Your Website is the Face of your Business

There are more than 3.5 billion Google searches everyday. That does not include Bing, Yahoo and other search platforms. Your website is the face of your business; the first impression people have. Every year the number of Google searches grows by around 10% and between 16% to 20% are new searches – things people have never searched for before. Over 52% of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices and this number is growing and 60% of Google searches are done on a mobile device up from 34% only five years ago.

Did you know that 93% of online experiences start with a search engine? Now here is the key statistic for every business: 81% of people perform some type of online research before making a large purchase and 61% of internet users do research on a product online before buying. Over 47% of consumers view three to five pieces of content on your website before contacting you. But wait, there’s more……50% of people bounce off your page if it takes more than two seconds to load and conversion rates fall by 12% for every extra second it takes your website to load.

How is your brand represented?

A lot of businesses start because an individual has great skill and they see an opportunity to build a business based on their reputation. The brand of the business is inextricably linked to the business owner and understanding your website is the face of your business is key. This can be effective however does not always provide sustainable cashflow. Key to your brand is clarity around what you want your business to be known for and how you will find and keep customers. Delivering products or services is one element but making sure potential customers can find you is critical and that is where an online presence is absolutely required.

Your website’s purpose is not an extra touch point for your business. As that statistics above show us it is actually the first place potential customers go to decide who they should engage with. How many times do you search for something every day? Research states we check our phones about 85 times a day (or more) and spend over 10 hours on the internet in some form.

If you think about the way you display your products in store or your quotes for jobs to customers, have you put as much thought into your website? Your website is your online presence. Before a customer visits your business or contacts you to arrange a quote they have already looked at your website. How many potential customers did not progress and therefore are a lost opportunity?

What are potential customers looking for on your website?

Customers want to see how much thought you have put into your business. If little effort has been put into your website this can give potential customers a perception about you and your business. They be unsure if your business is the best one to buy from and if they move onto the next site in the search list they may go with one of your competitors.

Your value proposition needs to be clear and up front. You need to consider the main questions your customers may have and make sure you are answering them on your website. Visitors to your site should understand the value you can offer them and this is done by ensuring your website is the face of your business.

Not everyone scrolls down the first page of your website so what do you have “above the fold” that is engaging and grabs visitor’s interest enough to have them read more? Your website needs to be user friendly and quick to load. People are busy and if your page is too slow to load they will go somewhere else. It is the equivalent of going into a store and seeing a queue and going to a different store instead.

What are the critical elements if your website is the face of your business?

There are a lot of elements to consider when designing, building or enhancing so your website is the face of your business. The following list is only an example of the critical elements small business owners, and not-for-profit organisations, should consider when deciding what the face of their organisation should look like and deliver.

Smartphone and tablet optimisation

Given the increasing volume of mobile phone searches having a “responsive” website is critical. Not every website theme is optimised or responsive for mobile and tablet devices. What that means is that if your website looks fantastic on a desktop or laptop computer it may be difficult to read on a phone or tablet. This will create a poor experience, make it frustrating to read and will likely result in visitors leaving your website.

Page Speed

Not only will a slow loading website frustrate and deter visitors it will also impact where you rank in search engines as it is a core element of the search algorithm. Google search has always focused on how well website’s serve customers and this is even more true with the latest release which is focused on “how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page beyond its pure information value“.

With visitors giving you less than 2 seconds before deciding whether to stay on your site or not the page speed is one of the most critical elements. This is also one which needs to be constantly monitored as it can be impacted by out of date WordPress themes, plug ins, issues with your hosting service or security breaches on your website. This is where a service such as our Website Care Plan can be of benefit; we take care of your website so you can take care of your business. You do not want your first impression to be slow customer services so always remember your website is the face of your business.

Cyber Security

One of the first things many visitors look for is a secure website. That starts with the lock beside your domain name which occurs if you have a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate which is an encryption-based internet security protocol. An SSL certificate encrypts data sent to your website when a customer completes a form or contact card or order online.

Even if you do not capture customer data via your website most people understand the need to protect their information and a website that does not appear secure will deter some visitors. Where you capture customer information using, and keeping up to date, plug ins for WordPress such as website security, anti-spam and signing up for ReCAPTCHA will help mitigate risk for your customers and your business.

Easy to understand navigation

Most people have a set expectation of what they should find on a website. They will be looking for the following core pages:

• About Us – a page that tells your story. Who you are, why you started your business, how long you have been operating and what you want to do for your customers……how you want to make them feel. The more engaging and real this is the greater the change potential customers will establish a connection with you.
• Legal Pages – visitors, and search engines, expect to find legal pages such as Privacy, Terms and Conditions, Refunds or Exchanges, Service Level Agreements and the like. Part of a visitors research will be to understand why you offer and what the customer can expect from your business.
• FAQs – Depending on your products and services many customers are looking for Frequently Asked Questions. This is a good way to help inform potential customers and answer some of their anticipated questions.
• Products/Services – people expect a page that informs them about your products and/or services.
• Contact – visitors will want to know how to contact you and they will be looking for more than one option usually.
• Search – most people expect there to be a search bar which will enable them to find the information they are after easily without having to spend mroe time than necessary.

Proof Points

Whether you have reviews or testimonials from satisfied customers or you provide your qualifications, visitors will want some proof you are able to deliver what you promise. If you are a new business you may need to initially rely on your qualifications but as you build your client base make sure you ask for a reference or review and add it to your website. Reviews and recommendations by others is one of the key elements of purchase decisions for most customers and is super important if your website is the face of your business.

Call to Action

Every business owner knows the most important thing is conversion of visitors to customers. You can have a beautiful website full of relevant information but if there is no “Call to Action” you may not convert the visitor to a customer. Your call to action needs to be prominent, relevant and repeated throughout your website. Whether you its websites for tradies or dental websites both types of businesses need paying customers. You need include options such as “Call Now” or “Contact Us” or “Book Here” or “Request a Quote” in prominent places on your website and consistently on each and every page.

Conclusion

A great website is more than just how it looks; a website is the face of your business. It needs to be functional, have great performance, be constantly updated to maintain or increase its search engine rankings and focus on conversion of visitors to customers. Whether you want to simply make sure the site is consistently running smoothly or you want regular updates to the design or adding keyword rich content, you do not have to do it yourself. In fact unless you understand the backend of your website well or you love to do it, this is a task that can be outsourced so you have time to focus on your business.

To find out more about our web solutions check out our page or contact us. We would love to help you with web solutions, website management services, web design, a fresh look web design, a responsive web design, adding regular content to your website and more.