The company website can often be the heart of a small business’s marketing efforts. Not every business, however, has the resources or expertise to develop and publish a customized website. Luckily, the web delivers the tools and information necessary for a business looking to deploy its first website. We’ve collected some tips to keep in mind during your first foray into website development.
- Start with a strategy. The most important consideration is the strategy behind your website. Do you want your website to generate leads? Will your website help customers learn about your products and get in touch with you? Or will your website just be a place for customers to find information about your hours? Consider the purpose of your website, and keep it in mind when you are deciding the initial layout and any subsequent changes.
- Don’t overdo it. It’s hard for a resource-constrained small business to create a complex website without sacrificing the overall quality. Create a few high-quality pages first – this helps with navigation and how well you communicate your brand. Since quality comes first, it’s best to focus on the pages that the most people will be looking at.
- Any money you spend on design and language will be worth the investment. Remember, your website acts as a 24/7 salesperson, and you want it to represent the same level of quality and care you actually provide to your customers.
- Starting with even a basic search engine optimization (SEO) strategy in mind will help you rank in search engines such as Google and Bing when people search for your business. Remember: try to incorporate keywords and language on your website that your customers might use to find your business, not what you hope they would use.
- Business owners may want to start up some basic social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) to promote your website. You should consider that individuals might be looking for your business on social media, and you want them to land on your website or social properties to find the information they’re looking for.
- On to the logistics: A WordPress theme from off-the-shelf shouldn’t be your business’ be-all, end-all, especially if you decide that you may want to get involved in digital marketing. But using a pre-made template and filling it with your key business and product info is fast, and it requires very little web know-how. While creating a website customized or tailored to driving net new business should be your goal, it’s okay to use something “quick and easy” early on.
- A cornerstone of a great small business website is the ability to make changes without a developer. Most WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors, like Wix, Weebly or Squarespace, have free options and usually cheap premium versions. However, if you can bite the bullet and dive into the more flexible (and complicated) WordPress platform, we’d recommend it. It simply gives you more bang for the buck than the pseudo-free services.
- For eCommerce, a well-established and open-source system like Shopify is great starter option thanks to its flexibility and cost-effectiveness. Small business owners should also look for systems with large support communities to get easy answers to their questions.
- Small businesses should also buy their own domain name to attach to a website. In fact, getting a domain that people naturally associate with your company or products (such as the actual name of your company) can be a huge win. You can check out what’s available at Register.com or DomainsBot. You might even weigh the benefit of buying a domain from a current owner if you can’t find what you want. DestinationWeddings.com became a multi-million dollar business because it rolled the dice on paying over $10,000 for its domain name (please don’t spend $10,000 on your domain name unless you have a DestinationWeddings.com type business plan to monetize it).
Take Your First Steps
Setting up a small business website that fully promotes your brand is no small task, but it’s not hard to get started with today’s digital resources ready to help. Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Start small, focus on what your website needs most, and be willing to ask for help.
