It’s tough to find a business that can succeed without a website. All websites aren’t created equal. Some sites are helping businesses grow while others are largely ineffective. The problem with ineffective websites stems from the very beginning:
Creating a website without your goals in mind will end up hurting your business.
Here are a few potential website goals and some ways to hit them:
More Sales!
Want more sales? Try these:
- Create an effective call to action – Ex: Make sure your buy button is “above the grain.” Meaning users don’t have to scroll down to see it.
- Improve conversion rate – Develop a compelling value proposition. Do A/B testing with alternate headlines, images, or layout.
- Improve website SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – Include the most important keyword phrase for each web page. Don’t use the same keyword for multiple pages.
- Social Media Presence – Start out with at least one social media account. Don’t try to be everywhere at once. It simply won’t work unless you have unlimited time and money to spend.
Improve Customer Relationships
A few objectives to improve customer relationships might be:
- Add a chat application to your website – Important: Only add chat if you will be active on it. It is a huge turnoff to see a chat on a website that no one answers.
- Start a blog – You can write about case studies and educate your customers about your industry.
- Resolve customer complaints within X amount of time – Almost any customer service issue can be resolved more effectively if you respond fast.
Build an Email List
Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to market your website.
Become a Market Leader
This is a huge task, so be prepared for a lot of work.
- Update your website with quality content regularly.
- Interview experts in your market niche.
- Establish a relationship with industry influencers.
- Optimize for SEO (This is so important we’re listing it twice!).
- Take part in conversations about your industry on social media.
Create quality and valuable content like:
- Infographics
- Videos
- Blog posts
- Newsletters
Bring Your Brick and Mortar Business Online
If you’re ready to make the jump, you may want to try these:
- Create effective call to action buttons.
- Ensure your site is mobile friendly.
- Build a mobile app to increase customer engagement.
- Promote your site on social media and search engines.
Securing Your Online Assets
Cyber Security is incredibly important in today’s world and is often overlooked. To protect yourself, set some of these objectives:
- Use an encrypted SSL protocol for your website visitors’ data. To take it one step further, you can make your entire site https.
- Scan your website for malware.
- Always use strong passwords! A strong password should be at least 12-15 characters long. It should include lower and upper case letters, numbers, and special characters.
- Ensure your domain name is locked with your registrar.
- Don’t share sensitive website information.
- Update the site software periodically.
- Do not share social media account information with all employees.
- Backup your site early and often.
Your online success relies heavily on your ability to set and achieve website goals. Set up a few goals and use metrics to track your progress. Figure out exactly what you want, and build a road map for your website to help you get there.
Be sure to check your progress often and don’t be afraid to change course when needed. A small change in the right direction can lead to a huge improvement over a long period of time. Just look at our visit to the moon – if we were off by only a few degrees, we would have ended up in another galaxy!
Was this article helpful to you? If it was, please share it with anyone you think it might benefit so they can get help with their website too!
Monika Beck
Monika Beck is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of Success Harbor a website for entrepreneurs. Success Harbor is dedicated to documenting the entrepreneurial journey through interviews, original research, and unique content. Monika Beck is also co-founder of a website designer and online marketing company.
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