Did you know that 96% of Americans shop online? Still, in spite of this crushing number, we still have 29% of small businesses without an online presence! This happens because some business owners see the web process as an off-putting task that requires advanced technical skills and large investments.
While it does take advanced technical skills to put up a site the proper way, in today’s world the investment is not that big, especially if you find the right people to work with you. For instance, we are a web design company in the Milwaukee area, and we work on a wide range of web and mobile app development projects for small businesses.
Also, in the hope that business owners will start to see the web for its true value, today we want to talk about web practices that help you grow your business.
#1: The Responsive Design
In our day and age, most people use their phone or tablet to go online and, if your site doesn’t implement a responsive design, you will lose a large share of your possible clientele. Even more, search engines like Google modified their algorithms to boost mobile-friendly sites while leaving the classic ones behind.
So, if you want to make sure your business will grow, you should talk to a graphic designer about a responsive template.
#2: Call People to Action
It’s important to be straightforward with your site’s visitors and ask them to do what you want them to do. In the website design world this is called a call to action, and it’s very important to know how to implement it.
For instance, if you want visitors to sign up for your newsletter or you want them to start shopping, create the perfect path that will lead them to the action. Some of the best online stores took off because they knew how to make visitors understand what they can get from the moment they landed on their home page.
So, don’t get yourself lost in describing your mission or talking about how you got in the business. There is a special section for this, but your home page should be about the relationship that can be established with your customers.
#3: Clear Contact Details
In web design it is very important to keep an open channel between your company and your customers. That’s why you must make your contact details visible at all times. Also, it’s important to show you can be contacted via several channels, not just by phone from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week.
Some customers may not be available in this interval and they may want to send you an email or leave a chat message.
#4: Be open about your History
As a web design company in Milwaukee, we always encourage our customers to tell their business story. By opening up about your difficulties, you show you understand other people’s tough times and you help them relate.
Still, it’s important to keep it simple and connect your history with your services /products – if your story is long, people tend to go over it or they will get bored halfway.
#5: Be Social
Many business owners make the mistake of thinking that having a website is enough. Sadly, in a world where mobile app development is the word of the day, you must make efforts to put your site in front of possible customers. And this is where the social aspect comes in.
Invest time and some money in your social media presence in order to reach people that may be interested in using your company. Still, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to put up a page on every social media platform known to man – choose a few channels and stick with them until you see some results.