5 Tips For A Small Business Website

• By Sarah
• General News
• 1748 Views
• 15th July 2022

The setting up of a website is now a top priority even for SMEs. However, there are so many things to do when running a small business that it can be hard to know where to start. You don’t want a high maintenance site that takes up vast amounts of time to set up and run.

On the other hand, the site must be of a professional enough quality to attract and retain customers, and to stand out in a competitive market. Here are some top tips for an effective yet time-efficient website.

 

Check out the competition

Do some web searches for the keywords and phrases you think that customers will use to find your website. Identify those websites that appear near the top of the results list. For the ones that have a similar target audience for your business, analyse what makes their website successful, or what doesn’t work.

For example, is the user journey from landing to purchase clear and quick? Does the site contain relevant and up to date content that drives visitor traffic? Is the site aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate? Is it quick to load? What do users say about the site on reviews pages and social media?

Obviously, you don’t want to just copy a competitor’s site, but it’s important to analyse rival websites if you want to achieve good online visibility.

 

Get the domain name right

Ideally, the domain name should be relevant to your business, brief, and memorable. The more to the point it is, the easier your customers will find the site, and the higher it will rank in search engines such as Google.

 

Engage with your audience

Avoid having a basic brochure website which has no human face to it. Customers are now used to engaging directly with brands and businesses, through social media, review sites, and blogs. Include links to your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages if you have them, to give customers multiple channels to reach your website.

 

Use time-saving tools

Using your time well is a top priority when you are running a small business. Although it might take a little longer to set up, using some time-saving tech can pay off in spades. For example, chatbots can pick up routine customer queries, freeing up staff time to get on with more important jobs.

Other automation tools, such as RankBuddy and SEMrush, help you keep your website optimised for customer searches. They will do the heavy lifting with keyword research, monitoring site traffic, and suggesting new keywords.

 

Consider using a professional web design company

It is easy enough to build a basic low-cost website, even if you don’t have any coding knowledge. However, ask yourself if this will really pay off in the long term. An expertly built site will be secure, fast loading, easy to update, and have superb user experience design. Ultimately, it may save you hours of valuable time that can be better spent elsewhere.

 

If you are looking for white label web development, please get in touch today.