Your website is one of the most important parts of your business. Not only is it how many of your future clients find you for the very first time, it is also one of the biggest deciding influencers in your potential clients deciding to reach out to you, or to not. Your website can be one of the most powerful business sales tools you have, or it can hinder you.

A good website can create trust with your clients. It can grab attention, make you stand out, increase your credibility, enhance your professionalism, and ultimately grow your business. A well-designed website can allow small business owners in this ever digitalised world to both connect to, and engage with potential new customers, while also being a powerful marketing platform for your brand.

So, how can we ensure that your website is working for you, and not against you? Read on for our top 7 tips on how to create a phenomenal marketing platform that promotes your products or services, and drives your business’s growth.

1. A Clear Purpose

You know what your business does, and therefore what your website is for- but how clear is it to someone who’s just landed on your page? Are your services/products clear? Your business’s values? At its most simple: what do you do?

When a prospective client lands on your website for the first time ever, two things should be abundantly clear: what you do, and what you would want the visitor to do, ie- buy a product or book a service.

Some companies like to have both of these elements together on the home page, and other businesses opt to include a dedicated 1-2 pages to this. These pages could be titled “About Us” and/or “Our Services”, but you can create an even more imaginative, and attention- grabbing heading. Just don’t get too imaginative and out there, or your prospective clients will get frustrated.

2. Strong Brand Identity

Strong, consistent branding on your website will sell your business, if done right. Think of how you want to portray your business, how the branding should look. Think about the color scheme, font, what kind of graphics and/or photos, or do you not want graphics and photos? How much of your website is content, and how much empty space will there be? What is your brand’s tone? What is your message?

All of these considerations will help you to create a brand and a business identity that can be one of your most powerful marketing tools. A confusing, or conflicting brand and business identity will turn prospective visitors away from your website, and away from you.

3. Keep your Navigation Simple

It’s incredibly important to make it as simple and as easy as possible for prospective customers to find what they need on your website. The navigation on your website should be both simple and intuitive.

Consider how your website flows. Where are the pages linking? Is it intuitive? Does it make sense? How easy is it for your prospective clients to find your products/services? If it’s not easy, if it doesn’t flow- time for an upgrade!

4. High Quality Content

The saying “content is king” is somewhat cliche, but as with most cliches- that’s because it’s true. The higher the quality of your content, the better your website will do in search engine results, and the higher the chances of you landing new clients. Every single page of your website should have exceptionally well-written, SEO keyword-rich content. Go through every single one of your pages and look at it through the eyes of a potential customer- would your content match what they’d type into a search engine? If it does, then well done- now move on to the next page to check that too. If not, you’re missing out on important leads!

5. Contact information

You’d think we didn’t have to say this one, but we do. So many small business websites work against them as they do not have the correct, or up to date contact information- or the information is just too hard to find. Make sure that your business’s address, phone number and email are listed in your website footer, and make sure that the footer is on every single page of your website. In addition, you could also create a “Contact Us” page to make it even easier for your current and prospective clients to get in touch with you.

6. A blog

Let’s give you the most practicable possible example: how did you land up on this page? How are you here, reading Upstart Web’s content? Through our blog!

A Blog is an incredibly valuable marketing tool. This is due to SEO (search engine optimisation) and also because search engines favor sites with a large amount of high-quality content that is regularly updated. Create relatable, engaging, and informative blogs that attract readers and drive up your business’s place in search engine results.

7. Mobile-Friendly Design

The rates of websites being accessed through mobile devices in lieu of through computers are skyrocketing. Due in large part to mobile phone-based social media platforms such as Instagram and Platform, navigating websites through your phone is extremely common. However, what some small businesses don’t realise is that a website designed for a computer-based prospective client will not work for a prospective client trying to view your business from their mobile phone.

A good website needs to provide an absolutely seamless experience, allowing your users to view your content both on their laptops/desktops and from their mobile phones. To accomplish this businesses need to implement something called “adaptive” or “responsive” design.

A good website can be the difference between winning, or losing a new client. It can hinder your business, or it can be an incredibly powerful tool for promoting your brand. If you feel as though your website may be lacking in one or more of the above areas, get in touch with Mat from Upstart Web now!