Online presence is an essential tool for any business. Creating a successful website can take companies to a new level. Many large organizations nowadays have a good understanding that having an attractive site is no longer enough. The website should actively work for them by serving as an online catalog for new and potential customers and driving their companies forward.
Many small companies, on the other hand, fail to see the importance of these online pages. Their businesses might be showing up in review sites, but they rarely have an engaging social media account or even a website. But research reveals that at least 70% to 80% of potential buyers look up a small business online prior to actually visiting it or purchasing something from it.
Aside from employing Salesforce and their ongoing support services, here are some ways for small companies to further develop their websites to their business advantage:
Improve Communication Through the Website
People going through a website to find contact details are more common than you think. Surveys show that at least 64% of visitors look for a company’s details on the homepage, and 44% of visitors will leave a website if there is no contact information or phone number. As more false websites are being created every day, web users are also becoming more suspicious in the reliability and credibility of web pages.
It is not enough to just have all the business information in one big column, though. Companies should be strategic about where they place their “Contact Us” information. Bringing the contact details to the forefront allows the business to appear accessible for any questions or problems. It is important to give as many contact options as possible through email, mobile number, or a Facebook message.
Nowadays, many websites have been using chatbots. Chatbots are computer programs initially created to automate customer service for site visitors. They are programmed to filter out and conduct simple conversations. For complex inquiries and issues, these chatbots provide the company contact information to pass visitors along to a human representative for further assistance.
Improve Navigation
At the heart of every user-friendly website is a navigation menu. It exists to help visitors find the content that they are looking for easily. Thus, a navigation menu should be simple and intuitive. Experts recommend that the top-level navigation menu be limited to five clearly labeled tabs. To enable visitors to easily move about your site also means careful consideration of menu navigation language and labeling. Avoid the usage of general terminology such as “tools” and “biography.” Instead, use labels that direct visitors to obvious destinations such as “news” or “about us.” Related pages should be organized under these tabs.
Additionally, the main menu should be designed to contrast everything on the site so that it can easily draw attention. This menu should also be available and consistent throughout the site.
Create a Mobile-friendly Platform
When building a website, businesses should always make sure to keep the mobile experience in mind. Mobile usage has now overtaken desktop usage for browsing the web with 71% of Americans accessing the web on their mobile devices. Additionally, 48% are also saying that they get turned off by a business site that doesn’t work well on mobiles. Web pages need to be configured to load quickly and display on any screen, be it a laptop or a mobile phone. A page that cannot be adequately navigated through a smartphone can potentially miss out on significant amounts of traffic and sales conversions.
Unfortunately, nearly 95% of small businesses are way behind the curve on developing mobile platforms. This is one major area that these companies need to focus and improve on.
Many small businesses have a lot of potential to grow. However, not all of them have thousands of dollars to invest in marketing their business. A well-designed website that focuses on certain key principles could just be the ticket for them to boost their market.
