How to Strengthen Your Company Website

How to Strengthen Your Company Website

When someone wants to learn about your business, their first instinct is often to check out your website. That presents a huge opportunity: A well-designed, engaging website can be an invaluable tool for growing your business and building your reputation. Serving as a centralized hub of information about your people, products, services and core values, your website can help bring in new customers while keeping your established clientele in the loop on new products, services, deals and happenings at your firm.

If you are planning to build a new website or would like to strengthen your current site, these tips can help you make the most of your online presence.

Be true to your values and mission

You’ve likely heard the adage before: You only get one chance to make a first impression. A customer visiting your website is no different from a customer entering a brick-and-mortar shop: What they see in front of them will immediately influence their opinion of your business, products or services, and team.

Show them your best! Help them understand who you are and what your business stands for — honesty, integrity and a customer-first philosophy, for example. Be clear about what makes your company different from others and what unique benefits customers will enjoy by doing business with you.

Focus on the user experience

Form and function should mesh seamlessly within your website. Visual appeal and compelling content are vital; so are intuitive navigation and efficient functionality. Dazzling graphics do hold the potential to captivate your audience, but if users can’t quickly locate the information they need or if page load times are slow, they may click out, taking their business with them.

Responsive design is essential. People will be accessing your site from all types of electronic devices, so be sure the design works equally well on a phone, tablet and desktop. Text should be readable, tabs and dropdowns accessible, and images completely viewable. If you’ve engaged a web designer, they should be well-versed in responsive design; if you’re designing the site yourself, online resources can help.

Frequent updates engage visitors as well as search engines. Keeping your content up to date is important. You want visitors to know you stay on top of things (continuing to tout deals that have expired is not a good look), plus regular updates can boost search engine optimization. Consider posting regular blog entries, for example: A steady stream of new content engages established and prospective customers, and plays well to search engines. Remember, too, to keep your site looking fresh by updating images, posting new videos and revitalizing the design.

Design basics go a long way. It’s great to have standout images on your site, but disciplined design lends a sense of professionalism. Keep major design elements — font, style and color palette — consistent from page to page. Break text into small, digestible chunks that are more inviting than vast walls of text. Use white space strategically to improve readability and guide visitors’ attention to important information.

Accessibility features meet the needs of a wider audience. It may not be easy, but building a website that takes into account the broad range of user abilities helps ensure that everyone who wants to visit your website can. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) provides information and insights on getting started.

Make interaction easy

In today’s age of instant connectivity, customers don’t just want to read about your business, they want to interact with it. A clear, concise Contact Us page can encourage users to reach out with questions, comments or specific inquiries that could open the door to a working relationship.

Here are some additional ways to encourage visitor engagement through your website:

Collect visitor information for an email list. Add functionality that enables website visitors to share their email address (and, perhaps optionally, phone number and address) to receive company updates, notices of special offers or discounts, and other valuable information. Then be sure to follow up with regular emails to keep the conversation going.

Showcase your online store. If your website offers online purchasing, provide big, bold links to guide users to your store, and make sure their purchasing experience is quick, easy and secure.

Share “social proof” of your company’s commitment. Including customer reviews on your website not only provides transparency but also can act as free advertising. Consider including a mechanism for customers to leave reviews on the site itself, or provide links to your company’s social media profiles, where their feedback may be more widely viewed.

Include calls to action. Your customers want to interact, so be sure to include buttons with language that encourages them to do just that — e.g., “Call Us,” “Shop Now” or “Learn More.”

Get more clicks with SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your search engine rankings through the strategic use of keywords, tags and metadata relevant to your industry. Because search algorithms are constantly changing, SEO needs regular attention if a significant portion of your business comes from online searches. You can learn some optimization techniques from online sources or go all-in by hiring a web specialist or SEO consultant.

The key to getting the most from your website is to apply best practices to its design, functionality and optimization. Give your site the attention it deserves, and it will go a long way toward strengthening your business and reputation.