How Your Website Can Grow Your Business

In today's digital age, the number of people searching online for services and information is growing exponentially. In fact, only 7% of adults in the United States do not use the Internet, according to a recent Pew Research Center study. With the majority of people online, having a website to promote your business is extremely important to your company’s success.   

Having a website is just the first step, now you need to attract customers. A great place to start is focusing on the customer experience by making your website easy to use and visually pleasing. Here are some ways to create an attractive website by focusing on your customer experience:   

1. Focus on appealing design. According to Go-Globe, people take only 50 milliseconds to develop an opinion about a website, and 94% of a website user’s first impressions are design related. Furthermore, 75% of users make judgments about a company’s credibility based on its website design, with 48% of people noting a website’s design as the most important factor in deciding a business’s credibility. This said, your website’s visuals are imperative to your website’s success. When designing your site, make sure it has pages that load quickly, is intuitively structured, uses easy-to-use fonts and colors, and features pictures that load properly and are adequately sized. 

2. Build it for mobile. An increasing number of people are searching via mobile. For example, 73% of economy-level hotels are searched for first on mobile, according to Sojern. And while people do not spend as much time on mobile web pages, they do visit mobile pages more often. Recognizing this, Google is updating their search algorithm to make mobile-friendly web pages appear ahead of those that are not. All of this considered, having a mobile website is essential for your business.  

3. Don’t forget your contact info. Decreasing the amount of effort it takes for people to contact you will increase the likelihood they will contact you. Creating a contact information page with your phone number, email, location address, and links to your social sites makes it easy for people to reach you. Provide your contact information on your social platforms as well, and have a “call now” button on your mobile website that will bring up your phone number with the push of a button. Remember, if you are paying for advertising to drive people to your site, your advertising dollars will be going to waste if people come to your site but cannot figure out how to contact you. Make it easy for them by placing your contact information in an intuitive location. 

4. Update constantly. Updating your website with fresh information can help drive people to your site. Content marketing through blog posts is a great way to generate new information. While most of the content you post will probably revolve around your industry, sprinkling in a few other posts can create interest. Once you have fresh content on your website, promote it on your social media platforms to drive even more traffic to your site.    

Once you have implemented these changes, how can you check if your website is customer friendly? A great way to assess the quality of your website’s customer experience is by testing it yourself. Imagine you are a customer looking to accomplish a task on your website. Does your website load quickly? Is information easy to find? Is your information up to date? Can you find contact information if you want to make an inquiry? Interacting with your own website as a user is a great way to determine the experience of your customers. 

Having a website is no longer just an option for promoting your business—it’s a necessity. Focusing on your customer experience is a great way to ensure you are taking advantage of all the business opportunities a website can offer.     

Sources: 

• http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/07/some-americans-dont-use-the-internet-who-are-they/

• http://www.business2community.com/infographics/importance-professional-web-design-business-website-infographic-01844379#334k9fp53xR8FQvu.97

• Leonardo. (2017, March 23). Drive Direct Bookings with a Killer Website [Video Webinar]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhNVha-C1Zs

• Wile, J. (2017). Laundry Marketing Secrets Revealed. Presentation, The Clean Show 2017, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV.