If you’re developing an online business, your website should retain a lot of your attention as you design what is effectively your window to the world. If you don’t actually have a physical address for your place of business, or any kind of “concrete and glass” operation, the overall appearance of your website will tell your potential customers or clients just about everything they need to know about your company.
Ideally, you should post your entire website on your own server, so you don’t have to rely on the operating hours, rules or regulations of another entity. If you don’t know anything at all about coding, go for one of the easy to use platforms, which will provide you with the ability to work on your website directly, without this taking up too much of your valuable time. If you believe that certain changes to your website may represent an uphill struggle, you’re far less likely to stay on top of its development. Affordable online business providers like iCapitalise can quickly supply you with an extremely user-friendly option, using a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) system.
You need to understand how the Internet works and what it takes to achieve visibility for your site. It’s essential that your website appears high up within search results – preferably page one, when someone searches for something which you could provide. This is quite complex, as the search engines themselves utilise a variety of rules to determine what is appropriate and what isn’t. The process of “search engine optimisation” helps you to specify certain appropriate elements of code as well as the overall structure of your site. There are quite a few experts in the widely renowned arena of website development, and to stay ahead of the game, you may want to look into hiring an expert virtual assistant to help you stay on the winning team. At the very minimum, you need to have an understanding of the basics, including what your favoured “keywords” are and how the content on your page should be written.
Think back to how you used to write essays when you were in college, where you would structure and lay out your content to retain a natural progression of ideas, then apply this same system to your website development. You will have many different pages, with a variety of different topics covering products or services, each of which may spur further pages of associated content. Within the home page you need to have a clear description of your business, with easy to find links giving a logical path of progression for visitors to follow as they seek out your information.
Visitors rarely take the time to read all the information on your page, and this is where the term “surfing” originated. A large percentage of people tend to look for “frequently asked questions” and other areas where they can quickly scan through to get a good idea of what you’re providing. Therefore, always remember to set up a FAQ database and link to it very prominently.
A blog is a very important part of an online strategy initiative, and you would do well to include one within your website. Social media is becoming very important as we go on, and your blog represents an opportunity for you to update daily news and information for prospects and interested parties. You should make sure that you keep current with blog posting and establish a close bond between yourself and any visitors. If you’re clever about the type of content you include, you could end up creating your own social “buzz.”
Even though you may only have an online presence, visitors will be looking for reassurance before they do business with you, and because of this, you should include your contact details in a visible position for when this trust is established. Take a photograph or two of the owner and key staff, as this helps to add a human touch to your site. The customer service contact number is essential and a physical address is highly recommended.
Once your website is up-and-running, make sure that it’s maintained on a very regular basis. You should learn as much as you can about search engine optimisation, and get to know software packages that allow you to analyse your visitors. The analytics program accessed via the Google website is a great and free tool, enabling you to set up goals and events that can help you to see whether certain promotions are working for you.
Michelle Dale is The Managing Director of Virtual Miss Friday, a state-of-the-art Executive Virtual Assistant Service which assists businesses and individuals with every aspect of their enterprising requirements. Do you want to explore these inspiring online business building success strategies? Contact VMF Now!