Radiant Network LLC is a top-class website development firm in the USA. We build websites that help you grow your business. Whatever the size of your organization, a website is an essential business tool. However, having a good-looking site is no longer enough – it needs to actively work for you by attracting new business and driving your company forward.
Be business-driven
Remember that your website is a business tool, and whilst the good design is important, first and foremost it should be business-led. Increasingly, current and potential customers engage with a company via their website, so think of it as your showcase. Consistent branding and developing a defined identity starts with your website – and is then carried on through marketing, stationery, brochures, and other activity.
Review and reflect
You may be perfectly happy with your website, but like any practice or procedure, it’s important to review it regularly to ensure that it still meets your needs and that of your customers. Does your site reflect changes in the marketplace? Does it still address your target market? Are the design, content, and graphics still relevant? Does it accurately showcase your business? If your website has been up and running for several years it’s difficult to remain objective, so it can be helpful to get an opinion from an outside source who can bring a new perspective.
Differentiation through design
People have such short attention spans and they will quickly leave a site that doesn’t capture their attention – and that’s where great design comes in. Thanks to faster broadband speeds and improved software, website design has evolved hugely. Graphics and images can now be bigger and better and are a key part of establishing and reinforcing your branding and identity. Great design is also another way that you can differentiate yourself from the competition, so ensure your site looks attractive and professional, as well as being functional. Ultimately, this will help to increase visitors, page view rates – and new business.
Work in progress.
A website should be continually developing. Unfortunately, many people tend to think of their website as a finished project, similar to sending a brochure to the printer, failing to take advantage of the fact that a website can and should be regularly updated by changing and adding relevant content. This can be done by writing blogs, adding to news sections, and creating links to and from your site. This is important because clients, visitors, and search engines are attracted by active sites. For example, if Google sees that content is being updated, it will visit a site more often, revising listings which is likely to improve both Google and page rankings. However, there is a specific skill to writing relevant content that features the most popular key search phrases on Google. These may refer to specific products or services, geographical areas, or a particular customer need.
Getting to number one
When people look for products or services online, the chances are that they will use a search engine, so your site must be picked up by them. Smaller companies might think that only larger businesses can achieve page one of Google’s listings, but actually, any company can rank highly if they use the right techniques and are prepared to put in the time and effort that is required to both get and stay there. However, the process is complicated by the fact that search engines are constantly changing, which means that SEO needs to be ongoing. It also requires off-site optimization which involves linking to and from other sites, carrying out social media marketing, and creating blogs and current content to enhance your site’s overall online influence.
Get your priorities right
It’s always best to have a clear strategy when marketing any aspect of your business – and marketing your website is no different. Set short, medium, and long-term goals but be aware that your web designer may not be the best person to help you achieve them. Designers often lack experience in SEO, which means that any optimization of title and meta tags will be at a basic level and unlikely to generate the traffic that an active marketing strategy devised with an SEO/web marketing specialist will achieve.
The value of online marketing
The internet is essentially demand-led, with SEO and some other forms of web marketing such as Google Adwords more highly targeted than offline advertising. This means that people who are actively searching for your product or service will be directed towards your site – so you get more bang for your buck on the internet than advertising in a magazine, for example.
New marketing methods.
In addition, companies are faced with relatively new strategies for web marketing including social media, YouTube, and pay-per-click, some of which they may be uncomfortable or unfamiliar with. Whilst it would be great to do everything, financial and time constraints inevitably mean that you will have to choose the media and tactics that work best for your business.
Be mobile-friendly
The popularity of smartphones and tablets as a way of accessing the internet has risen rapidly and will only increase in the foreseeable future – so it’s important to bear this in mind when setting up or reviewing a site. Having a mobile-friendly site is increasingly important and a site that is easily accessible for mobile users is highly likely to increase sales and raise your profile, particularly if your business is primarily B to C. This is a whole topic in itself but in a nutshell, a mobile site should be built around the existing website, carrying through the brand identity. From a user point of view, it needs to capture the key elements of your main site, offering a point and click functionality that allows the user to access the aspects that interest them.
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