The world today has gone digital and businesses have to adjust and blend with the changes in technology, they have to innovate to remain relevant. The internet is one of the technological advancements that has changed how business is done. The days of checking for business profiles on print directories are past gone, today if you need information about anything a search on google is the first option. A business, therefore, has to create an online presence on the internet.
In this post, I will highlight and explain how you can have your business online through a website. The website serves as an online platform where you showcase your business products and services, provide links to your social media accounts, and providing a contact platform where clients can get your contact details.
What a website can do for your business
A website is one of the marketing platforms and a platform to offer and sell services and products for your business. People google for products or services on google and may land on your website, once on the website they may place an order or they will contact you. For an automated website that has features to receive payments online using payment gateways such as Mpesa, Credit Cards or Paypal can run with minimal human intervention. E.g A website selling a service such as Generating CVs can simply generate the CV once payment has been made without the intervention of the website owner, for her/him s/he will just be receiving SMS or email notifications for the complete order and payments.
That’s how powerful a website can be for a business. Take time to read through this post to understand what you will need to have your business on the world wide web.
For you to have an effective business website you need to consider the following steps:
- Domain Name
- A Hosting Provider
- Develop the Website and Publish it Live on the internet
- Market the website
- Keep updating the Website
A good Business Domain Name
Many websites exist on the internet and they are identified by a domain name. A domain is a unique name that is registered with domain registries, it is the name that appears on a website URL, for instance for google their domain is google.com
A business will, therefore, need to come up with a list of the prospective domain name to use before considering developing a website. The domain name must be unique and not an already existing one. You cannot have two domains registered under different persons; therefore, you need to check on the availability of the domain.
Tips on Choosing a Good Domain Name
There are several reasons why a business needs to choose a good domain name. The domain needs to be descriptive and memorable for people searching on the internet. Having a good domain name will also help a business website rank top on google search engine and other search engines.
1. The domain should match the name of the business. E.g. Lewmas Digital Solutions domain is lewmasdigital.com. This will help people find your business on the internet since the majority search on google by the business name as the keyword.
2. The top-level domain should also rhyme with the business client’s targets.
There are different top-level domain extensions and they all used for different types of websites
You can check availability of a domain below
Chose a good Hosting Provider
A website hosting provider is a business that rents out server space for websites. Once the business website is developed its files must be stored on a server for the website to be accessed by anyone globally over the internet.
The cost of hosting varies depending on the package a business chose. There are two major categories of Hosting Services;
A Dedicated Server
A dedicated server is one that a business owns and only its websites and programs are stored on the server. It’s more expensive as compared to a shared server, it’s efficient in terms of response time because it’s only serving one client.
A Shared Server
A shared server is one a which several businesses share the server resources. This one is cheaper and its response time is not as fast as that of a dedicated server.
Developing the Website
A business needs to have a classy and attractive website that will be captivating to its visitors. The website must be developed and themed to match the business branding in terms of colours and logos among other brand identities.
In developing the website, the business must engage an expert developer with answers for the following questions:
- What type of website do we want as a business? Is it a website to engage with customers, or a website to makes sales, or just a website for posting updates?
- What features must be implemented on the website?
- What is the goal of having a website?
Essentials to include in the Website Design Plan
1.A Must-have website Pages
A basic business website should have a Home page that summarises everything about the business, an About page that has a comprehensive description about the business, a Service/Products Page that lists the services or the products the business is selling and a Contact Page that provides all the business contacts and address.
2.Social Media Integration
A good website must have the business social media profiles integrated on the website so that it can grow its followers. On the website, social media links such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc can be placed at the top of the website. Facebook page and a Twitter wall can as well be embedded on the website; with this people can read the Facebook post and twitter tweets from the website without necessarily visiting the social media profiles.
3.Lead Forms
One of the major aims of any website is to collect potential customers’ information visiting the website. This can only be achieved by having numerous Lead forms on the website to collect information such as names, email addresses, mobile number and other information a business may deem necessary. These data can then be integrated with the company’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for future follow-ups.
4.Call to Action Buttons
A call to action buttons is placed o the website to prompt a website visitor to take an action like download a file, subscribe to a newsletter, get a quote, etc. Have you visited a website and on leaving a pop-up showed up asking you to download an eBook or get a free quote? I am sure once you clicked on the prompt it aside for your information such as names and contacts, this is the aim of the Call to Action Buttons.
5.Engaging Content
A business website must also create engaging content such as blog posts people can read, videos they can watch, an audio file they can listen or even games people can play. The aim of creating the engaging content is to keep the visitors glued to your website and as well keep them coming back to visit the website.
Marketing the Website
Once a business has created a website and published it Live for the wold to see, the next big challenge is marketing the website so that daily people are interacting with the website. A website that does not attract visitors is a failed website project.
There are different marketing techniques a business can implement to drive more traffic to its website;
- Use Social Media
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Advertisements
- Affiliate Marketing
All these strategies are discussed in-depth in the Digital Marketing Post
Updating the Website
Your business website will need to be updated from time to time by updating the website codes and scripts to enhance website security. The website will also need to be updated as the business adds more products and services to incorporate changes that occur as the business grows.
The website needs to have a dedicated staff to keep track of any updates required in cooperation with its developer.
Conclusion
You need to have a superb website for your business, and that what we are good at. You can contact us for a quote.
A website developer and digital marketing consultant.