This week’s article follows on nicely from my How to Get Started with SEO last week. With 95% of adults aged between 16 – 74 years in the UK being recent internet users, when surveyed by ONS in 2018, we know that almost everyone is online. Then when we consider that 85% of consumers research online before making a purchase, having an online presence has never been more important to sell your products or services. Having a professional looking, responsive website with valuable, relevant content has never been more important when it comes to being found online.
So, if you don’t currently have a website for your business, or you are looking to revamp and improve an old website, here are 5 things to consider when building your website.
1. Which CMS should you choose?
The CMS is the Content Management System and is something you can use to build your website. There are many pros and cons of various systems, but I would like to point out a few key differences between WordPress and WIX as an example for you.
WIX is hosted by the company itself and then you can use their drag and drop editor to build the site. It works if you don’t want to dive into anything too technical, but WordPress has much more in terms of functionality. The greater scope of WordPress allows you to build a site that is as simple or comprehensive as you need. Plus, you can also choose where it is hosted and it is much easier to move around if you wanted to swap your hosting package or company in the future.
So be careful not to get sucked into a third-party platform like WIX which looks appealing at first to build your site, but then you find the functionality limited as your business grows.
2. Make sure the website shouts YOU and YOUR BUSINESS
By this I mean that your new website should fit in with your brand and your values. It should be instantly recognisable as your business from the brand you are building, or have built on other platforms like social media. Consider the imagery and graphics you use to make sure they are on brand and tell the story you want them to.
3. The balance of providing value while also being found online
The content on your website should provide value to the reader, whether that is by sharing information about your business or by sharing tips, guides or insight into the industry you’re in. The content should be creatively written to include keywords and phrases that are well researched and will be the search terms that people are using, to help you rank highly and get found on Google and other search engines.
4. Work in progress
You shouldn’t think about building your website and then it’s done and forgotten about. It should be an active part of your marketing activities and strategy, with regular updates and content added. Think about how you can continue to provide more value through your website, either with a blog or by adding new pages and more information.
5. The upkeep we’ve just spoken about… Who’s going to take charge of it?
Once the website has been built, will you take on the upkeep yourself? Or will you have an agreement with someone else to take care of it? These are all important things to think about as it is much more than just adding a blog article once in a while. Consider the security of your website too and ensure you know what to do if you were to ever come across any problems or your website goes down. You may pick things up quickly and are able to learn how to update your website, but do you realistically have the time to do it and the expertise or team to turn to if it goes down?
There is so much to consider when building a website, whether you build it yourself or you find someone to build it for you. Hopefully the 5 points above have given you some things to consider when setting out on that journey of building a website for your business.
If you would like any further information, then head over to my Instagram and Facebook pages where I post regular tips and tricks on all things marketing.
Or if you would like to discuss anything further or to chat about getting a website built by Wardle & Wilks, then please do get in touch and we can start that journey together.
