Download Beginner`s guide to websites

Beginner’s
guide to
websites
Why being online
is smart for business
JOE’S
ONLINE
Why should I have a website?
These days if businesses
don’t have an online
presence it can really
work against them. More
than 82% of Australians
now look for products and
services online1 so it’s more
important than ever to be
in the same place as them.
Often the first interaction
your potential customers
will have with you is when
they look for you online
– needless to say it’s
important to create the
right impression early on.
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Sensis® eBusiness Report 2016
You should aim to look
professional when creating
a website and you should
also make sure you are
clear about your objectives.
61% of small
businesses
have a website2
Do you?
It may seem obvious,
but many people set off
building their website
without really knowing
their ultimate aim. Is it to
encourage offline contact?
Is it to encourage email
sign-ups? Conversions?
Sales? Phone calls? To
build your brand expertise
reputation?
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Website essentials
A professional website
can play a major role in
boosting your profile. It
gives customers more
confidence in your
business, it lets people
find you 24 hours a day
and it can help sell your
products and services even
after you’ve gone home for
the night.
When choosing a supplier
to help create and maintain
your website, it should be
easy and cost effective.
Now more than ever,
website suppliers should
be able to give you loads
of choice with a variety
of packages and different
designs to choose from.
Website
must-haves
Simple design –
clarity about your
products and services
is vital. It shouldn’t be
too distracting.
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It should build trust
– how you speak to
your viewers should
be clear, engaging
and true to your
brand.
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It should work well on
all screens including
laptops, tablets and
mobiles.
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Simplicity is vital
A simple design helps
get all your important
messages across quickly
and effectively, and the
reader is never in doubt
about the purpose of your
website or how to use it.
While it’s tempting to
want all the bells and
whistles offered by a
complicated design,
keeping clutter to a
minimum is vital so that
essential information –
such as your contact and
product pages – is clearly
visible.
Don’t overwhelm customers
with everything you can
offer in one go. Ensure
the basics are as clear as
possible and it’s easy to
find links to the previous
page, next page, top or
bottom or page, back
to the homepage and
breadcrumbs.
Ensure your product
descriptions are clear
and include text, photos,
videos, reviews, shipping
information and FAQs.
Top tips
Make sure the key
information about
your business is easy
to find – your website
is often where your
customers first
experience your
brand so make it a
good experience.
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Eye-catching imagery
and a simple, slick
design makes for a
great website.
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Include contact
information because
if your customers
can’t reach you how
will you help them?
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Keep it simple to read with
easy-to-navigate links
and clear pricing. Never
assume that because
you understand your site,
others will too.
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User experience
Customers need the
ability to find what they’re
looking for really easily.
It’s important to create the
best user experience for
your customer if you want
them to make a purchase
after just a few clicks.
The other attribute of great
websites is content that’s
accessible, inviting, fun
and informative. A website
consumers want to come
back to goes that extra
yard to offer additional
content such as how-to
guides and videos, industry
news and information on
issues which matter to
people browsing the site.
Making the effort to
produce quality content
can not only increase traffic
and help to establish your
business as a thought
leader, it demonstrates
your expertise.
In turn, that builds trust
and confidence in your
business, which helps to
move leads from the top of
the funnel to the bottom.
Features of a
good website
A good website that
includes certain
functions like a pricing
tool doesn’t cost anything
to provide but will help
your customers.
Contact forms on your
website are helpful for
customer service also. You
can link this to an SMS
so that you’re advised if
someone contacts you.
Keep the form simple by
asking for a reason, name
and phone number so
that it is convenient for
customers to complete.
Other key website features
include opening hours,
customer testimonials,
great imagery and links
to social media pages
if it’s appropriate for
your business.
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What do your customers need?
The first mistake many
businesses make is to
consider what they want
to include on their website,
as opposed to what their
customers want to know
about the business.
The experience a potential
customer has on your
site will be the difference
between them leaving in a
hurry or a quick sale. Once
visitors land on your site,
make sure they can find
what they’re looking for
quickly and efficiently.
People are used to certain
useability features of the
internet. These include
business logos usually
appearing in the top-left
corner, an ‘About Us’ section
– which helps them decide
whether to engage with a
business – and navigations
being in the same place on
each page.
Websites are read from left
to right (in an F-shape),
in much the same way as
print materials, so put your
logo in the top-left corner
of the site.
If you’re creating a shopping
cart, that information should
be in the top-right corner of
the site.
In addition, ensure your site
pages are pleasing to the
eye and that all the links
work. All the pages of your
site need to load quickly.
And if you offer e-commerce
on your site, make sure
you shop on it yourself
every few weeks to be sure
the experience is quick,
enjoyable and trouble-free.
Top tips
Make sure the
headlines and body
copy on each page
mention your suburb
and city for local
searches.
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Make sure navigation
bars have clear,
large links to help
people quickly get
to the most useful
information.
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The ‘About Us’ section
is the second or
third most visited
page of a website.
Make sure it’s easy
to understand and
written in concise
language.
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Does your website look
good on mobile screens?
There’s no denying the
power of mobile. The
mobile phone market is
near saturation point, with
more mobiles in Australia
than Australians.
Mobile sites are often
an afterthought for
small businesses putting
together a website.
Although with 66% of
Australian mobile users
researching products on
their phone, it’s essential
that your website displays
perfectly in the mobile
environment.1
Of course, this also applies
to tablets and laptops
because often websites
built for just a desktop
experience will suffer on a
smaller, portrait orientated
mobile screen.
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If your website is not
optimised for mobile,
there’s a real chance that
the general experience for
people viewing it on their
smartphones or tablets
isn’t good. And that’s not
going to bode well for
customer engagement
and sales.
JOE’S
ONLINE
Therefore, you want a
website that works on
all devices so that your
business information can
be found quickly and easily
by a customer.
It needs to be responsive
so that the right
information is displayed
at the right size for
mobile viewing, but
most importantly, the
site absolutely must
load quickly.
Global Digital Statistics 2014 Report – Social, Digital and Mobile from around the world – January 2016
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Mobiles are a game changer
Typical mobile device users
have even less patience
than PC users, so just that
half-a-second too long
and they will move on to
another website.
Also, bear in mind that
most mobile searches
actually occur at home
on the couch while
watching TV and
concentrating on other
things, so customers won’t
be giving your mobile site
their undivided attention.
Top tips
Make sure your website
has the ability to send the
details to someone else via
text or email, or save it in
the user’s contact list.
Ensure your site is thumbfriendly by using big,
unmistakable
buttons for your
calls to action, such as
‘call us’.
43% of small
businesses
have a website
that works well
on mobiles1
Does yours?
Remember that not all
mobile devices are the
same. Operating systems,
screen sizes and user
experiences differ.
Mobile users don’t want
to know everything
about you. A catalogue,
some store locations and
contact details are usually
what they’re after when
searching from a mobile.
1
Sensis® eBusiness Report 2016
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Is your website linked in to social media?
No matter what kind of
business you’re running,
social media is a key part of
a successful website.
It is the new word of
mouth – blogs, review
sites and social media
platforms are now places
for customers to turn to for
open and honest business
recommendations.
We’ll help your business:
Build a website
Get found on Google
Use social media
Sensis makes online marketing easy.
Find out more at sensis.com.au/products
You should give your
website a competitive
edge by showing your
customers you’re active in
their favourite social media
channels.
You don’t need to use every
medium – pick one or two
and use them well. Many
businesses don’t know who
their ideal client is and just
use social media because
everyone else is but don’t
make that mistake.
You should provide users
with a direct click-through
to social media platforms
such as your business
Facebook page, Twitter,
Instagram and Pinterest.
Links for Facebook’s ‘like’
button and Twitter’s ‘follow’
button are surefire ways
of increasing your social
media presence.
Can your customers find your website?
Search Engine Optimisation
(or SEO) is one of those
technology buzzwords
you’ve no doubt heard but
might not fully understand.
SEO seeks to maximise
your website’s exposure
on the web by influencing
search engines, such as
Google, so they find your
site and rank it high in
their search engine
results pages.
SEO is “organic” search
because appearing
“naturally” on a results
page is free. Businesses
however spend time and
money strategising over
how to get higher up in
search engine rankings
because customers
generally only look at the
first 30 entries.
That means the more
refined and sophisticated
your SEO strategy, the
better your website’s
ranking is, the more traffic
you’re likely to get to
your site and the more
conversions you make.
This is why it is important
to have a well-written
and well-structured
website – so that the
search engines can easily
information about your
products and services.
In addition to this, SEM
stands for Search Engine
Marketing which is a way
of helping customers find
you by advertising your
website on search engines
like Google, Yahoo and Bing.
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Can your customers find your website?
SEM is often referred to
as Pay Per Click as this
is a common format for
campaigns. The limited
spots are auctioned off
to the highest bidder, but
page relevance still counts
as Google scores ads based
on quality.
Based on this, much
of the work performed
around SEO and SEM is
about making sure that
the keywords likely to be
used by people hunting
for your products appear
in the right places on your
website.
While basic SEO and SEM
can be performed by
business owners, many
choose to hire professionals
in the field to develop a
long-term strategy.
Understanding keywords is
critical because they help
you to understand your
customers and how they
search for you online.
Keywords are the terms
people enter to perform
a search, and they are
also the main marker
of relevance for search
engines.
Everyone wants to be
on page one of Google’s
search results. It’s a good
way to get business leads
because not many people
flick past page three.
Is your advertising making you money?
We make online marketing easy. We track online results.
We help you calculate return on investment.
Find out more at sensis.com.au/products
Another good way of
increasing your popularity
in the eyes of a search
engine is to have a high
level of links from other
sites onto your site.
Links are looked upon by
search engines as marks of
approval or votes but they
should be from reputable
sources.
If you choose a supplier
to help you manage your
website you should make
sure they can optimise your
website to help you appear
in Google organic results.
This way you’ll be able
to track your leads with
detailed reporting analytics.
Final points to note
Create fresh, relevant
content so search engines
don’t view the website as
being stale – one of the
best ways to do this is with
a company blog.
Engage in relevant online
communities such as
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Google+, forums and other
blogs. By engaging in these
communities and helping to
educate people about your
industry, a business can
gain additional exposure
and links back to their
website. This helps both
traffic and search engine
rankings.
Ensure the website loads
fast by avoiding oversized images and by
hosting the website on
a fast web server.
Things to avoid
for your business
website
Out of date
or inaccurate
information
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Too much clutter
or distracting
information
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Not being found in
search engines like
Google – include
relevant keywords
on your website and
incoming links from
other sites
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Want more information?
If you’d like to know more
about the benefits of a
website for your business
or learn about the website
solutions we offer, talk to
one of our experts.
Just visit
www.sensis.com.au or visit
our Small Business Centre
at www.sensis.com.au
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