By Sharon Jones
We all have different desires for our online presence. Some people simply wish it to serve as an online portfolio, some a full stock and store of products available for sale. No matter what business you run, or what space in the market you occupy, a website serves as a form of marketing. When a consumer or client loads it up, they will experience a first impression, and largely make the choice to use your services based on the web presence you have. Of course, we all know that a website filled with bad spelling, bad formatting and limited practical usage will dissuade us from spending there.
However, it’s 2017, and you’re more intelligent than to sport one of those bad websites. We’re not going to insult your intelligence by waxing poetic about the benefits of having an attractive website. We will instead discuss and explore what your business really says about your brand. Remember, life is now online, and your website is often going to be the number one resource people use to research you. For that reason, it’s so important to get it right, and if not right, perfect.
In the following article we will discuss tips, methods, tricks and things to look out for when establishing your online presence. Even if you feel comfortable and satisfied with your current online offering, you may glean some valuable information here, so be sure to read on:
Personality
Your website is your platform to show who you are. This is true for the most humble of freelancers, to the most international of corporations. Within the first five seconds of visiting your website, a client or consumer should have an immediate understanding of what you’re about. There are many ways this can be achieved. From the color palette you use, to the fonts you employ, to the very first-page combination of text and images they are greeted with. If you have something to say, make sure you say it here. For example, if you run a podcast, and the website is here to host a back catalog of your episodes, you should place a summary of your podcast type and maybe a ‘meet the crew’ section on the homepage.
If you work as a freelance photographer, immediately placing a slideshow of your best and most attractive work should be a must, even before you display your name. Visitors want to get to know you, and they’ll make their judgement of you around many small, seemingly unimportant things. The way your website works to present this information to them should be considered, almost more than the content itself. Your goal should be to engage, inform, and retain, always in that sequential order. If you get this right, the visitor will feel their time is respected, and they’ll feel informed and ready to navigate to the rest of your website.
Modules
The modules you use to display your website will vary from person to person, but on the whole, this can be tailored to fit you. For example, if you have an extensive product range, then displaying some of your most popular or promotional items on the homepage, and easy access links to view more products should feature prominently. However, it’s not all about what’s on the homepage. The rest of your website matters too. Modules and flipbooks provided by BrandBits.com are great ways to show a ‘greatest hits’ of your website with an attractive UI design, one with a tactile feeling of feedback on the part of the user.
To use the freelance photographer example, this can be a great way to present your best work, in a way that offers it naturally to the user. Sometimes, clients are looking for one sort of style in particular such as wedding photography, so having a module that allows for a natural navigation between categories can help you always give the most relevant and appropriate content desired.
Navigation
The navigability of your website often speaks more than the design you employ. If using your website is a pleasant experience, that almost signifies that your business will offer a pleasant experience, no matter what services you offer. This works on a much better and deeper subconscious level than carefully witty text can. Great navigability is a toss up between wise linking between pages, the amount of content that needs to be loaded, and the website service you are using. If you’re using a great service provider such as Squarespace or similar, the navigability of your website can be preselected and work from the same convenient base.
If you are designing your website from scratch, you should put a large amount of emphasis into the custom navigable flow. Website and UX designers are trained to achieve this, and in their design guide the eye to the most appropriate clickable elements. This is the place you want to spend the most money, as content you can always generate, but the feel and use of the website is something that you can’t afford to get wrong.
Unique Selling Point
You should see your website as a product or a service all by itself, as another asset for your business or freelance work to generate income from. As with any asset, you look for the exploitable value within, and make it work for an audience. This doesn’t always have to be a large audience, but the right one. Certain people will want to see certain things, so it’s important to know who you’re appealing to. For example, to use the comedy podcast example, a funny website with in-jokes and perhaps even weird themes could be appropriate. For a medical aid website, the professional, clinical design with very little creativity could work best to reinforce a serious and competent image.
Identify what makes your product/service/brand offers that no one else can, and design your layout around that. This not only supports the image you are promoting but helps appeal to new consumers. After all, the home page of your business should be considered the hub of your online presence, so getting it right is as important as designing a great logo and a suitable business name.
Reliability
Nobody wants to see a website down for a long period. This not only deters sales, but it can lose you important customers. Your firm should always be seen as a pillar of reliability. We’re going to use the freelance photographer example to bring this down to a more humble perspective. For a service gig like this, a freelancer should provide the image of being reliable and dependable, someone who is sure to show up on the day and perform the paid deed to the best of his/her ability. If a wedding party looks to your website to judge your material before hiring you, a long period of downtime could give you an image of being flaky, which will dissuade them from hiring you.
This should help support our point that your website is an extension of your brand, and not just a useful implement it uses for added exposure. In order to benefit from constant uptime, be sure to hire a reputable service provider with a proven track record of staying online. You should also look for constant 24/7 support to help you through the most difficult of issues in a prompt manner.
Friendliness
While beauty, appropriate design, uptime, unique selling points and more can all contribute to bringing in and retaining customers, assessing how friendly your site is will contribute the most to engaging your clients. Is your website making their experience interacting with your firm easier, or more difficult? What are you truly offering all sides of the exchange, and can you improve this? For example, if you haven’t already a support ticketing system to rectify client issues quickly, you should look into this. Staff employees on live chat stations direct phone support, and allow for clients to make accounts that hold a history of past problems. This can accelerate and streamline the time it takes for them to find value in contacting you.
If affording this seems a little out of your budget, then it’s important to place contact information at the foremost page of your website. If you are being contacted for a number of common issues, then a great ‘FAQ’ section can help answer most of the questions that are required. This saves the customer time in even contacting you. If you have a product line, then why not make it available for purchase online? Why not let them see stock levels? Why not let them see upcoming promotions in advance to schedule their purchases there? Great ideas such as customer loyalty points, the ability to refer friends to online accounts for purchasing power, or simply allowing them to personalize products online could all go the extra mile in making your website relevant.
As we mentioned before, your website should bring something new and innovative to your brand, so much so that it’s considered the de facto place to conduct business. This attracts an audience worldwide, so the benefits are hard to understate.
Languages
To follow up the point about international trade, if you have the means providing versions of your website in multiple languages can work wonders for opening new trade lines. Google has its own translation software in browser which can help customers navigate alien pages, but developing your own in-house solution can work brilliantly too.
History
As your website is the most important and de facto place to do business (if you plan it right,) why not use it to celebrate the life of your firm, freelancing, or service offering? Place a lengthy and detailed narrative of your history, your goals, your business mission statement, your inspirations and a great explanation detailing why it is you do what you do. This can serve as a regularly updated place where new clients can truly get the full picture of your brand if they so wish. The title of this article ‘what does your website really say about your brand?’ is answered when you post a full listing of information about exactly who you are. This way, the website will say, at least through its exploration of your history, exactly the story you wish to tell. This is your website after all, so make the most of it.
With these tips, you’ll be sure to experience a wonderful new website design, or feel comfortable in the wisdom you have applied to your current online presence.
