Many small business owners and entrepreneurs design and spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on their website a year, yet the website is not effective. It is not enough to have a nice looking website. It is not enough to have a functional website. Your website needs to work for you!
Your domain name matters!
Keep it simple, sensible and not too long! If you domain name is to long who will remember it?
Make sure your website corresponds with your brand
We are constantly hearing things now concerning our brand and how to brand and tips on branding well one sure way is to ensure that whatever color you brand is, and that your logo is on the website. To properly brand your business, it’s not wise to have one look on your business card and another look on the website. When your visitors visit your website, how will they recognize and realize that it is the same company.
Is your website mobile friendly?
Okay, you may have heard the hype about having a responsive website that’s simply short for having a site that can be accessed from mobile devices. Consumers now spend over 2 hours a day on their mobile devices. So they are surfing via their cell phone, iPods, iPads, tablets, and other mobile devices. This means if your website is not accessible from mobile devices, you stand a good chance of not reaching your audience.
Every website needs to have the proper page titles
What are the page titles for? Well, at the top of the browser on the tab that is active your website visitor is seeing something. Now if you or your web designer has not taken the time to ensure that it is accurate, it’s possible that Google may review your website and discover that you have 5 untitled pages. This WILL affect your Google page rank, which will ultimately affect where the search results your page will end up.
Include Social Media Icons & Links
This one is an easy one, you want to make sure that your website visitors have the ability to locate, connect and contact you in as many ways as possible. Social Media has provided a huge outlet for businesses to connect with their customers and it is FREE! On a side note, if you have the icons on your website, make sure that it is a network that you are active on and that the link actually links to your social media page.
What are your website keywords?
Take the time to see what your keywords should be for your website. This goes into the SEO field; however, it is a basic function that every website should have and is needed to ensure that your website work for you. Again back to the Google Page Rank, these keywords that you do or do not include into your website will affect your Google Page Rank.
Content is KING! Feed the Beast!
Content is vital to the success of your website working for you. We talk more about it in another article, and provide you with at least 5 ways to Keep Your Website Content Fresh take a look at it here! Remember you only have about 5 seconds to get & keep their attention or their off to the next thing. One of the ways to get and keep their attention is to make sure you’re speaking their language. Make sure that you make it obvious why you’ve invited them to your website. Make sure that you include a call to action. What does that mean? What do you want them to do? Read, Click, Buy or what, don’t make them think hard or have to read 3 paragraphs to figure out how to buy your products or service.
Do you have a Lead Generation System?
Now that you have gone through the trouble of having a website, maximize it! Include email newsletter signups options on your website so that you can sign up for your newsletter, WOW! You’ve just created a lead.
Measure your results!
The best way to know if your website is working for is to check your website stats. Many use Google Analytics and Bing Webmaster Analytics. These are both powerful tools for measuring your website. These tools can show you, what web page visitors visit the longest on, what page does visitors visit the most, What page visitors visit the least & how long visitors stay on your website.
