Buckling Down and Finding your Brand and Purpose

It’s 2018, and the world is ruled by the web - phones in hand, tablets strapped to our hips, laptops never far out of reach. We’ve surpassed the age of asking our neighbors who their favorite roofers are, and we seldom refer to a phonebook for seamstresses and caterers. It’s all about the web nowadays, which is why your small business desperately needs a website. But you don’t just need a website --- you need the right website. Before you start your planning and designing, ask yourself these five questions to help tackle the task:

Will my site make people more interested in my business?

       There’s a simple answer for this question: yes! Not only will more potential customers be able to find you, learn about you, and contact you, but they will be able to learn on their own about what your business is like and how to stay in touch with you and your business.

But don’t just take our word for it. A great amount of research has been done to see how effective company websites are. Check out the numbers:

• 70-80% of people research a company online before doing business
• Businesses without a website lose about 37% of their business to businesses with a website
• 68% of website viewers visit the store or business within the next 24 hours (and 50% of them make a sale that day!)

Having a website makes information about your business easily accessible and attractive in the digital age. It’s working for others, so it’ll work for you too (and you don’t even need to pay a website overtime).

What does my brand look and feel like?

Branding your business can be tricky. Evaluating your service, defining your target customer and client, and working to appeal to these ideals is a long, winding road that is tough to navigate. But since you’ve taken the time to grow your business from the ground up, you’re already halfway there. You know who you are and what you do, so now let’s channel that strong brand and allow your website to mirror it.

Write down a list of works that describe your business - professional, fun, family-oriented, community-minded - and consider the way your business is projected to the public. Decide what you look and feel like; is your business warm and comforting, tough and masculine, or bright and playful? Be sure that this matches your services - meaning your financial services company probably doesn’t want their website to be pink and purple with Comic Sans as your main font. From considering these questions, you should start to understand the look you want for your site as well.

What information should be gained from my site?

Once you’ve tackled your website’s look and feel, it’s time to focus on your website’s purpose. Will you be selling your merchandise on your site? Will your website inform customers on your full list of service and allow them to schedule your service? Will your site be where customers can access your menu to decide whether to eat dinner at your restaurant? To decide, check out your competition - local and far away. See how their website is being used, what information they have, and how your site can be better.

Of course, there are a few essential pieces of information you need to ensure that your site is optimized for your business. Your website should clearly state what you do: ‘Real Estate Agents in El Paso,’ ‘Boston-based Pet Groomers,’ or ‘Windsurfing in Miami Beach.’ Your site should feature links to your social media, menus and services offered, testimonials, an ‘About Us,’ frequently asked questions, and direct ways to contact your business. With these pieces of information, your company website will be informative and give visitors what they are looking for.

How will I market and manage my site?

Once your site is built, it continues to need marketing, monitoring, and maintenance. It’s important to make sure your site has a URL that is easy to remember and identify so visitors can easily find it. You want to share your website on social media pages, encourage people to check it out, and direct customers to it for information and answers to their questions about your business.

But let’s face it - you’re a business owner, and you don’t always have time for that. You may want to consider delegating marketing your site to a specific staff member or other company. This way your site stays up-to-date, any issues with your site can be fixed quickly, and you can be responsive to any contact your site’s visitors have with you.

Can I handle the geeky stuff?

Figuring out what you want your site to be like is just the beginning. Afterwards comes coding, HTML, graphic design, writing, formatting, editing, and search engine optimization --- and even those are just the beginning. And this doesn’t end on your desktop-friendly webpage. With smartphones being used just as frequently (if not more) than desktop browsers, it’s important that your site is optimized for mobile viewing as well.

There are a variety of site that allow you to create company websites for a small fee, but doing this on your own is still difficult and time-consuming, and often times doesn’t complete your site fully. For your small business’s website creation, check out Responsival - a company specifically for small businesses that will design and manage your website to optimize sales and user experience. They take care of all the hard stuff and you end up with a fantastic website.

Getting your business’s website started isn’t always easy, but it is most definitely worth it. For all your business’s web creation means, check out Responsival: the best web designers for responsive and affordable sites.