Gone are the days of business websites hosted by Geocities and other easy to use web based site creation services. If you want to make a real impact with your customers, you need to have a well built and effective website. Most people are going to discover your company by searching for it online before anything else, and it is a good investment to make sure your site leaves a strong impression.
Create a Simple Layout
The average amount of time a user spends on a website is less than 60 seconds. When searching a website for information, people tend to look for the information they need and quickly leave. By creating a site that conveys information in a creative and engaging way, you are more likely to communicate your message. According to psychiatrist Pam Briggs of Nottingham University in the UK, your website needs to have an element of “stickiness” or your customers will simply click on a competitor’s link.
To create an engaging website that maintains a good level of “stickiness” there are two options. If you have abundant resources, you can hire a graphic/web designer to create a professional looking page for a nominal fee. If you are a small business owner, you can create a website of your own by using a free web editor such as CoffeeCup or Komodo Edit
Hosting
Based on the needs and resources of your company, there are two types of hosting plans available:
Managed Server Hosting
When you choose to use a managed server hosting service, you are guaranteed the best maintenance of your server and the fastest speeds for the services you provide. If your website relies on rich media presentations, has a wide selection of e-commerce products, or you are a large national company, this is the most advisable option. Your servers will be stored in a data center and be maintained by a secure staff of professionals.
Shared Hosting
If you are running a small business that just needs a basic presence on the web, you can purchase a shared hosting. This type of plan provides similar benefits as a managed server, but your data is stored on a shared server with several other websites.
Marketing
It is important for your business to stand out amongst the rest. Purchasing a domain name that is easy to remember and not loaded with backslashes and extra words is an effective strategy. You can also build a presence on Twitter and Facebook gaining fans and providing interesting content for them that is related to your company.
With some patience and a little bit of creativity, your business can stand out from the competition on the World Wide Web.
I gotta agree with the simple layout tips. However I don’t use any web editor. I just simply uses a free wordpress theme. I would say the control is less but still able to make it simple to view.
For startup, shared hosting should be sufficient until the business grow to a certain level, then managed server hosting will have to present to ensure the business is more reliable.
I feel this is something a very informative article on how to make the business more active with better website and how this will help in improving their business. I really loved this article and will surely share with it my communities.
I make my website very user-friendly and pleasing to the eyes at the same time because that’s what makes me spend more than a minute on other websites as well. It is indeed worth your money if you hire a graphic/web designer. But don’t just hire anyone. Listen to the word of mouth or ask your friends who did their website if you think you want one similar to theirs too.
Not sure I would recommend Komodo Edit to beginners; I think it’s pretty much intended for working directly with code.
Actually I think if someone’s just starting out, their best bet is to use a premade WordPress theme. Anything you build yourself using a tool like CoffeeCup is likely to look just awful.
Looking around the web, many seem to neglect the fact that overall design simplicity is important. I would like to mention that ease of navigation is just as important.
I think WordPress is the best way to go for a new website / blog owner. It’s easy to use and the design models are, for the most part, pleasing to the eye. With a bit of research, you can add you personal touch for that element of “stickiness”
It is amazing the tool that are now available compared to just a few years back. Life is so much easier.
I like your advice about keeping a simple layout I see some sites with so much going on I have no idea what I am looking at and end up leaving quickly.
Great tips! Simple and too the point is always better. Also, don’t forget about adding creative and unique.
About hosting, managed server hosting is the best alternative but you need to be competent in web server configuration to talk to technical support. I try a lot of shared hosting and the server responses are sometimes very slow, it’s too variable.
I love that it started with structure because that’s where everything needs to start.
There’s no reason to create thousands of articles if people can’t easily get to them. Work heavily on outlining the website first and foremost because everything relies on this one action.
I agree wordpress is best but I do suggest having good quality images from stock websites, as this will make all the difference and give a more professional feel. Also the images can be used for print too, so it’s a good investment
Editors such as coffeecup I beleive over complecate things for most small business owners. I beleive pointing them to content managers such as Joomla with lots of documentation, forums and add ons.
Cracking tips!
To me your para Marketing is looks Good
Nice point Ben. WordPress is the perfect user-friendly blog tool that allow users to process easily what the mind has conceived. But no matter how good the software is, our creativity always seal the best output though.
Chris, how long have you been using Joomla?
Marketing is the most important tool to create and effective website
I just want to add that in marketing, you should also take the consideration of using SEO techniques to gain higher rankings in search engines and to stand out from the world of internet.
Clear calls to action – this is something which never seems to fail enough times on a website. If you want users to take an action ie contact you, buy your product, sign up for your newsletter you have to have clear calls to action. Don’t just think people will automatically do this. The less friction between your landing page and the squeeze page will increase conversions
The one recommendation I would have pertains to marketing one’s business. Specifically, those new to the game should know from the start that those methods of promoting a new business that yield immediate results generally do not offer much long-term value, and those techniques that do offer long-term benefits typically produce very little in terms of immediate conversions.
If one decides to invest in an organic search strategy, make sure to have the resources to sustain the business for several months before the strategy starts to yield results. If you decide to go the PPC route, make sure you can lose what you very well possibly could lose with few if any conversions before sufficient data is collected to dictate which keyword phrases should be targeted and at what CPC.
These are really basic tools to execute successful website management. Due to spamming and attacks, each of above tools need to give best security. The common problem I have seen in these tools is also a lack of simple user interface which is being approved gradually.
Hello author,
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Really commendable.
Thank you keep sharing.
Thanks for sharing this post. It’s really great to hear about such a useful information on building a business website.