A business’ online presence seems to have become vital in today’s business world regardless of the industry or niche of an enterprise. As such, it may be necessary that every business today has to adopt its own website.
In fact, research shows that 85% of consumers, whether looking for products or services, would do an online search before engaging with a business in any way. This makes it important for a business to have online visibility. Creating a standard website just to appear on online searches isn’t difficult. There are numerous web creation tools available for free or at a fee.
Of course, you’d want your website to show more than just search results. You’d want your site to help generate profits for your business. This would require your website to have some enabling features that would make your customers want to engage with you further by buying your products or services. Here are five tips for building a profitable website.
1. Choose The Right Web Host
A reliable web host is vital for the success of your website. It’s the foundation of your site, and it’s what makes your website accessible to visitors at all times. It’s like a rental space for your online presence.
“But with so many best web hosting providers, it could be difficult to get the choice right. Some web hosts such as Pivotal’s hosting and similar web hosting providers opt for specialized hosting for enterprises.
Web hosting has three main types: shared, dedicated, and cloud. They are defined as follows:
- Shared: In this type of hosting, you’re sharing the server with other websites.
- Dedicated: It means the rented server space is not shared.
- Cloud: This is a virtual space consisting of numerous physical servers. If one fails, another one takes over instantly, meaning there’s never downtime.
Aside from considering the types of web hosting, you’d also need to take into account certain essential aspects when choosing a web host for your business. Some of them are the following:
- Their downtime
- Availability of a professional email
- Customer support and availability
- Backup services and how far back they go
- Scalability
- Room for growth
- Ease of switching to another host, if need be
- Reputation
2. Make Your Website Easy To Find And Understand
Your domain name should describe your business or be your business name. Using a domain name that doesn’t reflect your line of business would throw off visitors. This is because they wouldn’t be able to relate the domain name with what they’re looking for. Apart from a clear business name, the website needs to have a clear purpose. When visitors go to your site, they should know what you do and what you need them to do.
In addition, ensure your website branding is solid and professional. The domain name, colors, images, fonts, and anything representing your brand should be coherent.
3. Make Your Website Mobile Optimized
It was estimated that in the first quarter of 2022, about 54% of traffic on all websites came from mobile devices. This percentage is exclusive of tablets.
This means it’s important for your website to give mobile users an excellent surfing experience. If your site doesn’t offer good loading speed, a simple user interface, and a great user experience, you’d likely end up losing customers. Some of them might never even come back.
Therefore, your web design must be responsive. This means your site should look similar and perform similarly on different devices.
4. Have An Accessible Web Design
Your website must cater to all people regardless of their physical and mental capabilities. The benefits of building a website accessible to all are immense, considering the purchasing power held by different categories of people. Creating an inclusive website would boost your brand reputation and popularity.
5. Have A Strong Call To Action
As earlier mentioned, you need to make it clear to your site visitors exactly what you want them to do. A call to action (CTA) could include calling, booking an appointment, buying a product, signing up for a service, or downloading. The website should have a clear way of how the visitors should do all these.
Keeping them at the top of the page would eliminate the need for visitors to look for them everywhere on your website. Also, they have to be eye-catching but without being obstructive. Placing your CTA at a strategic place on your webpage could increase conversions significantly.
Final Thoughts
Your online presence should meet the users’ expectations and needs to remain competitive in the modern business landscape. This could be done by being easily accessible, relevant, engaging, and straightforward. Building an enjoyable and seamless user experience could help significantly in creating a profitable business.
As you build, don’t forget you’re selling a brand. Like how your physical premises are branded with your brand logo, colors, and images, so should your website. You need to create a high-quality online experience that keeps up with your brand perception. The web page needs to give a story that visitors could relate to. Don’t forget to include team photos so visitors would know they’re dealing with people.