If you’re setting up an online business enterprise, your website should have all of your attention for quite some time, as you painstakingly develop what is effectively your window into the world. If you don’t actually have a physical address for your place of business, or any kind of “concrete and glass” operation, the overall appearance of your website will tell your potential customers or clients just about everything they need to know about your company.
Ideally, you should post your entire website on your own server, so you don’t have to rely on the operating hours, rules or regulations of another entity. If you don’t have much experience with coding, choose one of the simplest platforms, allowing you to work on your site without this effort taking up all of your time. If you know that any alterations to your site represent a formidable challenge, you’re much less likely to keep up with its development. Online business companies such as iCapitalise can provide you with a very user-friendly option, using a WYSIWYG approach.
You have to find out how the World Wide Web actually works, and what it really takes to to truly make your website visible to the masses. You will want your website to appear within search results when your prospects search for something that you could provide. This is quite complex, as the search engines themselves utilise a variety of rules to determine what is appropriate and what isn’t. The ongoing process of “SEO” helps you to customise certain appropriate parts of code as well as the complete build of your website. There are quite a few experts in the widely renowned arena of website development, and to stay ahead of the game, you may want to look into hiring an expert virtual assistant to help you stay on the winning team. At the very minimum, you need to have an understanding of the basics, including what your favoured “keywords” are and how the content on your page should be written.
Think back to how you used to write essays when you were in college, where you would structure and lay out your content to retain a natural progression of ideas, then apply this same system to your website development. You’ll have a variety of different pages, with an array of separate topics covering products or services, each of which could easily result in additional pages of associated content. Inside the home page you need to have a crystal clear description of your business, with prominent links providing a logical path of progression for visitors to move through as they look over your business information.
Visitors rarely take the time to read all the information on your page, and this is where the term “surfing” originated. A large percentage of people tend to look for “frequently asked questions” and other areas where they can quickly scan through to get a good idea of what you’re providing. Therefore, don’t forget to compile a FAQ and link to it prominently.
A blog is a very important part of an online strategy initiative, and you would do well to include one within your website. Social media is becoming very important as we go on, and your blog represents an opportunity for you to update daily news and information for prospects and interested parties. You should make sure that you keep current with blog posting and establish a close bond between yourself and any visitors. If you’re clever about the type of content you include, you could end up creating your own social “buzz.”
Even though you may only have an online presence, visitors will be looking for reassurance before they do business with you, and because of this, you should include your contact details in a visible position for when this trust is established. Take a photograph or two of the owner and key staff, as this helps to add a human touch to your site. The customer service contact number is essential and a physical address is highly recommended.
Once your website is up-and-running, make sure that it’s maintained on a very regular basis. You should learn as much as you can about search engine optimisation, and get to know software packages that allow you to analyse your visitors. The analytics program accessed via the Google website is a great and free tool, enabling you to set up goals and events that can help you to see whether certain promotions are working for you.
Michelle Dale is The Managing Director of Virtual Miss Friday, a cutting edge Executive Virtual Assistant Service which assists organisations and enterprising individuals with every detail of their entrepreneurial aspirations. Do you want to peruse some further information on these incredible online business building success strategies? Contact VMF Now!
