Startups and Their Website: Best Practices To Ensure Conversions

Businesses without websites do not have the same reach that those with websites do. A website is one of the most basic things that a startup needs in order to be legitimized. A business without a website can be difficult to find or difficult to find contact information for.  Simply having a website is not going to be enough to guarantee success but it is a step in the right direction. The first thing that a startup has to do is define what they want their website to do for them. For e-commerce, they want to sell on the site while others use the website to book appointments like that of a lawyer or doctor. The following are best practices for a startups website that should be followed to help with sales, leads, or appointment setting.

Designed With SEO in Mind

Ranking in a high position for a phrase directly involved with your business can help a startup immensely. Most consumers that do a Google search do not venture past the first page if they find what they are looking for there. The keywords on certain pages need to be set with search engines in mind. Those sites with good user experience will rank higher than those that have issues loading due to having too much media on the homepage. Take a look into optimizing the site for mobile users as well as this can impact search rankings as well. A startup does not want to cut out an entire part of the consumer demographic that only uses their smartphones or mobile devices for their internet activities.

Aesthetics DO MATTER

Do not use the website to show off a colorful or creative side of the business. Those companies that use bright colors with a difficult to navigate site can make the startup seem unprofessional. The last thing that a startup wants is to be seen as not a legitimate business entity. A website does not instill trust in the consumer if it reminds them of a site they had designed in class during high school. Keeping things like phone numbers and addresses in an easy to find a spot on the homepage is also imperative. For those sites used primarily to help book appointments, this should be at the top and also give an option to book an appointment online.

Hosting Has To Be Reliable

For those startups that rely on selling products off of their website, hosting could not be more important. A site going down due to server issues can directly impact the bottom line. Not only will this impact revenue but it can decrease future revenue as well. A customer encountering a site that is down once or multiple times might choose a more reliable online store to purchase from. Different types of hosting offer different benefits that make certain hosting solutions much better for sites that are e-commerce driven while others are perfect for simple sites used for lead generation. A few extra dollars a month is worth it when it comes to a startup as the website can help make or break the business.

Turn The Blog Into An Industry Resource

One mistake that many businesses whether they are a startup or an established company is trying to sell their services or products on every page of the website. The blog should not read as a commercial or in an advertorial way as visitors will quickly click off once they realize no useful information is given. Educating visitors can help increase brand loyalty and trust as some companies do not dedicate themselves to customer education. The blog being linked to by other industry publications will increase website exposure and help the site climb up the search engine rankings. If the staff at your startup is not the most proficient at writing this can be outsourced for a reasonable price. Content production companies can help write content that includes keywords that will optimize every post.

Running and maintaining the website should be at the top of the priority list for a startup. The above tips will allow a startup to have the website do work for the business whether it is increasing brand recognition or educating consumers. Take time and create the website with care as it is the first impression that most customers will get about the startup.