A website is one of the most important marketing tools in today’s day and age. There are multiple reasons for businesses to invest in their website. While many agencies will talk intensely about creative work that leaves a lasting impression on your customer through forward thinking design, or clever social media campaigns, we see the benefits of investing in your website at a simpler, homegrown level.
Legitimacy
At the very least, your website needs to legitimise your business in the market. There’s a time and place for highly creative or technical digital work, but first and foremost – users who find your website online need to understand, at a glance, that you’re a real business and smart enough to know that your customers are going to use your website as the first port of call in selecting you for any which product or service you’re offering.
Your website design doesn’t need to push design boundaries…
…but it should present your business as within the 21st Century (and of course, a design that does push boundaries is even better for your users to engage with). One thing is clear though – outdated designs will push customers away. Today’s users have formed habits from using websites and the user experience across dated websites clash with these habits. Your website should 100% be mobile optimised today as majority of users across most audiences will be using mobile to browse the web. Users will quickly exit a website that challenges them in usability and mobile user experience is a key consideration when considering a website design update.
Modern Design
A design that appears to be visually modern also acts simply as a justification that your business is in fact open and operating. Many customers today are fickle and will quickly turn away from your website simply because it doesn’t look like it’s been updated in many years. They’re quick to assume it’s closed or that the content itself is outdated and therefore unreliable (think product pages, price lists etc). It’s important to give your website a fresh coat of paint every five years at the least. General digital design best practice and trends change over this period of time, as do user expectations.
Keep your content current
This opens up another tip for ensuring your customers will use your website as justification that you’re legit – frequent content updates show that you’re actively using your website for marketing purposes. Current price lists, notice of upcoming sales and even blog content will show your customer that you’re considering them as a user, and not relying on them to contact your directly. Their trust in your content and overall offering will increase. Current content will also minimise the amount of general query phone calls your business receives – giving you higher qualified customers who do pick up the phone to speak to you.
Bonus SEO benefits
Frequently updated blog content will also do you favours in SEO. Search engines use algorithms that identify keywords within meaningful content, and rank this content higher within keyword search results. We all know how often we dive deeper into Google search results past page three – slim to none. Higher SEO rankings will attract more online traffic.
Your Online Identity is Crucial to Success
We’re not saying that your website needs to present a grand website design with a technical beast behind it, or that you need to hire a full time content writer to ensure you have blog content every second day – but you do need to take these tips into account and invest in your online identity to turn your website into the marketing tool it can become.
Article by Creative Thinking Media
