By 2022, most businesses have websites already. Chances are, your business has a website too. As the competition is growing stronger online as well it is important to position yourself online in the right way.
We often refer to the first website visit as a potential start of the relationship. Going to your website, prospects will get an impression of your company and will decide if they want to do business with you or not.
What most people don’t understand, is that you can have the best product or service in the world, but if your website doesn’t look good – you will lose customers. It’s similar to having a restaurant downtown, but it’s not enought. You need to have a good-looking design and a nice menu. These elements need to work together. Same applies to your website.
Today, we sat down with Sasha Matviienko, a Director of Digital at Toronto’s Digital Marketing agency growth360.
Sasha, tell us a bit about yourself. What does your company do?
At growth360 we have extensive experience working with businesses that prioritize local lead generation – construction companies, home services businesses in both B2B, B2C and even eCommerce. Over the last few years we’ve build this into what we call an Internet Marketing System, a tried & proven approach designed to generate Leads & grow your revenue online. Within this system we manage your website, SEO, Email Automations and a lot more, turnkey. This way we can follow the same exact steps every time to generate proven returns for our clients. Last year our average ROI has been at 11x of client investment.
Sounds interesting, do websites paln a major role in Internet Marketing System?
For sure, the website is always the foundation of everything we do. A lot of businesses come to us with a website that’s not really working for them – it doesn’t capture leads or convert visitors into customers. The first step in our process is always to evaluate the current website and see how we can improve it.
What should a good-looking website include?
Aesthetically, a good-looking website will have a clean, modern design that is easy to navigate. The colours, fonts and overall layout should be consistent with the company’s branding.
On a functional level, a good website will be designed with the user in mind. The goal is to make it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for and take the desired action, whether that’s subscribing to a newsletter, filling out a contact form or making a purchase.
What are some common mistakes businesses make when it comes to their website?
One of the most common mistakes is not having a clear focus on what the website should achieve. Too often, businesses try to cram too much information onto their website, which can be overwhelming for visitors. It’s important to remember that the website is not a brochure – it should be designed to drive a specific action from the user.
For example, Korean Ginseng Canada website has its product pages optimized really well. Look at the amount of white space, it feels fresh and easy to navigate. The website creates a clean, professional feeling and therefore the right mood for prospects to make a purchase.
Another common mistake is not keeping the website up to date. As your business grows and changes, so should your website. Make sure to regularly review your content and make updates as needed.
Finally, a lot of businesses don’t invest enough in their website. They either try to do it themselves or they cut corners by hiring a cheap designer. This is a mistake because your website is often the first impression potential customers will have of your business. It’s worth investing in a professional website that accurately reflects the quality of your products or services.
What other elements do you recommend implementing on a website?
In addition to having a well-designed website, it’s important to make sure that your website is optimised for search engines. A good-looking website is not worth it if no one can find it online.
Optimizing a website for search engines means solving technical probelms, using the right keywords, having well-written content and making sure that the website is easy to navigate. All of these factors will help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), which will ultimately lead to more traffic and conversions.
Some of the common website technical issues are:
- Not having an SSL certificate, which will cause a “not secure” warning to show up in the browser
- Not having a mobile-friendly website
- Having slow loading pages
- Broken links
- Not having proper meta tags and descriptions
Having content optimized for consumers & search engines is also important. Content should be well-written, keyword-rich and informative. It should also be updated regularly to ensure that it’s fresh and relevant.
Number three is not building authority for your website. Links are considered as votes by Google. We don’t recommend buying backlinks. Instead, consider creating quality blog posts, creating special tools and other approaches can be used in order to generate links to your website.
Is it important to make websites personable – to have photos of your team, founders etc on your website?
Yes, it can be helpful to make your website more personable by adding photos of your team or founders. This helps to humanize your business and make it more relatable for visitors. However, it’s not necessary to have photos on your website and ultimately it depends on your business and what you’re trying to achieve with your website.
For example, Welloona invests in its brand and I think in eCommerce it’s better to focus on your company brand, as opposed to going too much behind the scenes. However, in case you are selling products that are related to a celebrity or a specific designer, it may be a good idea then to talk about this person & their team.
At the same time, it is recommended to make your website more personable if you work in the construction & home services industries. Or other industries that require personal contact. In industries like these, it is important to have service pages, but it’s not less important to have pages dedicated to your team, your philosophy, values etc. For Citadel, it’s one of the most important factors – except for the quality solutions in network cabling & security camera installations they also offer service – it’s technicians and everybody else on the team that their clients see. So why not talk about your team on your website – it’s good for team building & it’s good for business as well.
What is one thing you recommend people fix with their websites today?
I think the best place to start is to identify why you have a website & what its objective is. Is it to sell, is it to tell a story or something else entirely? This is a good start & will allow you to move from there and decide what exactly to solve next.
About the author: Sasha Matviienko is an entrepreneur, writer, public speaker, and a founder of growth360 – Digital Marketing agency, located in Toronto.
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