices throughout your website. If you are building your own website then you should spend some time and learn SEO basics. If you use a web designer they should be able to help with the basics. If you go with a WordPress website, there is a great plugin called Yoast that will help you optimize your website.
The process of having a website is far from over once it’s live. You've made great progress in getting your business out there and seen, but you'll have to continue adding or changing as times goes on for things like SEO and mobile designs.
Remember your customer needs should always come first when it comes to your business website.
If this information was helpful check my article on: 5 Ways to Get More Reviews from Customers
In Conclusion
Your business should have a website that presents you as a legitimate and trustworthy business.
Your site should give your customers an idea of what kind of company you are, the services or products you offer and why they should choose your company over others in your industry.
If you have any questions about how I can assist you with these activities, please do not hesitate to contact me.
