So you have a small business but you’re are not sure if you really need a website. Let me ask you a simple question: What’s the purpose of your website? This seems like a no-brainer question to ask, but most small business owners don’t have a solid answer. They typically say “we want better rankings in Google” or “more traffic” etc. To succeed, any small business needs to know it’s objectives before it can start talking about features and design. We want to know what business goals you hope to achieve with these improvements. Business websites will generally have the following primary goals: Generating leads Sell products or services Generating referrals Building credibility What’s your goal? Make sure that whatever goals you set they are SMART goals! We use HubSpot’s SMART acronym when setting business goals for websites. Here at 77th Floor Online, we often see small businesses shying away from expanding their online presence. Usual reasons can include not having the budget available to invest in a website, a fear that the product would not sell online or that websites just do not work! WEBSITES WORK In this day and age, if you invest with the correct local web design company and they can help you. At 77th Floor we put the needs of your customers & prospects first when addressing small business website planning. We make it easy for your visitors to take action in order to achieve your business goals. Request a free Quote See our...
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Getting your company’s site up and running is the most important phase of digital marketing that you’ll experience thereafter, so getting this phase right is critical! Our Part 1 shows you how to build a strong digital foundation. 77th Floor Online wants to make sure that you are comfortable with the sink-or-swim moments in your journey, so that you can be successful in bringing your site to market. Launch your website, get your audience, and change the game! Choosing a Web Host Ensuring that you have a best-in-class web-hosting partner is a critical piece in the puzzle. Before you are ready to launch your site, you should partner with an industry leading web host to discuss the type of services you’ll require, the amount of traffic you estimate that your site will get, your plans for future growth, and the intricacies of the information you might hope to collect from your visitors. Once your vendor has this information, he or she will be able to determine whether they can host your site on the level that you need and provide you with a detailed quote. Make sure you really assess whether your vendor is able to support the bandwidth you need, as well as providing safety and security to your visitors. Beautiful Design The first thing your customers will notice when they view your site is the intricacies of your web design. Not only do you need a beautiful aesthetic design, but also ensuring that your site has a great user experience and seamless functionality across platforms is critical. Partnering with a vendor that can provide both design and guidance in understanding the vast intricacies of web design. Search Engine Optimization Now that you have a site up and running, it’s time to make sure you’re getting noticed. As you launch, there are a lot of things you can do along to way that will save you time later! Knowing what you’re doing from an SEO perspective pre-launch can ensure that you’re set up for success as you go live. Partnering with a knowledgeable vendor can save you tons of time, money, and frustration in the long run. Vendor partnership and learning is one of the most beneficial things you can do as you get your site up and running. This relationship will ensure that your site launch is a success from the start. 77th Floor employs a team of experts that can be a great resource for you in your journey. Visit...
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How many times have you come across a website that has a home page video that takes forever to load or Flash content that doesn’t even show up on your mobile device? Can’t begin to count how often I abandon a search because I couldn’t find the information I was looking for straight away. A website is the virtual face of a business and it never ceases to amaze me how many business owners completely neglect this element. Would you go to a potential client meeting without taking extra care about your appearance? So why don’t you spruce up your website? Treat it like a first date…. 5 ‘Must Haves’ for your Small Business Website These essential elements will help to make sure your website is successful and gets you to where you want to be! Less is More in Website Design The goal today is to create a clean and professional website that is visually appealing AND helps the visitor find what they are looking for without getting over whelmed. Try to keep everything simplistic, or even minimal with only your most crucial content highlighted. Sometimes less really is more. Put yourself in the shoes of who’s coming to your site! What are they looking for? What is the ultimate goal of your potential customer? Confusing navigation layouts will result in people quitting a page rather than trying to figure it out. Sprinkle your website with action items which will help your customer easily do what you want them to do. Call to Action Every website should have a call to action! The call to action is a way to give the visitor a clear route to achieving their objective. When developing call to action buttons, consider what you want the visitor to do: what your primary aim is, and how this fits in with their objectives. Is it to complete a sale? Or do you want them to call you or subscribe to your newsletter? In which case you need to have your phone number and contact form easily visible to them. Whatever it is, you will probably want to drive a sale in some way. Why don’t you let us help you come up with some innovative ideas to drive your business Thou shall not neglect thy Blog It would be nice if you could just take the time to build your website and wait for the traffic and sales to come your way. But sadly it does not happen that way anymore. Ask me…I know it from personal experience. Regular fresh content is what helps to rank your website and pull in the traffic. A...
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