As a web developer, I obviously am a pretty big supporter of websites for businesses. What I do not support however, is a website that has little other purpose other than just existing.
Having a website in this day and age is obviously important (and can add a level of validity to businesses that might not have a physical storefront), but I’ve found that some people are unawares of just how useful a website can be.
Have a goal in mind
Every page on your website should be guiding the viewer to take a certain action. Whether it’s subscribing to a blog, buying a product, following your business on social media, etc., your website is there to accomplish a task for you (not just take up space on a server). When working with your web designer/developer to build your site, make sure that your ultimate goal is at the forefront of every decision.
Understand your market.
Your website should cater to your market. If your ideal client spends most of their time traveling and is rarely in front of a computer, then make sure your designer takes a “mobile first” approach, and designs a website that will be incredibly easy to navigate on mobile devices. Alternately, if you know your potential clients spend a lot of time on a particular social media platform, make sure that your website is built with social-sharing capabilities in mind. Regardless of where your target market is spending their digital time, your website should be built to cater to that.
Find a way to make your job easier.
What do you have a hard time with? Analytics? Social media? Blogging? Newsletters? General site upkeep? Be sure to explain how you are running your business to your web developer. Take the time to explain any challenges or pain-points you’ve been facing in the business lately. It is very likely that they can build your site in a way that makes your life easier, but they need to know what that would look like first.
Track your success.
What does success look like to you? If you’ve already established a goal for your website, how will you know if that goal is being reached? Is it through page visits, subscriber rates, social media followers, purchases, client leads, etc? Make sure you discuss with your developer what you want to achieve, and how you want to measure that achievement.
There you have it folks. It sounds relatively simple, but in my experience, the websites that have been built with these things in mind are incredibly useful to their owners. Don’t forget, your website is a tool!
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-SP