At Opus Creative, we are regularly asked for our advice on how to improve multiple clients websites. As every business website is different, we don’t have a standard formula that we prescribe to each client. Instead we study each business carefully, listen to all our clients needs and come up with company specific solutions to maximise the effectiveness of every website we design and build. In this article we have listed the top ten website design tips for your business:
10. Google Maps:
This may seem to be an obvious feature that every website should have, but it is often overlooked. Google maps offer an intuitive and interactive guide for potential clients to find your business. This can save your business the hassle of providing directions and enhance your Google ranking through Google Places.
9. Subscription Sign-up:
One of the best ways to keep in contact with your clients is by providing them with a regular newsletter. This contact allows you to remind your clients that you are still active, providing new services or products and can be a fantastic way to advertise special offers and sales. In order to gain more contact details to utilise a successful newsletter campaign, we recommend a sign-up form on your website. This can be done by using a form integrated into a single page, multiple pages or creating a pop-up form that reacts to page clicks or scrolling. Subscription sign-ups are a cost effective and very powerful methods of marketing your business online successfully.
8. Online Chat Feature:
This feature is ideal for a company that provide a service or product that demands a lot of customer or sales service. The online chat feature allows you to give instant feedback on any client queries. This feature can save your company time and money that are sometimes wasted on long phone calls or on response times to a build up of email enquiries.
7. Social Media Integration:
One of the best way of driving traffic to your web is by creating a conversation online. Giving clients the ability to share your services, products, bog stories or special offers to an online audience is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website and convert that traffic into paying customers. The type of social media platform used is often business specific, meaning that you should choose a platform that best suits you to update regularly and is geared towards your target audience.
6. Client Testimonials:
This is one of the most effective ways to gain new clients. We normally encourage all our client to integrate testimonials into their websites. Testimonials give potential clients great feedback on your product or service and most of the time are the difference between a client picking your business or a rival. We recommend using testimonials on one or more pages that comprise of a happy clients picture, name, position/business and feedback. Testimonials can be setup to allow clients to input their story on your website with your approval or can be manually entered. The more testimonials from visible people in your community the more likely you are to persuade new clients to choose your business.
5. Blog/News:
The creation of new content in your blog section serves two very important functions. Firstly it informs your clients of new services, news items and valuable advice related to your company. Secondly this constant stream of new content is essential for your business to rank highly on search engines such as Google. Most companies neglect the importance of a regularly updated blog resulting in lower SEO ranking, a poor online representation to potential clients with dated content and missing an opportunity to allow new articles to drive new traffic to your website through email marketing, search engine results and social media.
4. Mobile Friendly:
Due to the dramatic increase in usage of mobile and tablet devices to browse the web, the importance of having a mobile friendly website is paramount to every business. Mobile friendly websites offer two huge advantages over desktop only websites. Firstly the users experience is greatly enhanced by using a platform to helps them to find information easily on a mobile device. This leads to the user spending more time on the website and giving your company a far greater chance of converting the user into a client. Secondly, Google has started to rank websites on mobile devices by how mobile friendly each website is, you can find out more detail on this by clicking here. According to 2015 online statistics website Statcounter, 25.12% of Irish internet users exclusively use mobile devices to browse the internet and 10.6% exclusively use tablet devices to browse the web. This means that your company are potentially losing out on over 35% of the online market if your website isn’t mobile friendly.
3. Photography:
The vast majority of online users are affected and influenced by the visceral experience that a website communicates. The biggest problem with most companies is how they sell there products, services or themselves. Professional looking photography is proven to help sell your business more effectively than D.I.Y. photography or stock photography that is obviously taken in a different country. Using a professional photographer creates a far more lasting impression on your viewers. Original photography can help associate specific faces, services and products with your brand. Using amateur or stock photography is the equivalent of KFC using an amateur photograph on an advertisement to sell their food or using a stock image, only to find our that a rival has used this in their advertising. Pictures speak a thousand words, make sure none of those words communicate your brand in a misleading or negative light!
2. Branding and Design:
Setting your business apart from your competition is essential in building a successful brand. You might think that your business is completely different from a competitors and that might be the case. However, to a potential client who can’t tell the difference it invariably comes down to who looks the most professional. Despite having a better service or product than your competition, your business might lose out to a rival that sells themselves better through effective branding and an appealing website. Every business needs a logo that represents the business visually and in turn is memorable. Coupled with a consistent look across printed and online materials gives the viewer a great impression of your business. It communicates organisation, professionalism and advertises your business to the public creating brand awareness, followed by trust. A website that clearly represents your brand, is easy to navigate and appeals to your clients sensibilities guarantees a larger audience and a better chance of converting leads into sales.
1. Content:
The most important ingredient of every website is the content. A balance of great website content coupled with an easy to navigate platform is a certain recipe for success. Like photography, most businesses think that crafting effective copy can be done in-house. Unless you have an experienced in-house writer, we recommend leaving this work to a professional. A good copywriter will approach your website like a designer, finding out the hierarchy of information and communicating it to your audience in an appealing manner. Attractive and easy to read copy will also have a hugely beneficial impact on your websites SEO ranking. We like to think that every website is a story, your story. The story is unique, constantly evolving and it deserves the attention of skilled story-teller to do it justice. Most companies consider copywriting as a luxury that can be done without. In our experience ineffective copywriting is a far most costly long term mistake.
For any more information regarding any of the topics in this article or any other information feel free to call Opus Creative on +353 (21) 242 8689 or email us on hello@opuscreative.ie.
