5 Simple Tips Explain How To Distinguish Your Business Online
Untangling the mystery of the World Wide Web can be a lot like walking into quicksand: The more you get into it, the harder it is to get where you want.
Credit the sheer number of sites that populate the Web, creating clutter that makes it hard for small businesses to distinguish themselves.
Ultimately, it’s the business owners who devote time to their websites that reap the greatest rewards online.
Business websites are a lot like a car: If you don’t put gas in it and get regular oil changes, it won’t perform for you. The same goes for the Web, where sites that aren’t useful or current do little good for their owners.
One way to maximize your Web investment is through a process known as “search engine optimization” or SEO. This combines design elements, text, and keywords to ensure that the site gets the best recognition from the major search engines.
To maximize their SEO strategies, companies should define their niche market, then decide how they want that customer base to find them on the Internet.
Since it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish yourself online, here are five tips to make a splash on the Web:
1: Wow them from the first page. First impressions mean everything on the Web, so your site’s front page must shine in order to be effective.
A company’s front page should forgo bandwidth-heavy graphics and instead feature a bulleted list of services and a simple, readily accessible way to contact the company for an estimate or more information.
Subsequent pages can showcase your portfolio, testimonials from satisfied customers, and links to free e-newsletters.
2: Make it user-friendly. It’s age-old advice, but companies still aren’t adhering. Ease of use equates to both a pleasant visiting experience and marketing effectiveness. Use clear language, useful links, and navigation bars to steer customers in the right direction.
3: Make them eager to return soon. Attracting visitors is important, but persuading them to return is even more important.
Create long-term online customers by incorporating relevant self-assessment tests, surveys, and other tools with related products and services your business provides. This ensures an educational, interactive experience for the client and is a great marketing tool for your company.
Start with a simple biweekly newsletter, a blog, or a chat forum on a topic of interest to your customers.
4: Get back to basics. Browse through a few sites and you’ll quickly discover that accessing basic information can be a challenge.
To make sure your visitors don’t get turned off by poor navigation, broken links, and irrelevant information, be sure to give them a clear explanation of your product or service, making sure to highlight exactly what makes your firm and its offerings unique.
5: Give them the royal treatment. When designing your site, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. What do they want to see or know? What format most suitably presents this information? How can you keep them interested and make the experience fun?