Category Archives: What makes a good website?

How to promote your website

There has been lots of talk recently about the online shop channels where you can list your products for sale, and how their prices are steadily rising. I’ve noticed a few people in networking groups talking about starting a website, or they have one but aren’t sure how to best promote it. Hopefully this article will give you a few ideas to help you get your website noticed.

Why have one?

According to E-Commerce Statistics, there are more than 2.14 billion online shoppers worldwide, with E-retail sales projected to grow to 5.4 trillion (in dollars) in 2022. And 68% of online shoppers search a product on Google before buying.

So, the more places that your business can be seen and found online, the better. Whilst online shop sites are great and help push your business to their wider audience, you still don’t own it – and they can have glitches that effect your business. With your website, you own it! But why have one?

  • Promote your business 24/7 – you can sell even when you’re asleep!
  • Builds your reputation and credibility. A website gives you the chance to not only show your products or services for the world to see, but they can see the quality and price, can look at recommendations and comments from customers, and a website gives you the space to tell your audience a bit more about yourself and your business – how you started etc. Not everyone will want to know this, but there are those who like to know who they’re buying from, and your website gives that personal service.
  • First impression – Not only does having a website make you more credible, but it also shows that your business is established and that you are experienced at what you do. Even if your competitors are stronger than you, a well-built, mobile friendly website can entice customers to choose you instead. You might operate your business from the tiniest desk space in the corner of your dining room, or make your products in your tiny spare bedroom, but when you have a website, your customers don’t see this. All they see is the power of your brand – size doesn’t matter!
  • Advertise your business – Your website is your ultimate advertising tool. For a relatively small investment in the cost of setting up your website, you can reach millions of people. It is that one brochure that the entire world has access to – no printing and re-printing when you have new products – you just add them online at the click of a button. You can include tons more information and images than you could afford to put into a brochure…or that there is space for in online shop sites or social media. It’s a fantastic marketing tool that is constantly relevant and up to date.
  • Saves you time – Your website can tell people who you are, where you are and what you do. Without a website, you may spend endless wasted time on the telephone or email giving people directions to where you are, giving details of the products you sell or the services you offer. Your website gives all these details in one, easy to access space, available 24/7. Not only does it give these basic details, but it also gives more detailed information about your products. Then, when people do contact you, it’s generally about something more specific or to actually buy from you or use your services.
  • Reach a huge audience – A website puts you in front of a worldwide audience. Business often comes from word of mouth, and this is a fantastic way to get local business. You may have business cards that you give out at craft fayres or commercial networking events, which is great, but to expand and reach customers that don’t know you, the internet is the way forward. And if you do give out business cards, having your own website looks professional and gives something for the recipients to look at when they get home after an event.
  • Customer Services – Your customers are the most important part of your business. You can improve the service you give them by including FAQs and a Contact Us page on your website. Customers can not only leave comments and recommendations, but they can also ask questions. You can collect your customers email addresses, and with their permission, can send them regular updates about new products or services through your email newsletter. This makes them feel valued and valued customers will come back to you time after time.

How to promote your website

Now you know the importance of having a website and its benefits, how do you promote it to reach that wider audience?

Before I start on this, make sure that your website homepage gives readers the information they need, quickly and succinctly. You need to include:

  • Who you are
  • What you can do for them – the main benefits or your products/services
  • How they can contact you
  • How they can make a purchase
  • CTA – call to action – what you want them to do next.
  • Links to your social media pages

OK. Let’s look at the promotion.

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation

Now, I see this title and often glaze over! But it doesn’t have to be like that. SEO is just a matter of making sure that your website content includes the terms, keywords, and phrases that your potential customers will use to search for businesses like yours. This involves you knowing who your customers are and what they type into search. Have a brainstorm, produce ideas, and look at what words/phrases your competitor uses.

You can also use a free keywords tool (https://www.wordstream.com/keywords/

You can type in your website address, or your competitor’s website address…then choose your business category from a dropdown box, and the country you are in – it will then show you the most popular down to the least popular keywords that people search for. I must admit, it’s pretty amazing! Try it!

If you have these keywords in your website, in headings or subheadings, as well as in the text, the more likely you will be found by search engines. Focus on your product and service keywords first. For example, if you sell gardening equipment, you might include keywords such as, gardening…gardening tools, growing a garden.

The only thing I would say to avoid is using too many keywords – Google and other search engines will notice if your content is stuffed with keywords – the copy must still be relevant and make sense!   

And don’t forget to optimise images, by adding alternate text, using keywords.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is great as, not only does it improve your SEO, but it also gives useful information for your target audience. There are lots of different ways to include content marketing in your website.

  • Blogging is the obvious one. You can use your blog to give useful information that will help your audience; you can use it to talk about your products or services; use it to introduce new products or talk about special offers or products for a certain time of year, such as Easter or Christmas; is you have a book published or an article published in a magazine, you can give an excerpt and talk about it.

    A blog is a very versatile tool and helps bring traffic, and so potential custom, to your website.
  • Email newsletter is the other most popular form of content marketing for websites. You can have a pop-up box or a ‘click here’ button on your website, which asks your readers to subscribe to your email newsletter. When they sign up, it’s a good idea to have a lead magnet (a freebie that they get for signing up – could be 10% discount on their first order, or a free gift, E-book, checklist, workbook, audio or video, or even a free mini-course. Whatever you choose, it’s important to have something to entice them in.

    Once you have subscribers, you have your own email list and can send out regular emails, whether it be once a week or once a month, and share a bit about yourself, talk about things you’re doing, ask questions, promote your blog, promote your products and share valuable information with them. They have chosen to sign up, or opt-in, so they already like your business. Now it’s down to you to keep them interested…just don’t bombard them with sales talk and selling products, or they will unsubscribe. I also don’t advise sending emails too often. I unsubscribe if I’m getting emails every couple of days as it clogs up my inbox. I only send my email newsletter out once a month, but once a week is OK too – it’s up to you.
  • Podcasts are also good and work much in the same way as a newsletter, but you are talking to your audience via audio. Potential customers can sign up and, the good thing with podcasts is that they can be listened to when your audience are driving to and from work, doing the housework or just sitting quietly. It’s a great tool and becoming increasingly popular.
  • Video is another form of content marketing that can help you promote your business. You can share it on your website, in newsletters, on your social media pages, and you can set up your own YouTube channel to host the videos and reach another audience that way. Video is taking over and set to become even bigger in 2022, so it’s worth thinking about.

Whether you choose blogging, email, podcasts, or video, when you share them in your social media, or on other sites, you can put a link to your website pointing your readers or listeners to go check it out.

Social Media

We all know how effective social media can be in helping us promote our businesses. So long as you post regularly, consistently and give a varied array of posts, you will engage with your target audience. Networking is crucial to social media success, so make sure you join RELEVANT networking groups that will help your business.

You can do the odd post about your website and include a link; you can give a taster of a blog post and include a link. And you can advertise your email subscription. This can be done through posts, reels, or stories – or even live video…and always put a link to your website, so you are driving traffic back.

Update your email signature

This is one that people often don’t think about, but it’s the perfect place to promote your website. Just add your website URL under your name in your signature. It’s easy to do and can be highly effective.

Business Cards

You might send out business cards or thank you cards out with your orders. Make sure they include your website address. Another simple and effective way to promote your business.

Google My Business

Google My Business, or Google Business Profile as it’s now changed its name to, is a free must-have resource if your business relies on local people. It’s simple to use; you register your business and when someone searches for you or something you do, your business will be highlighted to them if they are local to you. You can link your website to your account, share photos and post short paragraph posts, which has an option to include a link. I share my blog posts on mine, as well as posting from time to time about my website and email newsletter.

You can add opening hours, contact information and a host of other things to make it easier for customers to find you in search engine results. The only stipulation is that you must have a Gmail email account to set it up. But worth it.

These are just a few ideas – there are loads more out there, but for starters, these are the ones I would advise to help you get traffic to your website.

As always, if you have any questions, or need help promoting your website, please feel free to message me.

Website strategy to increase conversions

With all the problems that people seem to be encountering with social media sites at the moment, it’s now even more important to ensure that you have a website. Social media sites are dependent on algorithms and they decide who sees and who doesn’t see your business page. But if you have a website, you own it and your domain, and are in control of how it’s seen by your target audience.

The most obvious reason to have a website is to convert your visitors into customers. Your website is your shop front and, if your products or services are what your audience is looking for, you’re more likely to get customers that buy from you.

A good homepage

The first thing people will see when they visit your website is your homepage. It can feel a bit overwhelming to try and decide what you want your website visitors to see first and it’s really tempting to give as much information as possible on that first page. You want to show off your products, services, awards, contact info etc., but keeping your homepage (and the rest of your website) simple is the key to more conversions.

  • Keep text to a minimum so it’s easier for your visitors to scan the page and focus on the headlines.
  • Have good headlines
  • Don’t have too many tabs that people have to go into to find what they want, and keep the navigation simple
  • Have a clear message on what you want your visitors to do – this is via a Call to Action (CTA). Position this before they have to scroll, so near the middle of the page. This could be asking people to sign up to your newsletter or sign up to a service for free. It could be a direct link to your product page
  • Your homepage design needs to make it obvious what you offer your customers in a clear and concise way
  • Use your brand colours, but don’t overwhelm you visitors with colour – again, simplicity is the best way to go

Conduct a website analysis

The first step to making sure your website is effective is to conduct a website analysis.

  1. Review your navigation bar (or tabs) to ensure that anyone visiting your site can easily find and access what they’re looking for – are they labelled clearly
  2. Look at the font sizes and colours – are they easy to read? Can any images be seen and do they load quickly?
  3. Check out your website on all devices – desktop, iPad or tablet and mobile – most people use a mobile these days and it needs to be easily viewed or people will find one that is.
  4. If you use Google Chrome, log into other browsers, such as Firefox or Bing and make sure it can be loaded easily from others, as well as the one you use.
  5. How long does it take for each page to load? People will lose patience really quickly if your site pages don’t load quickly.
  6. Look at your content – is it easy to understand, written in plain English and more importantly, written with your target audience in mind? Does it give them solutions to their problems and tackle their biggest challenges? Are your headlines attention grabbing?

Once you have all this information, you can focus on fixing anything that doesn’t work or that needs a little tweaking!

Search Engine Optimisation

The next thing to look at is to ensure that your website is optimised for SEO. This is all about making your website attractive to search engines, such as the browsers that your audience use.   

Use keywords and keyword phrases that are relevant to your business, and words and phrases that you think your audience will use when looking for your type of products or services.

Keyword research is crucial to your website being found and ranked on search engines. There are lots of keyword research sites out there that you can use – the Google Keyword Tool is a good one. It will help you find terms that are relevant to your type of business and help you understand how many people are searching for those terms online.

Once you have a list of your keywords and phrases, plan your content to include them. I don’t mean changing your content to absolutely stuff it full of keywords so that your content no longer makes sense or is valuable, but use some them to help your content – still make sure that your content is informational and entertaining, so it adds value to your visitors once they arrive.   

On-site optimisation – Another way to boost your SEO is to look at your headlines, Meta descriptions, images and image tags. Use keywords in these.

Link Building is another important factor. Search engines look for content links to help determine whether the content on your site is valuable. You can do this by submitting your site to different business directories, register your website with Google My Business, and to other browsers, such as Bing.

Add a blog to your website, giving valuable information about you, your business, your special offers, competitions or discounts. A blog can help you be seen as an expert in your field. You can share the blog link to social media, which will help drive traffic from there to your website.

Set up an email list – if you haven’t yet got an email list, it’s a good idea to set one up, that your visitors can sign up to. This gives you their email address. You can then send them a monthly email giving details of new products or services, special offers or discounts. In order to be compliant with GDPR, you must get the permission of anyone who gives you their email address – they must know that you will be emailing them with your newsletter and it must be clear that this is what they are signing up to.  

Adding a pop-up on your site is the best way to get people to sign up to your email list – AND if you ensure you use the double opt-in, you will be  compliant with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). As well as a pop-up, you can also set up a landing page, which entices people to sign up to your newsletter, by offering them something for free in exchange for their email address. This could be a checklist, eBook or pdf. It could be a recording, a podcast or instructional video. People like to get freebies and this is the ideal opportunity to do this for your customers and get something back in return.

Add testimonials – add a testimonial or review of your products or services on your website. It’s a good idea to put a testimonial on your homepage – this is social proof that you can be trusted and that your business is what you say it is – or that you do what you say you do. Generally, before people buy anything, they look at reviews or recommendations.

Images – make sure your images are good quality, clear and are not too large in size and don’t use too many. This makes your page slower to load. Use images in jpg format wherever possible as png format is slower. DO NOT take images from Google – they are often subject to copyright and you could find yourself with big fines. Use your own photos, or find images on a site whose images are free for commercial use. Sites such as unsplash, pixabay or pexels are good. When you add an image, add a caption to your image (this can be hidden), as this helps with SEO.

Paid ads – you can also use paid ads to boost your visibility and bring more visitors to your website. This could be through Google or through social media sites. You can also tailor your ads to a particular target audience by age, gender or interests.  

Although not done as much as it used to be, if your local area has a freebie paper or magazine, you could advertise in there too. This still works for a lot of people.  

Social Media

Social Media can help you in driving traffic to your website. Pick a couple of sites to focus on and use content to attract and engage your target audience. Don’t try and use loads of sites as being on social media is very time consuming, so ensure you do at least two sites really well…research your target audience, so you know which sites they hang out on and use those for your content.  

Keep your branding consistent on both website and social media, so your customers know that it’s you. As I said before, you can use social media to publicise your blogs – give your audience a taster sentence, then put the link to your full blog article. On social media, you can also show the human side of you too, by posting the odd personal thing – what you did at the weekend, or a photo of your pet or a family day out. This helps your audience relate to you on a more personal level and let them get to know you better.   

Contact details

Finally, make sure that visitors to your website know how to contact you. Give them your telephone number and email address. Make sure that this is prominent and obvious on your website, so that visitors don’t have to go searching for it. Usually, this is either on the homepage, on a tab at the top of the page, and also in the footer of your website. If your business has physical premises, make sure you include your business address.   

I hope this has helped you think about your website and how you can maximise the opportunities you have to convert your visitors to customers.

If you need help with your small business, feel free to email me – cindymobey@outlook.com

Improve the on-page SEO on your website

SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a term that refers to the way you can increase the traffic to your website. SEO involves making sure that the content you are publishing is rich in relevant keywords and phrases…and the way you organise headings, subheads, bullet points etc.

In simple terms, it’s the name given to the activity that endeavours to improve search engine ranking, in order for more people to come to your website and engage in your content.

On-page SEO

When you search for something on Google, you expect to find it almost instantly from the search results that appear. If you’ve asked a question, you expect that question to be answered in a few seconds. So, as a crafter of content, you want to help the person searching for your subject matter find it quickly and for it to be relevant and answer their search. Those of us who write content use many different types of websites, but no matter whether you use WordPress, GoDaddy, Wix or whatever, the subject matter/page layout is pretty much the same. Here’s a few hints and tips on how to improve the SEO on your website…

Create good title tags and meta descriptions

Title Tags

Title tags and meta descriptions are bits of HTML code in the header of a web page. When someone searches for a particular subject or asks a question on a search engine, search-engine-optimization-2613846_640the title tags and meta descriptions help the search engine understand the content of that page and the title tag and meta description is what is shown in blue link in the search results.

The title tag is what it says on the tin – the title element of a web page/ blog post that summarises the content of that page or post. Search engines expect the title tag to show relevant keywords and phrases that describe what your page/post is about. If Google doesn’t think the title is relevant for the page, it can choose to show a different title instead. So ensure that your title tags on your pages/posts show an accurate, compelling and succinct summary of what that particular page/post is about.

Tips for writing title tags   

  • The title MUST be absolutely and positively relevant to the content it describes on that page
  • Put important keywords/phrases at the front of the title tag to make them ‘pop-out’
  • Be natural – avoid keyword stuffing
  • seo-896175_640Every page on your website needs a unique title tag – avoid duplication
  • If you can fit it in, get your brand name at the end of the title tag – but it’s more important to get your message across first!
  • Keep the title tag to between 60-64 characters – any longer and it will be cut off and will just show an ellipsis “….”
  • Your title tag needs to entice readers in, so it should be eye-catching, exciting, compelling…make your reader want to find out more

Meta description or Meta tags

The title tag is limited, short and sweet, but a meta description (or meta tag as they’re also called) gives you more space to tell people what it is you’re offering – and to create a convincing and persuasive reason to click through to your website or blog.

So how to make that description compelling?

  • Focus on the positives of clicking to your page – use words like ‘your’ and ‘you’ to make it more personal
  • Include any special offers or incentives you might have
  • Encourage the person searching to take action now! Create a sense of urgency
  • Use emotional and psychological triggers

Tips for writing meta descriptions/meta tags

  • Make sure you have unique descriptions for every page on your website
  • Use relevant keywords and phrases – relevant being important here as your description needs to match what the page or post is about.
  • Don’t give away too much, just a teaser to explain what the page is about – tickle the reader’s curiosity!
  • Include a call to action…of course (!)…so your reader knows exactly what they need to do next and what’s in it for them.
  • Keep your meta description to around 150 characters. If you make them too long, search engines will cut off the end of your sentence.

Title tags and meta descriptions don’t play a direct role in helping you get your site to rank higher in search engines, but they are very important for reader engagement and for getting those readers to click through to your website.

Categories and Tags

What is the difference between categories and tags on a blog post?

What are they? How do you use them? Why are they so important?

There is quite a clear difference between tags and categories, but it’s very easy for users to get them muddled up. To be fair, in most instances it won’t matter for the end user, but here is a brief overview…

Categories

seo-592740_640As a general rule, you would use Categories to group the content on your website or blog into eight to ten segments. For example on my blog, some of the categories are Marketing, Small business tips, SEO, Customer Service.

You should aim for at least one category per post. If you forget to add one, it often defaults to ‘uncategorized’, which you really don’t want! It doesn’t make sense to your readers and looks unprofessional.

Tags

A Tag describes a blog post in more detail. So, for example, this blog post – I will use the word ‘tags and categories’ as one of my tags! Although Categories are important to have, you don’t need to have any tags at all if you don’t want to. I like to use them as it gives another way for my blogs to be seen by my targeted audience.

Alt Tags   

An Alt Tag is the name given to the labelling of an image on a website. If you hover your mouse over an image and the image has an alt tag, it will appear. It’s a very good idea to do this as search engines can’t see pictures or photos, so unless you tag them with a keyword or two, the search engine won’t display them to people search for that kind of image or keyword. This really helps with your SEO

Use the right URL to optimise SEO     

webinar-4216601_640A URL is your web address, for example, https://cindyfreelancewriter.com/

It identifies your website and gives a little bit of information about what you do or what your site is about. It is a very minor ranking factor for search engines, but if your URL contains a keyword, it can improve your site’s visibility. So, definitely worth a brief mention!

Have clear headings on your pages    

The main heading on each of your pages tells your readers, (and search engines), what the page is about.

Go through your website/blog site and look at all your headings – are they clear and to the point – do they match what the page is actually about? There is nothing more annoying than thinking you have found exactly what you’re looking for, only to realise that the heading doesn’t match the content.

Do include keywords, but be natural about it and avoid keyword stuffing.

Have quality content 

This goes without saying really. Look at all the content on your pages – does it match the heading? Have you covered everything your readers will be looking for from the heading? Does it include all the relevant keywords and their variations that you can think of and find?

Does it solve a problem for your reader? Does it address a common problem? Is it well written, so as to encourage engagement and is it a compelling read? Have a look at what your competitors do – now you know a bit more about structure, look at the way they include keywords, address problems, how they rank on Google.

Can you do better? Now’s the time to take action. Have a good look at your website pages and blog pages/posts and see where you can start making improvements.

 

What makes a good small business website?

In this age of online shopping, online gaming, Facebook, Twitter and the host of other ways we interact on the internet, if you have a business, a website is a no brainer.

Why do I need a website?

template-1599665_640The main reason is so that your business is showing up where your potential customers are….i.e. online! If someone is searching the internet for something that you sell, at some point they will come across your website. A website is like your shop front…but it is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It sells your products or services even when you’re asleep, on holiday or otherwise engaged. So you could be missing out on potential business if you don’t have one. And with loads of different website-building platforms to choose from, that have online tutorials and community based support, it’s a fairly easy process.

Other reasons to have a website include…

  • Your customers expect you to have one. People are generally inpatient these days and want instant access to information about what they want to buy.
  • 90% of consumers say that online reviews influence whether they buy a product or not. If you have a website, you can share positive customer reviews of what you sell.make-up-1209798_640
  • If you include a blog on your website, it will help you get your business messages across to your audience and shows a bit of your personality. It also gets information instantly in front of your audience, so faster than a printed ad or emailing brochures. Plus, you can put links to your social media sites.
  • You don’t need to be an expert in coding as so many website-building platforms offer tutorials and support.
  • Your competitors have websites…people use the internet to search for reviews and products they want to buy. If you’re not online, that business opportunity has gone.
  • With a website, you are never ‘closed’, people can find you 24 hours a day, bath-oil-2510783_640seven days a week. If you combine your website with a blog or newsletter, your customers can see when you have special offers and new products.
  • A website showcases your products and services – you can use fabulous images, downloadable PDFs to help your customers and video tutorials about your products. This can give customers no reason to go elsewhere.

On average, people spend 4-5 hours a day on a device attached to the internet and 97% of consumers go online to research and find local businesses. There are over 3.5 billion google searches done each day.

You might think your business is too small to have a website or that you can’t afford to have one, but with the many self-hosting sites around these days, you can easily do a basic site for yourself. But to really stand out, it is a good idea to pay someone to do it for you. And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune…and is well worth budgeting for. The price of having a website is much better than it could cost you by being left behind in technology.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is the web address of your website – the name that users will type in to get to your website and how search engines find it.

com-663980_640It’s very important to first of all choose the right domain name for your website because you will hopefully have it for a long time and it becomes part of your branding. You might want to have a domain that is your name.

I use my name, along with what I do www.cindyfreelancewriter.com for my main website. I use just my name for my blog www.cindymobey.blog

It’s best to keep them as simple as possible; keep it short and easy to remember, avoid dashes and use a dot com whenever possible. There are loads of places you can buy a domain name – GoDaddy is popular, but I used WordPress, as my hosting site was going to be WordPress.

Host sites

There are several sites to choose from – my personal preference is WordPress, but I have used Wix, GoDaddy and Weebly, when helping others with their websites. Usually, if you go for a paid website plan, (which can be as little as a few Euros a month), you get a domain name included.

What pages should I have on my website?

Once you have your domain and host site, you’re ready to start building your website. Here are some tips you may wish to consider…

When people go onto a website, it needs to be easy on the eye and most importantly, easy to navigate. So, a clearly labelled toolbar is essential and information should be clear and straight forward – people don’t want to guess what you do, or have to work hard to find the products or services they want. You have a few seconds to make and impact, so it’s browser-1666995_640important to do just that. If they can’t find what they want on your site, they can click away and choose someone else.

It’s important for a website to be friendly to all devices and most hosting sites let you see what your website will look like on a mobile or tablet device, so that helps!

For a basic website, I would advise including…

Homepage – This is the first page that people will see when they land on your website, so it needs to have maximum impact. Create a good design that entices customers in, so they want to explore the rest of your site. It needs to provide basic information,  so say who you are, what your company does and what you can do for your customers – what do you offer them? Also, where you are located – include a google map if you can to make it easier to find you, especially if you have premises. If you like doing videos, you could include a video explaining what you do and how you can help your customers.

Contact page – Your customers will want to know how to contact you, so this needs to be prominent and clear. If you have Social Media pages, make sure that this information is up to date and consistent across all platforms. Information to include are your name, address (or area you are in), your email address, telephone number and the hours you are open for business. You can also include a link via google maps to your location and include links to your Social Media pages.

bath-oil-2510783_640Products or Services – This is where you can give information about your products or services. Write a sentence or two about each product and give prices if you can, with images if possible. People shopping online need to know prices at a glance, they don’t want to find what they want, then have to send an email to find out how much it is – it’s easier for them to just google another company who does show prices.

About me/us – As it says on the tin, a little bit about yourself; if you have relevant qualifications, you can include them here and if you are a member of a professional body. The key here is not to waffle on about irrelevant information – it is good to add a photo of yourself, so people know who they are dealing with and you can also show your personality here by giving a little bit of personal information…just be careful not to get carried away!

Testimonials – People buying on the internet like to know what other customers think of your products or services, so including a testimonials page is a good idea. Some people include testimonials on the ‘About us’ page, but I prefer to have a separate page as it’s labelled so making it easier to find. But of course, it’s a personal preference.

Blog – if you write a blog, or are thinking of writing a blog, then include it on your website so people can learn more about what you have to say. A blog can help set you up as an expert in your field, as well as help you connect with your customers.

internet-315132_640

Please note: Wherever you can, on all pages, use good quality images. Put a good, clear photo of yourself and of your products. They always say that ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ and that’s certainly true to keep your audience’s attention.

Call to action

A call to action (CTA) is the opportunity for you to motivate your audience to engage with your brand and takes real steps towards becoming a customers. It might just be a ‘Buy now’ or ‘Find out more’ button. But it entices the customer to do something before they leave your website. You could use a button to point customers to subscribing to a newsletter, by offering a free PDF or tutorial if they sign up.

A CTA give direction to and creates a better user experience for your audience. It’s guiding them to the next step and customers expect them. If they’ve read about your business, like your products, they need to have easy access to what comes next. CTA buttons make it easy for your customers to buy from you, contact you… so giving them what they want!

Search Engine Optimization

seo-1288976_640Search engines, such as Google, are what brings traffic to your website, so you need to ‘optimize’ your site. It’s important to add keywords or phrases in your headings, text, URL and Meta descriptions. For more information on SEO, click here.

Look and feel of your website

It’s important to give some thought into what you want your website to look like. Before you design your site, look online at other people in the same field as you to get an idea of crayons-2774504_640what your competitors do…you can then get an idea of what you’d like your site to look like. If you have a logo, the colours, font and style of your logo will determine the design of your website, so that everything is consistent.

Once you know what colours and fonts you want, you can think about how you want it to look. If you have an idea from another site you’ve seen, then you can work from that. When I design a site, I like to draw what a site will look like with notes on colour, font and what features need to be included on each page.

Don’t make your site too busy as people won’t know where to look first – the old ‘less is more’ is good here!

The most important thing is to enjoy setting up your website and playing around with all the features until you get what you want. The good thing about having a website is, that once is it all set up, it’s easy to change it as time goes on and your business evolves. You can add more pages, change colour, font or whatever you want. So, don’t delay, get going now, it’s not as scary as you think!