What kind of website is right for your company?

IN A commercial world increasingly dominated by the web, getting your online presence right is a sink-or-swim issue. Do it well and healthy profits and happy customers will be the reward. Do it badly and you will do more harm than good to your brand and business.

So what are the key factors when deciding what kind of website is right for your company? Above all you need to meet the needs of your audience. Build your site and content around them. Don’t try to market to everyone, but think about who will be looking for the products and services you offer and target them.

“It’s a golden rule that small businesses must establish who the audience are before starting any build as the design and content needs to be relevant,” says John Dibb, head of digital at KISS Communications. “You have just three seconds to capture the attention of the audience, so unique tailored content is key.”

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To achieve this bespoke approach, ask yourself: who are you talking to? Successful sites all start from this question. The first step is creating a profile of your typical customer. This should include demographic information such as age, gender and income as well as broader data on personality, interests and lifestyle.

It’s not enough just to find out the basics. Ask yourself which websites your customers use, which social networks, which apps. Once you have all this information let it guide everything you do. But the work doesn’t end there. You must constantly continue your research in order to stay on top of industry trends and the competition.

The next stage is design. Dan Stanley, who runs the digital marketing agency Small Axe, says there are some fundamental rules. First, a good website needs strong visual assets. “Before you think about technology, remember the web is primarily a visual medium. Visitors will react first to your imagery, and second to the text describing what you do. Thinking about this first will often save a lot of trouble later on.”

Focus on conversions and remember that most visitors will be there to do something specific such as get a quote, compare prices or make a purchase. Work out what people want to do and make it easy for them to do it.

Capturing information is key to improving your website so make sure you can track sales and interactions with customers. Google Analytics, the most widely used free tool, can tell you who is visiting your site, where they come from and which pages have most conversions.

A digital marketing strategy is also essential. Stanley says: “You might have the best site in the world, but if nobody is visiting, it won’t be doing much for you. You'll need to consider how you are generating quality traffic from search, social media, referrals, pay-per-click advertising such as Google’s AdWords and more. Across all these channels, the key is creating good content.”

It is also increasingly important to optimise websites for all devices. A recent study by Google revealed that 67 per cent of customers are more likely to stay online if a site is mobile compatible, so this can be the key to success.

Rebecca Scully, managing director at Smarts PR, says it is crucial that SME owners capitalise on the growing use of mobile and tablets. “One way to achieve this is to incorporate responsive design,” she says. “This automatically adjusts a website depending on the device. This ensures that online features can be viewed and used properly and reduces frustration and a subsequent loss of business.”

This is even more important as purchases made via mobile devices are set to overtake desktops this year. Sarah Doney, director at Logo Marketing & Design, says that user experience should be as good on a mobile as it is on a desktop: “Small businesses must ensure their new website is responsive in order to future-proof their investment.”

It’s also important to update your site regularly as this is rewarded by search engines. If you're not updating every day you probably aren’t being effective. A blog is a useful way to keep things fresh.

Lastly, don’t forget to look forward. Your business may just be getting off the ground, but be sure to future-proof your site by using a content management system that you can adapt as your company changes and grows. That way it can evolve easily without costing the earth. As Matt Davidson of Startup Marketing says: “The last thing you want is to pay a company to build a site only for you to have to fork out again every time you want something changed.”