Creating a business website does not have to be overwhelming. Whether it is a small business website or a larger company, there are always ways that you can make your site improve it’s performance. What tactics have you tried in the past? What tactics have given you the best results?
Creating a business website is an ongoing process of improvement.
A lot of people think that web design ends after the website is finally live but the process of creating a business website does not end after your site launches. See it as an ongoing process of improvement over time as you learn more about your customers, track how your site performs, and make further efforts to improve. Below are 10 ways that you can make your site improve in performance.
1.) Identify who you are talking to
Before creating a business website you need to identify who your ideal customers are. This way you can make sure your message and overall site is properly designed to appeal to them. What are their pain points? What are their attitudes? What causes them to choose one company over another? What causes them to choose yours? What are their expectations?
Once you have a clear image of your customers then it becomes much easier to craft your messaging because you know the kind of people you are talking to. A site that is designed for older men will be very different from one that is designed for young girls. Remember that you can’t really appeal to everyone so identify who your brand is speaking to and fine-tune your website accordingly.
2.) Simplify.
Is your website too complicated for people to understand and navigate? Do you use complex language? Your website may seem simple to you but other people are actually having a hard time understanding it. You need clear navigation with a clear message and a clear call to action.
If people are confused or overwhelmed then they will just leave. They will not work too hard to try to understand your site if it is too complex. Don’t forget about mobile where you are working with a smaller screen. How will your site fit on a mobile device if it is too complex and clunky?
3.) Remove programs that slow down your site
Do you really need all these excessive programs graphics and effects? Although they look good, they may be slowing down your website. Do you know that slide banners/carousels are a huge factor to why your website is slow? Carousels are notorious for slowing down websites, especially on mobile. They are also hard to read because they tend to move too fast.
Consider replacing your carousel with one static image that clearly conveys your message effectively with a clear call to action. Also, consider removing plugins or apps that you don’t really need. You can use Google Page Speed Insights to see the improvement in your page speed after you make these changes.
4.) Compress your images
Your images may be slowing down your website. You might also be confusing ‘image dimensions’ with ‘image size’. Image dimensions are the length and width of your images in pixels. While image size is more related to the ‘weight’ of your images and this has a bigger impact on page speed. Avoid having images that are hundreds of kilobytes or over 1MB. These are the images that will cause your site to perform poorly. Aim for Kilobytes or even Bytes when uploading files. You can reduce the weight of your images by compressing them.
5.) Optimize your hero section
Your hero section is the first thing that people see as soon as they land on your site before they start scrolling down. This is crucial for making a good first impression. Most people will leave in seconds if the first impression of your site does not convey that your brand is what they are looking for. It needs to clearly convey wnere they are, what they can do here and why they should do it. By conveying what makes your brand or offering unique at first glance, you can encourage them to continue browsing or even take action.(buy, subscribe, donate, etc)
6.) Start collecting emails
You need a long term plan to build an audience and keep in touch with visitors so they can keep returning. It is not enough to only depend on social media. You can offer a free download in exchange for email addresses. This could be a great way to keep in touch with potential customers that could buy from you in the future. But if you plan to offer a free download then remember to compress it so it doesn’t slow down your site. Another way you can keep in touch is through push-notifications. This way you can send a notification to people’s browsers when you have a new release or promotion.
7.) Get listed in local search
This tip is primarily for local businesses that want to improve their local search rankings. Below is a list of local business directories that you can list your site today if you have not done so yet. Some are paid but some are free as well. Remember to keep your business address consistent across all platforms and include it in the footer of your website.
- Google Business
- Yahoo
- Bing
- Apple maps
- Opendi.us
- n49.com
- hotfrog.com
- brownbook.net
- yellowpages.com
- ezlocal.com
8.) Release more content
People need a reason to come to your site. By having a blog with high-quality content that keeps them engaged, you can keep people returning sharing your content and spending more time on your site. Ideally, you want to blog twice a week or at least once, consistently, for a long period of time for best results. This would make your site stand out and rank higher in the search and more people will link to your site because they find it interesting or helpful.
You want to blog more strategically. Consider what kind of blog posts your target customers may enjoy. Consider what keywords you can create content around that are easy to rank for and have a high search volume. There are so many websites where you can share your blog and get traffic. Eventually, you will have a blog post that does very well and it will continue to drive traffic to your website even while you are asleep.
9.) Have a plan to drive traffic
You need to have a plan for how you will drive quality traffic to the website. You should not invest so much money into creating a business website if you don’t have an audience and there is no plan for how you will drive traffic to it. Do you have an audience or platform to promote it to? No matter how well-designed the website is, if you don’t have a plan to pomote it then you won’t get much visits. It takes time to grow an audience. It isn’t enough to have a large social following. They need to actually be engaged with your posts. It’s one thing to drive traffic to the website and it’s another thing to capture their interest or convert them into customers.
You need good quality traffic. You can consider posting content in social media groups that are related to your brand and what you offer. These groups are where your target customers may be hanging out. There are also many directories where you can list your site or your blog. Some are paid but some are also free. If you plan to use paid ads then do you have a budget that can get you significant results? You can start small and then scale your campaign over time. You can also collaborate with others and promote content together. But avoid companies that sell you bulk traffic for cheap. There are so many freelancers/companies selling fake traffic.
10.) Learn from your analytics
You need to track how your website is performing. Google analytics will help you understand what is working and what is not working. It will tell you what pages are performing the best or the least. It will tell you were most of your website traffic is coming from. It will tell you what devices and what browsers people are accessing your website from. All of this information is free! This way you can optimize your site and improve over time. But avoid fake traffic that may show up in your analytics from companies like titans brand or trafficbot.live. These companies manipulate your data to make it look as if your website is getting more hits than it really is.
In conclusion, by following these steps you can definitely make your site improve over time. If you still need help with improving your website and uncovering issues then click here and let’s get in touch. If you enjoyed this article then you may also enjoy my previous one on 5 ways that your brand can be more trustworthy.
