Photo by Fabian Irsara

Originally Posted On: https://www.digitalconnectmag.com/startup-website-dos-as-for-a-successful-business/

 

Do you know that 90% of American adults are active internet users? Well, if you’re a business owner, this figure should prompt you to increase your online presence. By having a website, you increase your visibility to millions of prospective customers.

Whether you’re an established firm or a startup, people will know more about your brand through your website. Yet, getting your website to go live shouldn’t be your primary goal. You need to embrace best practices when designing and running a website.

Your startup website is your online advocate, and it should be appealing enough. Here are some of the do’s and don’ts when you set-up a website.

The Dos Of Website Design

The Dos of website design will set you apart from your competitors. If you’re a startup company, designing a website is probably a new thing. You might want to research more on the cheapest way to host a website so that you can invest wisely.

Here are some of the dos that you’ll need to consider for your site:

Consider Keyword Research

When creating your website content, pay attention to search engine optimization. SEO ensures that you consider words or phrases relevant to your site. Keywords are easy to incorporate in a website, and their effectiveness in driving relevant traffic to a site is notable.

You can use tools like Keyword Planner from Google to establish the keywords customers are using to search for information. Utilize the keywords in your meta description, page title, and in different parts of your site to help with your ranking.

Map out A Plan 

You can’t start designing a website without a succinct plan in place. It is crucial to establish what you need so that you can map out a practical path. What is the goal of your website? Who is your target audience?

Answering such questions will give you an idea of the direction to take. Your website should only include the stuff you consider essential. You should deliberate investing in managed IT services so that you can ease your IT workload.

Make It Easy For Visitors To Reach You

If you’re considering a startup website, making it user-friendly should be a priority. However, you need to also make it easier for visitors to contact you. The prospective customers will find you credible if they can reach you.

You ought to start by having a contact page on your site. It would help to have an email address, phone number, and contact form for visitors to choose the most convenient way to contact you. Remember to add your social media links for clients to follow you.

Include A Clear Call To Action

Now that a visitor has clicked on your site, what’s next? It is crucial to direct your website visitors with a call to action. Commonly known as CTA, a call to action is a simple phrase encouraging your visitor to act.

Your CTA can be as simple as ‘Subscribe,’ Start Here,’ ‘Shop Now,’ and many others depending on the goal of your site. If you don’t guide your site visitors, they can read through the information and leave without taking any action. Your call to action should appear in each of your pages.

Make Your Startup Website Mobile Friendly

Recent research by the World Advertising Research Center shows that about 3.7 billion people will be accessing the internet through their smartphones within the next five years. Smartphones are convenient and more people are embracing them to surf. Your website will be more visible if you optimize it for mobile devices.

Making your website mobile-friendly doesn’t mean that you become casual. You have to maintain professionalism so that visitors can seek further engagements with your brand. Check your website from your mobile device after any change to confirm if it is appealing to a prospective customer.

The Don’ts In Website Design

A wrong move in handling your website can have adverse effects on your overall digital marketing. Once you know the best way to host a website, ensuring that site has valuable content should be the next move.

It is crucial to understand some of the activities you need to avoid for your website to thrive. Here are some of the don’ts to evade:

Don’t Forget Your Brand 

The excitement of designing your website can make you forget the purpose of this approach. In each step, remember that the website represents your business. Pay significant attention to branding, even as you consider functionality.

You need to engrave your brand in the visitors’ mind by having the slogan, logo, or your company’s color scheme in all your pages. While at it, make sure that your branding remains consistent throughout the website.

Avoid Using Poor Quality Images

Unfortunately, most site visitors might not read your website text content until the end. They might focus on the images as they are often eye-catching. With poor quality images, don’t expect your site visitors to gain any interest in your offers.

Brand photography is an investment you don’t want to ignore. If you’re yet to get quality photos, you’d better focus on using great typography and color, which will make your website equally attractive.

Don’t Focus Solely On Promotion 

While the primary purpose of having a website is to increase sales, aggressive promotion on your website is a turnoff. If a user clicks on a site that has sales pop-ups everywhere, chances of leaving the site immediately are high. Despite needing to launch a new product as a startup website, the approach you take should be firm and thoughtful.

Your visitors should find value in your website content. While posting relevant information, you can incorporate your offers. Overdoing the promotion, hoping to get returns based on the web hosting cost will hurt your brand significantly.

A Startup Website Has To Understand The Dos And Don’ts To Remain Relevant

A well-designed website is an excellent resource for new businesses. The investment you make in ensuring that you have a great website will get you traffic and resultant sales gradually. However, you need to be keen on the factors to consider for a startup website to avoid flopping in digital marketing.

If you don’t have a background in website development, it would be advisable to consider hiring an expert. The last thing you want is to make some website mistakes that would have negative impacts on your brand.

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