In today’s online world, your website will ultimately end up as the hub of your business and your digital marketing – all things lead back to here. This is regardless of whether you are an e-Commerce business, a bricks and mortar shop, a restaurant, or a local tradie – there’s no avoiding it – your website will be pivotal to your business – best get it right.
These are the top 5 mistakes to avoid when building your website (so you don’t make them) so you have a fully functional, online ready business tool:
- Not having a Marketing Strategy & Business Plan– buying a domain name and getting a website live is not going to make traffic to your website magically appear – before you get started on your website, you need both a marketing strategy and a business plan that will outline:
Marketing Strategy:
- What analytics/tracking system will you use? Eg.Google Analytics
- Will you employ SEO techniques, PPC techniques or both?
- What social media platforms will you use?
- What connections can you make to move your brand forward?
Business Plan:
- What are you selling?
- Who are you selling to?
- What problem are you going to solve for your customers?
- Who is your competition?
- What will you present to the online world?
Determining both of these, before building your site will give you clear directions of where you are going and how you are going to get there (and know when you’ve arrived).
- Not having a realistic idea of the work involved – Building a website that will suit the needs of your business is a lengthy process. This is not an overnight job so be realistic about the time it will take to build your site and generate traffic
- Choosing the wrong host and/or eCommerce platform – While there are many free options available, you might end up with a site that doesn’t have the functionality you require now or in the future. Consider all of your options and your long term website requirements before committing your business.
- Not enough balance between design and content – When a reader lands on your website you have only a matter of seconds in which to stop them from clicking away. The design, colour, banners might keep them initially, it’s the content, the message that will have them stay and engage. It’s important to get this balance right – too much one way or the other and you will lose a fantastic opportunity to make a sale and build an ongoing relationship.
- Being too blog focused – Blogs are a fantastic way to generate traffic to your site, providing fresh content and building a reputation as an expert in your field, but unless you are primarily a blogger, your website needs to offer a whole lot more.
Have a chat with the team at Website Design Centre about how you can avoid these 5 mistakes in building your business’ website.
