When it comes to website development and SEO for small businesses it pays to get it right the first time. This means that there are certain guidelines that should be followed, whether the work is being done in house, or by hiring professionals to take care of things. The good news is that Kelowna IT Services is available online for most computer problems and networking systems, and you can book through their website. Web design and SEO are both at their core, very simple in concept, if not execution. This makes it easy to build a site that will attract targeted traffic which can be converted into leads and sales.
The Purpose of a Website
When it comes to marketing a business online, a website is the ultimate sales tool. Unlike social media, a business has full control over their website, and don’t have to abide by any ToS. In fact, they can do whatever they want as long as it complies with the laws they’re obligated to follow.
What this means is that a website can serve several different purposes simultaneously. Firstly, a website will be an overview of the brand that the business is presenting, giving visitors that exposes and endears them to that brand.
On top of this, the site can also function as a sales funnel, moving visitors along until they decide to open their wallets and make a purchase. This is just the tip of the iceberg though, as a website also allows a business to capture their visitor’s contact info and market to them on the back end. In most cases, this leads to even greater profits than the initial sales in the long run.
Customer Experience
Rule number one for any website is to make it a good experience for the customer. This means having simple, intuitive navigation, easy to read fonts, smart graphics choices, and a helpful internal linking structure. This is also important when it comes to SEO as Google has said that their search engine is programmed to favor websites that are “easy for grandma to use.”
Speaking of search engine optimization, the one aspect of it that goes hand-in-hand with web design is making sure that the site is mobile friendly. This is because most people do keyword searches using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Google and other search engines favor mobile-friendly websites because of this, and any website that isn’t mobile-friendly is losing out on a ton of search traffic.
On-Page Search Engine Optimization
A business website should also be built with on-page search engine optimization in mind. By targeting the right keyword, a business can rank highly in the search engines for them, and drive increased traffic to their website. The reason this traffic is so valuable is that the people are searching for those exact keywords, meaning that they are “buyer-ready,” and can more easily be converted into paying customers.
One thing that businesses should remember though is that keyword stuffing doesn’t work anymore. There is an art to balancing keywords and quality content. If a search engine finds that a web page is targeting a certain keyword but is of garbage quality, it will be penalized instead of boosted.
The Fall of Stock Photos
Recently Google and other search engines have been cracking down on something that’s been around as long as the Internet itself: stock images. This is because Google prizes original content, and stock photos are obviously not original. Not only is this going to have a huge impact on the stock image industry, but also on how websites are built.
A website needs images, that’s a given, but what will people do when stock photos are hurting their site more than helping? One solution is to use job sites like Fiverr or Upwork to hire graphics design artists and/or photographers to create original pictures. This may seem more tedious and expensive at first, but if Google and the other search engines keep penalizing stock photos, it may just be the best course of action.
Search Engine Optimization is Always Changing
Speaking of which, Google and the other search engines are always changing the rules of the game to try and give people a better experience. This means that what works today for search engine optimization may not work in the months and years to come. A great way around this problem is to have a search engine optimization company do regular audits.
Businesses that keep a close eye on their optimization will be less likely to suffer a catastrophic event such as having their pages deindexed for whatever reason. They will also be in a better position to keep their web pages at the top of Google and keep their competition from overcoming them.
Optimizing the Sales Funnel
While search engine optimization is a great way to drive traffic, it won’t mean much if a business hasn’t optimized their sales funnel. From point of contact to the actual transaction, every step of the process needs to be optimized. The best way to go about doing this is to test the funnel, then see where the traffic is “dropping off.” A business can then fix the problem, and test it again.
As a sales funnel is continual optimized, sales and revenue will increase steadily. This is especially true concerning back end marketing. It is much easier to sell to someone who has already made a purchase before, than to acquire a new customer.
Profitable Website Development and Optimization
A good business owner knows that while doing things right the first time is important, it doesn’t end there. There is always room for improvement, and with the emergence of new technology, there is always a new advantage to acquire. Continuous improvement means continuous profits in the world of online marketing, and the businesses that abide by this will be the real winners going forward.
