Steps Towards a Successful Business Website

A business website is the first introduction of a corporation or a company to its customers. It is a medium, through which a business owner or a corporation can spell out its mission, vision, values and above all its services to its potential customers.

What constituents are required to makes a good business website design? It is a question which results into many myths. Some believe that a good business website has nothing but eye catching infographics which are an effective method of communicating the right message to your target audience as it catches the eye and provides the consumers with to the point and direct information about the services of the business without any irrelevant content.

 

While others hold that a good website should be full of headings, sub-headings, and paragraphs full of tech savvy content to make an impression on the customer.

Let’s analyze how experts design websites for businesses in order to boost their growth and create an effective impact on minds of consumers and their potential customers.

Understanding the Target Audience for Your Business Website

Most businesses want to launch their websites in a matter of days. The business owners believe that as soon as they will launch their websites, it will boost their businesses in no time. In the process of doing so, they ignore the basics of designing a relevant website for their business.

Different target audiences have different preferences. If your business serves the older generation then maybe your website needs to have a larger font size, subtle colors and a language which is acceptable to them. If your products are for the younger generation then your website needs to be a responsive website so that they can view it on their smart phones wherever they are. These minute details play a very important role in the creation of a successful business website. The overall appearance of the website should comply with the taste of its target audience.

Things to do:

• Define your target audience. It makes the website designing process more precise and accurate.
• Don’t mix your high tech products with complex websites. Your industrial household products may be used by housewives who are not tech savvy and prefer viewing simpler websites with less tabs and graphics.

The ideal Text to HTML Ratio

This ratio actually means the proportion of visible text to HTML components which include images and non-visible information. Search engines for instance Google places more importance on websites which are content driven as compared to websites which contain more graphics and images. This ratio is not directly responsible for the ranking of any business website but there are many factors which are associated with it. Thus, in order to boost the growth of a business website, the ratio of Text to HTML should be such that the percentage of content is higher than the number of codes and images present on the same web page.

Things to do:

• Avoid unnecessary white spaces
• Comments in the code should be removed
• No mathematical Tables
• Images should be resized
• No hidden text

Color Scheme, Layout and Tone of the Website

The color scheme of the website plays a crucial role in the development of an eye catching business website. Many professional and impressive business websites have been categorized as failures due to poor or dull layouts.

While working with a specific brand, designers usually use the colors of the logo of the company, business or the brand for which the website has been developed. It is very important to choose the right shades and tone of the logo colors so as to make a long lasting impression on the viewer. The colors should not be too loud to push the viewers away from the website neither too dull to give it a boring look.

Adobe’s creative built in tools are a great help in this regard. The color guide allows you to choose any shade and hue you want and facilitates in creating your desired pallets.

Things to do:

• Maintain a perfect balance of color and shades for an eye catching business website.
• Less colors make the site dull but if colors are too loud, the site simply repels its viewers before they can even become your customers.
• Stick to the basics. The color wheel can be your best guide to choose analogous and complementary colors for your business website.

Clear and Precise Business Strategy

No matter how your business website design looks with vibrant colors and no matter what the tone of your website’s content is. If your business website does not provide the viewer with a definite business strategy or the means and methods to carry out the business venture, the chances of your viewers to become your customers diminish drastically. Eye catching business website designs not only contain great content, visually effective infographics, but they also provide the consumers with a plan so as to how the business will be conducted. How the products will be sold to the customers and how the transactions will be carried out. Is the website only a medium to advertise the business on the internet or are there any means of carrying out the transactions online.

Things to do:

• The consumers should be able to chalk out how to carry out a business transaction.
• The easier the process appears to them the more willing they will be to carry out the business venture.
• Include a site map to showcase your products, services and terms and conditions of your business.
• A sitemap can automatically be generated if your business website runs on Joomla, WordPress, Magento or Drupal.
• Don’t confuse the consumer. If the website is only to advertise your business and not to carry out online transactions, give specific details.

Offer a Free Giveaway

For a successful business website, the website design must incorporate text information or a graphical image of a free giveaway. The word ‘free’ attracts the visitors more than the word business. Nobody rejects anything which is free. Especially if it’s online. If one of your products is lagging behind in the business world or you want to re-launch it, couple it with a popular or existing product as a giveaway. A pleasant JPEG image of both the products catches the eye of the visitor as soon as he enters your website and he wants to become your customer instantly. The catch is to promote your less popular or an emerging product with an existing and in demand item so that the customers can buy that particular product in future.

Things to do:

• Instead of giving a discount offer a free giveaway.
• Insert a nice picture or an image of the giveaway.
• Mention this deal on the top right corner of your website so it doesn’t go un-noticed.

Incorporate a Live Chat dialogue Box or an Email Contact Form

Usually small or emerging business websites cannot wait for the customers to get in touch with them through phone, email or postal address. It is always better to offer online assistance to the consumers through a live chat dialogue box so they can inquire about any queries they have regarding the business’s products, services and concerning the methods of transactions. Email contact forms also are an effective way to reach the customers more effectively and quickly.

Things to do:

• The website design should incorporate a live chat dialogue box for instant online communication.
• The operators should be online 24/7 or else can be contacted during a time slot mentioned on the website.
• Contact forms should be easy to fill and must be responded in the given time period.

Engage Your Online Visitors and Customers Through Your Social Media Channels

What a business website must include are the icons or widgets of their social media platforms’ homepages. A consumer usually wants to connect with you through your facebook page more than your newsletter or blog to get instant updates regarding your products, services and new ventures. What a business website must inculcate in its design are the tabs to the mediums of social media channels such as twitter, facebook, linkedin and other such outlets to advertise and sell their products to their target audience.

Things to do:

• If the business’s online presence is restricted to your website only it’s time to establish yourself on facebook, twitter and other social media platforms.
• Useful content and images of existing products and upcoming services of the business should be updated regularly on the social media channels.

Design an Engaging, User Friendly Interface

This is the most important aspect of designing a user friendly business website. The pros and cons of creating a contemporary and technical website should be weighed carefully. A website with appealing colors and easy navigational methods is welcomed by any visitor who can be your next potential customer.

However, it must also be noted that technological advancements although make the websites a treat for the visitor’s eyes, they can be a hurdle in boosting your business. For instance, Flash can limit any website’s search ranking potential as the content produced on it cannot be scanned for keywords. The load time for the website may be increased and it can be incompatible with certain browsers. A frustrated online visitor is less likely to become a future customer. Moreover, Flash usually does not appear on certain smartphones thus this feature would be useless for tech savvy mobile phone users.

Things to do:

• The user interface of the business website should be easy and without any hassle.
• The graphical content or videos which can slow down the website’s load time should be replaced with simpler content and broken links should be checked regularly.

A Good Business Website = Good Sales

An effective business website has exceptional content, crisp images, is user friendly, designed for its target audience and is updated regularly. The website design should have no broken links, hidden charges and deals which currently do not exist. It should provide the consumers with honest and updated information about the business and how to contact them and carry out business with them.

Most business struggle to be in the industry as their websites don’t mention the services they provide. In fact, the website should be the mirror image of the company’s values and services. The text and template are the tools employed to sell the business online but it should provide the online visitors and consumers with updated information, accurate contact information, correct URL’s of their social media platforms and the response to every possible query which can arise in the mind of the consumer. In the end, a user friendly business website is the first step towards carrying out a successful business.

Summarize Visual Representation

A successful business website can grow your business by leaps and bounds. This infographic shows how a perfect business website can effectively provide clear and precise information about its services, products, transaction policies and other business related queries. Both the business owner and its potential clients can greatly benefit from a successfully designed business website.