You may have built your website several years ago and the site has been working reasonably well. But is your website really clicking with your customers?
With over half a million new businesses starting in the U.S. every year, it’s important to make sure your website accurately reflects your brand attributes, has the latest information on your products and services and makes it easy for customers to interact with your business.
To attract more customers and revitalize your business, consider refreshing your website. Here are some ideas to consider.
Attract More Customers with a Website That Matches Your Brand
In today’s competitive marketplace, your website should quickly distinguish your business, convey your unique selling proposition (USP), highlight your product and service benefits and help convert customers from website visitors to buyers. If you’ve mastered how to prepare your website for the holiday season, it’s probably time to start thinking about a refresh for the new year. A fresh new website creates a positive first impression, makes it easy for customers to navigate and gives them a reason to return.
Make Your Site Customer Friendly
Your customers typically have many choices and little time and patience. Your website pages should load quickly – a good guide is three seconds or less. Free online tools like Pingdom, WebPageTest and GTmetrix allow you to conduct web page download speed tests and evaluate the overall performance of your site. Slow loading speeds can typically be corrected with smaller image files or by finding a website host with greater data storage capacity. Look for broken links that can frustrate readers and result in missed sales. You can make this process fast and easy with free website link validators, including BrokenLinkCheck.com.
Over 60 percent of all online searches for businesses are conducted on mobile devices. Make sure your web design translates well to smartphone and tablet size screens to ensure visitors have the best possible experience. Few things are more frustrating than having to pinch and squeeze web pages on a mobile device. Make it easy for customers to quickly find what they are looking for, especially on small screens.
Create Engaging Content
Consider a search engine optimization (SEO) audit to ensure your site is attracting new customers and reflects your target audience, mission and expertise. Enhance your SEO keyword strategy to help your business rank in online search directories like Google, Yelp and Bing. With nearly 90 percent of all customers beginning their search for products and services online, leverage this opportunity to grow your business.
Another great way to attract attention online is to develop blog content that positions you as an industry leader and provides readers with updates about your products, services and brand. Obtain new testimonials from your customers and highlight them in a post that shows how your business is a leading solutions provider in your industry. You should also consider including a comments section within your blog channel to encourage responses, questions and input. It’s a great way for readers to interact with your brand – and for you to learn more about your customers.
Refresh Your Online Image
Does your website accurately reflect your mission, brand objectives and product and service offerings? If not, you should update your site to match the current state of your business. Consider adding a website header and rotating sliders and banners with your latest business details. Replace any elements using Flash functionality with newer HTML5 animation and enhance your graphic elements so they look current and load quickly.
Be efficient with product listings and make them easy to read and access. Consider adding media files to your site, like short videos to capture readers’ attention and audio that tells your story in an easy and effective way. Creating new content enables you to connect with customers, tells them more about your products and services and encourages them to take the next step and make a purchase.
Your site should feel progressive and show your customers that you are not only keeping up with the times, but you are also one step ahead and looking to the future.
Enhance Your eCommerce Options
Enhancing your eCommerce tools is a great way to generate online sales and increase revenue. Over 2 billion people make purchases online every year – use this to your advantage and gain a competitive edge. By setting up an online store to showcase your products and services, you’ll make it easy and convenient for your website visitors to make purchases. An eCommerce option means your business is open 24 hours a day and you can even make money while you sleep.
You don’t want to keep your customers waiting, so create an online purchase experience that is fast, easy and builds brand loyalty. You can convert website visitors to buyers by offering an online discount on your home page and then encourage them to buy again with a discount on future purchases. To ensure your customers feel comfortable buying on your site, you should update it to make online purchases easy and secure.
Trust an Expert Partner
You started your business to be your own boss. When you have a long task list and little time, it’s best to trust an experienced online marketing partner like Web.com. Our professional website team can refresh your website and get you back on track toward the productive and profitable online results your business deserves. After helping over 3 million small businesses thrive online, we’re ready to help you do the same.
“If your website makes customers wait, their money is going to make you wait.”
– Amit Kalantri, Author
Improve Your Website to Create Refreshing New Business Opportunities
Make sure your website always clicks with your target audience. With these refreshing ideas and tools, your website will have a great shelf life and will continue to attract customers in new and engaging ways.
2023 Website Design Trends
90s and Early 2000’s Designs
You know what they say, everything comes back around. The 90’s and early 2000’s are back, in a big way! While this trend isn’t inherently new for 2023, as it was big in 2022, we’ll continue to see an increase in this trend when it comes to website design. Think 90’s themed graphics,
Art Deco Website Design
Art deco is back and better than ever – think elaborate parties of the 20’s complete with all the symmetrical pieces and geometric shapes your heart can desire. This 2023 website design trend falls in line with what we’re expecting to see in 2023 fashion trends as well. Consider using shades reminiscent of metals, bits of glitter and if you’re feeling really adventurous, a smidge of mercury glass!
Experimental Typography
Another emerging trend for 2023 website design is experimental typography! This typography encompasses unconventional fonts to tie in fun symbols and characters to create everything from a luxury style to a minimalistic style with a little flair.
High Contrast Website Design
We’ve seen high contrast design trends in home décor the last few years and the trend is now making its way on to our 2023 website design trends list. With this trend, we expect to see darker colors used more with a primary focus. Think deep, dark colors with a much lighter, contrasting elements.
Minimalistic Website Design
If there’s anything we learned from 2020 it’s that minimalism is here to stay. What better way to put your products and services at the forefront than by simplifying your design.
What 2023 website design trends are on your radar this year?