In the modern age of marketing your website is the nucleus of the your cell. Without a well designed website you might as well throw in the towel. All other marketing is contingent upon having a modern, fully functional website.
Banner display, pay-per-click, email marketing, and social marketing is useless if you don’t have a great website. Designed well, a website can build engagement, grow your social presence, build a community around your brand, convert leads into sales, and track the data behind all of it.
1. Design Is King
The first order of business is design. A poorly designed website will get high bounce rates, and most users won’t get past your home page. You don’t want that, so here are some design tips to follow when constructing your site.
Keep in mind the browsing behaviors of the internet.
User’s reading patterns most often resemble a capital “F.” When someone arrives at your site, it should be clear what your intentions are and what you expect the user to do.
Consistency is the key to branding on your website.
Pick a color theme, preferably one that isn’t garish or distracting, and keep it consistent. A consistent theme should be chosen for icons, buttons, and navigation as well. Make it easy for your visitors.
2. Keep It Social
Whether or not you believe there is an absolute ROI to social media (and there is), snubbing the social game is not the picture you want to paint with your customer base. Remember those Millenials won’t stay young forever and will soon comprise the majority of your customer base. Hopefully you are taking part in the social media world, and if you are, your website should help you build a bigger social following.
Link to every social account.
Every page within your website should contain social icons that link to your social accounts. Don’t make people search for your Facebook or Twitter accounts. Make it easy for them to become fans.
Let people share your thoughts.
You don’t have to be the only bearer of your message. By including share functions, you encourage people to become evangelists of your story. Word of mouth is the strongest marketing you can receive.
Have a conversation.
Social media has turned the communication between business and customer into a two-sided affair. While the prospect of being openly criticized by your audience can be scary, dealing with criticism out in the open is excellent exposure for your brand. To have a conversation, add a comment section under individual pages.
3. Website Steroids
Bake up some cookies.
If you want to build up an audience for some digital marketing, enable your website to tag the browsers of visitors. These browser tags are called cookies. These cookies allow you to retarget your prospects once they have left your website.
Don’t forget the MAP.
A MAP or marketing automation platform allows follow up as prospects engage with you. As your traffic grows and customers requests for products and services, marketing automation ensures you don’t miss a lead.
Perform some experiments.
A/B testing creates two versions of your site that visitors can see. You then simply track each version through a platform like Google Analytics and see which version performs better. There is always room for improvement and A/B testing is great way to find ways to make your site better.
These are just a few tips for building and maintaining a great website. Add some of your own in the comment section.
