We now live in a world that expects businesses to have a website. Not just any website, a mobile responsive, query answering (and not to mention, stunning) website.
If you’ve got that already, then this article isn’t for you, and also well done! But for the rest of us that could do with simple advice on creating a great website that gets results, here are 4 general things that every business website needs:
Relevant Content
“Content is King.”
Not a new concept in the digital marketing world but applying the “content is king” rule to your website is more important than ever. Focusing on creating high quality content that is authentic and unique to the user, and to Google, will reap big rewards for your business.
Relevant content is great for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation, see this article for more information https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/what-is-seo/ Not only will Google rank you higher on its results page, but it will get your website more traffic and conversions.
When creating your website content, you must bear in mind what its purpose is. Is it to entertain? Is it to part some of your wisdom on a subject your business is the expert in? All content must have a purpose to make it worth reading and, with any luck, sharing on social media! (You’ve struck gold if your content is shared!)
Within your content, you’ll want some good pillar pages.
Pillar pages have content that is a comprehensive ‘all-inclusive’ information sourcing place. Google likes it when searchers can land on a page that answers not just one question about a topic, but they stay on a page because it answers all the possible questions the searcher might ask next.
These pages are more likely to be shared and linked on social media because they have a benefit. The more your pages are shared online, the more authority your page and website will have overall, great for SEO as mentioned already. See this article by Neil Patel on how pillar pages help with SEO https://neilpatel.com/blog/pillar-pages-explained/
At Mashuni www.mashuni.com, we recommend you start with at least 5 pillar articles when creating a website for your business. Focusing your efforts on creating quality pillar articles drives traffic to your website.
Calls to Action
Without Calls to Action, (or CTAs), your website is pretty much pointless.
Well placed CTAs convert traffic into conversions because they guide the searcher to ‘ask for a quote’, or ‘request a call back’.
Putting CTA buttons in contrasting colours will make them stand out more for your page visitors making the click through rate higher.
Be an Attractive Site
Because visitors to your site will start forming an opinion on what they think about your site within a 50 millisecond, appearance of your site needs to be spot on.
Never skimp on visual design. Undervaluing the power of a logo, a colour scheme and branding can be fatal to your business’s overall success. This goes for your website to. Hire a professional graphic designer https://www.mashuni.com/get-in-touch/ who will make your website a lead-generating-showstopper.
If you cut corners at this stage, all the time you spent writing great content may be wasted if your visitors are being turned off by the look of your site.
If you’re needing a bit more convincing, feast your eyes on this excellent article by Peep LaJa https://conversionxl.com/blog/first-impressions-matter-the-importance-of-great-visual-design/ .
Make a Powerful Home Page
Don’t underestimate the difficulty of creating a cracking home page. The home page is usually the first page a searcher will land on, and if it isn’t any good, guess what? They’ll scroll off.
To keep the person that has landed on your website on your website, there are two important questions you must answer:
1) Is it blindingly obvious what your website is about?
2) Can they trust you?
On average, you have around 3 seconds to convince your new potential customer that they should stay on your page and read a bit more. If you have a homepage that is unclear and mediocre in looks, your potential customer will click off your site and will go to one of your competitors…
…But how do you do this when everyone is different?
“By trying to connect with everyone, you connect with no one.”
I don’t know if it is quite as cut-throat as saying you won’t get anyone if you try to appeal to everyone, but you get the sentiment. One size doesn’t fit all, and all that. You know who your business’ target market is. (And if you don’t, we’d recommend reading this great article. https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/defining-your-target-market.html
Like you would in other forms of marketing, you just target the traffic you want. Any more is a bonus.
Let’s say your target market is male students aged 18 – 25.
You’d do your market research and work out what style your market responds best to. What colours and words they answer to and what queries they want resolving? There is a great article https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/target-markets.html on what colours specific groups of people respond best to by Empowered By Color.
As a rule of thumb, keep your homepage uncluttered and simple. This will help your site to appeal to more people and make it user friendly.
We hope this article was insightful and we wish you the best of luck in your website ventures!
More Information
For more information, drop Mashuni https://www.mashuni.com/get-in-touch/ a line and we’ll help you reach your marketing goals this year.
Alternatively, we’ve included some further reading that will help you create a successful website that gets results.
Importance of a good website https://diymarketers.com/the-importance-of-good-website-design-why-it-matters-and-how-to-pull-it-off/
Importance of Colour in Business https://www.wesayhowhigh.com/blog/article/the-importance-of-colour-in-business-identity
Content Strategy https://medium.com/@subsign/the-importance-of-a-content-strategy-3f4fc3347d26
