4 Amazing Ways To Improve Your Business Website

For many businesses, having a good website is no longer a luxury, but rather an essential asset that helps them succeed in their respective sectors and industries. 

This is especially true in areas of Ecommerce, Banking, Technology, IT, Telecommunications, Governmental Agencies and so much more.    

But even if you don't operate within those fields, having a fast and modern website can bring in multiple benefits such as: 

• Increased Site Traffic  

• Higher Customer Conversions 

• Better Brand Awareness

• Stronger Brand Loyalty

If those perks sound attractive to you, then here are 4 amazing ways to make that happen for your business by improving your website.

1) Search Engine Optimization 

First, one of the most important things to do is to work on your site’s SEO rankings. 

If you don’t already know, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to the process of optimizing various technical aspects within your site such as: 

• Keywords 

• Meta descriptions 

• Title Tags 

• Robot.txt & etc... 

While some of us may get confused and not immediately grasp the importance of this, the bottom-line is that:

Most websites are found through search engines by users.

This means people will type in specific keywords (i.e. burger restaurants near me, best lotion for sensitive skin etc.) which prompts the search engine to return the most relevant results to them based on each individual site’s SEO rankings.

Put simply, the higher your SEO score, the more likely you are going to appear in the first few searches on a specific keyword. 

Here’s an example: 

If you type in the keyword ‘pizza’, your search engine will return you: 

• The Definition

• Recipes 

• Restaurants (and reviews) 

• Recommendations (i.e. articles from food bloggers) 

• Youtube Videos etc...

As we know, users are more likely to click on the first few results, which means restaurants listed in those top positions are the ones that are going to attract lots of visitors.

But in order to rank within those top positions, your business needs to have a high SEO score, which can be improved on either by yourselves (if you’ve got the experience) or an expert who specializes in SEO and web design.  

If you’re willing to take the long and difficult learning curve, then here’s google’s guide on how to improve your website’s SEO score. 

Otherwise, here are some basic things you can do within your site: 

• Use relevant keywords (i.e. New York-Style Pizza, Homemade Pizza for Delivery, Cheapest Pizza in Town etc.)

• Ensure your site loads quickly (ideally, aim for less than 3 seconds) 

• Optimize for different screens (i.e. mobiles, tablets, desktops etc.)

While not comprehensive, these provide a good starting point for any business to start pushing up their site’s ranking so they can gradually appear as one of the top searches for their relevant industry. 

2) Content 

Next, you need to focus on the content in your site. Specifically, the text (or copy) and the way you say them.  

In simple terms, your content is the marketing message of your business. 

Think of it this way - What would you want potential customers to know when they think about you? 

For instance: 

If you’re selling a social media management tool that targets marketers who heavily uses pinterest and instagram as their main platform, then your content will need to include that topic as its part of your marketing message.  

Now, what if your tool offered multiple social media platforms instead? 

Well, here’s what your content would look like: 

The main point here is to write a clear and compelling message that speaks directly to your target audience’s needs. 

But it doesn’t stop there, as content can be in other forms such as: 

• Product / Service Features

• Call-to-action Buttons

• Blog Posts

• FAQs 

To take things a step further, you can even map out a content marketing plan that aims to strategically lead and nurture your target audience through each stage of their buying process:  

• Awareness (When they realise they have a need) 

Ex: I need to post a lot of Instagram content everyday, which means I’ll need a social media tool to help me schedule them. 

• Consideration (When they are comparing different products and services) 

Ex: I’m currently comparing between Tool A and Tool B. The first lets me easily edit my content schedule but the second offers better analytics to help me track my content’s performance. 

• Decision (When they require a sales rep to alleviate any final concerns)

Ex: Does this tool offer a free trial? I’d like to test out its core features before purchasing a plan. 

When done correctly, people will likely buy from you as they have a better understanding of your products and services, to which you’ll start seeing your customer conversion numbers rise in a significant manner.  

3) Graphic Design 

It’s no secret that visuals capture people’s attention. Think about your everyday items such as food, clothing, accessories etc... 

Every one of us is likely attracted to one thing or another because we find them to be appealing in terms of their color, texture, shape and so forth. 

This is especially true in the context of business, as we often perceive companies with well-designed logos, branding and packaging to be of much higher value than those without. 

With a website, having one that’s well-designed in terms of visual aesthetics is going to communicate to customers that you’re professional, valuable and most of all - unique. 

For instance, compare this site: 

To this: 

Customers will likely choose the first brand because their designs captured their interest at the first go, prompting them to further explore their products on their website. 

From there, they’ll spend more time discovering, reading, and ultimately investing themselves into your offerings because everything revolving around your brand has been associated to be high quality from the well-designed visuals. 

In simple terms, you ‘wow-ed’ your customers and blew away their expectations by presenting yourself in a unique manner, creating an excellent first impression of your business which solidifies the brand awareness amongst customers for the future. 

Compared to the second, visitors will quickly dismiss the unique value of your business as they automatically associate low-quality visuals with the actual quality of your products. 

Thus, we can see why investing in professional graphic design is helpful to businesses, as the underlying benefits aren’t limited to just the online platforms, but in many other areas as well.  

4) User Experience (UX) 

Lastly, we have something a little bit more special - user experience.

In simple terms, it refers to the overall emotions and attitudes a person feels towards a product or service. 

For instance: 

Imagine browsing through a site and you suddenly get a large pop up that covers up the most important parts of your screen. 

Then, it’s immediately followed up by another pop-up: 

Afterwards, you’re greeted by a page that’s full of clutter with the animated snowflakes contributing to the overall ‘lag’ being experienced:  

From there, visitors will likely leave your page for someone else’s as you were too focused on overloading users with everything in one go, which creates a frustrating experience that puts customers off from choosing to buy your products. 

Instead, here’s an example of what good user experience is like:

When you land on their homepage, you’re immediately welcomed by a wholesome picture of their product, followed by minimal visual clutter to help you focus on the things that matter: 

• Design

• Content 

After all, customers are interested in what you show and what you say to convince them that your products and services are the best for them.

Then, as you scroll down, you are greeted with ‘new’ arrivals that focuses their attention on only one or two things: 

After, it’s followed by this unique feature to help you better understand their products on a deeper level:

With that, you’ve just offered visitors a smooth, intuitive and incredibly user-friendly experience, which will likely turn them into buying customers that plan to return often. 

The main point here is this: 

Focus on giving your customers the best online browsing experience.

Be it navigating around different pages, showing product demonstrations or even providing useful features to help them gain a better understanding of your business, your goal is to create a pleasant and memorable experience for all your visitors.

After all, when people have a positive experience of something, they’re going to recommend it to others, which translates to free advertising and best of all - brand loyalty. 

So don’t take away that benefit from them... Instead, keep working on different ways to make your business website an amazing one for customers.    

Conclusion 

To sum it up, focus on: 

1) Search Engine Optimization 

2) Content 

3) Design 

4) User Experience (UX)

While it’s easier said than done to list down the improvements that need to be made, implementing them into your business website can sometimes be difficult because of the many expertise needed to bring those solutions to life.

This means you’ll need to have a good working background in SEO, copywriting, graphic design and web design, all at the same time. 

Although some business owners may have that experience, others might not have that same privilege which could put them at a major disadvantage in the long run... 

Luckily, there are professionals out there who can solve that problem, by providing you with the right solutions to make those improvements a reality. 

All it takes is just a quick search (i.e. web design agency), and you’ll be on your way to helping your business website grow and succeed within your industry in the most optimal and cost-efficient manner possible.