WHAT MAKES A GOOD WEBSITE: 4 WAYS TO MAXIMIZE YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE
This year, the Internet is now 30 years old from its inception. The web now means everything to everyone. For anyone with a question in mind, there’s always Google, and for anyone wanting to blurt out their thoughts, there is social media. My, oh my! Look how far we’ve come. Take this one stage further, and with connected homes “hey Siri” “okay Google” “Alexa” are just a conversation starter away from the web and all our needs and wants.
Whatever we need at that moment- a ride to the shops, a video chat across continents, a scheduled doctor’s appointment, a food shop, a school address, cinema tickets, money transfers – the Internet has all that information and so much more. It’s ubiquitous, and as far as we can see into the future, it’s not even close to becoming obsolete. In fact, the web only gets more efficient and better at reinventing itself. At the top surface level, you’ve got the tech giants and popular sites that get millions-per-second page visits, and beneath all that is the clutter, the good and the bad kind all mixed up, and all the websites in the world wanting to rank high towards the surface.
Now if you still don’t have an online presence of any kind on the Internet – Maybe just maybe, you are not old enough to have one, or just too old to care. But if you are a business owner, not having one is 100% detrimental to your business. It means the death of sales and profits. Even funeral homes and cemeteries have websites, and they make a killing out of it.
So if you do have a website – is it any good? The goal here is to make the web a strong driving force that boosts your sales. Most companies to date have websites as a form of an online brochure. This is usually a number of pages that have your company’s basic info are static and probably not updated for the past twelve months. A website is good to have, but you can do better, and you should do your best for your company’s sake.
So just what makes a good website in today’s tech savvy world?
Good Web Hosting
First up, any website needs a reliable hosting service, and this is your website’s parking space on the Internet. You want enough space to handle traffic and visitors while the hosting service has a good track record when it comes to customer support and low-to-zero downtimes. A secure Professional Web Hosting service usually offers domain registration, website hosting, and a business email address for a monthly and yearly plan. So maximize your digital presence by getting the right kind of hosting provider, well you can start here for hosting plan bundles
Make your Web Pages Shine
A stand-out business website should be able to provide straightforward information that explains your business and what products and services you provide to customers.
Your site architecture and design should be well planned out, and there should be a clear navigation UX that leads to a contact form, a pricing page, a product catalog, FAQ page, and social media links. Your business phone number, real-world location, and email address / contact form should be visible on every web page as well. This will help potential clients reach out to you for inquiries.
Start your SEO Efforts Early
By early, we mean at the start. If you’ve already missed that, then start now. Time is your best friend when it comes to search engine optimisation, because the search engine index bots may come any time for another visit, just to crawl around your pages and see what’s new? And that’s one online backend event you want to be ready for.
Always go for SEO best practices – that’s White Hat SEO tactics, people! Don’t even think about switching to the dark side. Black hat SEO is one SEO strategy you’ll come to regret in time, as search engines may penalise your site and send it to the depths of forgotten page results, never to be heard from or seen again. Yes, your website will never see the page 1 results spot, if you break search engine rules. So focus your energies on doing the positives, go for relevancy when it comes to content and good Technical SEO as a baseline.
Some basic SEO efforts to keep in mind: keywords rule.
So know what keywords to aim for. These keywords should reflect your core business, and they should be found in your content. You should have good relevant high-authority external links and helpful internal links as well.
Build a Blog, Build an Audience
Be a giver, learn to share tips and talk about your trade extensively by having a blog embedded in your website. This gives you a fighting chance to keep your online presence fresh and updated. By coming up with relevant and trendy content that’s useful to your customers, your site’s visibility will surely increase. In fact, you can build a loyal following this way, people may not always be ordering products from your website, but may keep you top-of-mind because they just love reading your blog or gathering information to be in a position to make an informed decision. Those who read your content may never buy from you but they may tell others about your business, company, service or product and are advocates for what you do, despite you never actually knowing them. Eventually however, these blog posts will translate into sales as their informative value will reach users from untapped markets.
Blogging or if you prefer the more traditional ‘article writing’, lets users know what you’re up to, what you plan to launch in the next three months, and how you intend to address specific issues, whether controversial or practical. It’s an excellent way to let your target audience know you care and for them to see behind the scenes into what your company is about. Remember – there are many companies out there doing what you do, your content could tip the balance in your favour!
Every business needs a website, but building a good effective website requires a ton of work - that much we've shared.
Google's algorithm is always changing and evolving, so always be on the lookout for its new set of rules, update your website regularly, and maximise its potential to expand your online presence.
If you ever want the team at 1768degrees.com to assist, we would be delighted to help. We are here to help your business grow.
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Whilst you may expect us to be biased, its with good reason. The cost can be attractive, but it will slow your businesses online growth. We are more than happy to meet and discuss the different options and help determine the best solution for you.
Probably! We can typically build any design, we recommend you collate all your likes and dislikes and then we can go from there to ensure you are 100% happy with your site. We also offer fixed price quotes to ensure you are always happy with the end outcome.