Christopher Amos, CEO of No Boundaries Marketing Group
As businesses large and small across the country adapt to a post-COVID world, many find themselves in unfamiliar territory. Having a dynamic, high performing website is no longer optional. With more and more consumers navigating to the internet to find even the most basic products and services, many business owners and managers are having to adapt to the changing times.
What are the most important factors to consider on your website?
When it comes to web design, there are thousands of ways to put together a site and we’ve seen it all. One concept that we try to encourage clients to consider is simplicity. Although it can be tempting to create all those fade ins, pop ups, and transitions, you have to consider your audience. How someone accesses your site can make a huge difference in how the site is rendered. According to Statista, in Q3 of 2020, 50.81% of world wide website traffic was done on a mobile device. Depending on the demographic, that number can be significantly higher. All of those extra features may look great, but they can often slow down a site and make certain features difficult to read or understand. Moral of the story here is that big is not always better. Sometimes, a simple, easy to read and navigate site with some key visuals can make for an awesome user experience.
Pro Tip: Make sure your contact information is front and center on your website. Often times, when consumers have to navigate around, they will lose interest and move on. For most websites, we recommend having your phone number (make sure they can click to call from a mobile device), address, and social media channels in the header so that consumers can readily access it when they are ready to reach out.
Next, let’s talk about those key visuals. Fact is, dynamic visuals give a website a unique personality and can truly captivate an audience. Sadly, most websites lack this simple concept which can really help them stand out from the crowd. When looking at a potential client’s site, we always ask, what makes you unique to your industry? From there, we let the conversation drive the next steps. Every business offers some unique quality that will differentiate them from their competitors down the street. We encourage clients to stand back and look at their website objectively, does it tell the proper story? High quality imagery and videos are two very important factors when it comes to creating engagement and compelling your audience to take an action on a website…
Pro Tip: Avoid using stock photography if at all possible. Investing in commercial photography will create a great first impression for new visitors for the site and help you really stand out from your competition.
Lastly, let’s talk about the content on your site. There are varying schools of thought out there, but bottom line, we believe content is king. With proper imaging supporting the core content of a site, you are creating that dynamic one two punch that will really set your business up for success. We always tell clients, if you want to rank for a set of keywords, then you need to talk about those keywords. While some content creators do a fantastic job at embodying what a client brings to the table, the fact remains that nobody will ever know your business quite like you do. That is why we encourage clients to really get involved in the content creation for their site. Ultimately, you want that content to tell a story. You want it to captivate your audience and coerce them into reading more. Your content should establish what you do, why you do it, and most importantly, how you are different from your competition.
Pro Tip: If you get stuck writing content, think about the questions people ask you about your product or service? This is also a great technique for developing a strong FAQ page. Start with the top 10 questions and be specific. If that is too easy, go for the top 20 or 30!
Putting it all together…
Bottom line, as more and more people jump on the e-commerce bandwagon, having a strong web presence is no longer optional. As a business owner, you need to take steps to learn about things like search engine optimization, social media, and managing your website. The key is making it so easy to find and do business with you, there is no reason for that consumer to keep searching! Often, we hear objections like “well we can’t compete with Amazon, Walmart or Yelp”. That is completely false. More often than not, when given the option, consumers prefer to support local businesses. The struggle most consumers have is finding them and making sure they can provide the product or service that they are looking for. A little effort and some education can go a long way to growing your business!
Pro Tip: Educating yourself on things like search engine optimization, web design, social media, and similar services will help you get the most out of your marketing strategy. If you choose to hire an agency for these services, you can ensure you get the biggest ‘bang for your buck’ by keeping them honest and understanding how the things or tasks that they are doing will actually impact your business.
Read More: The 10 Elite PR Companies Overcoming the Pandemic
