I am hoping that if you have landed on this page you are embarking on building a new website, if not you should be!
I thought that everyone who owned a business, large or small, had a website. You would think that if you wanted to have a successful business now having a website would be a fore gone conclusion. But, no, did you know that according to ‘Statisticbrain‘ only 53% of small business have a website. I find this strange and amazing in a world where nearly all our information comes from the internet and there are over 12 million google searches per hour. If you want a presence you need a website.
So to anyone who is part of the 47%, please get a website. To this end I want to help those of you who are considering getting a website up and running. By going through the following 8 points before you start, the process will become simple and quick.
Now I am going to assume most reading this article are not techie people, because if you were I guarantee you would have a website. So therefore I think it is safe to assume that you will be employing someone to build a website for you. Although these days getting your own website up and running is way simpler than it has ever been, but that is a tutorial for another day.
Just a quick aside here, when you are choosing the person to do your website, check them out do your research check out their website. You no longer need to spend thousands to get a decent website up. For example, if you know anyone, or source someone who is experienced with OptimizePress which is a WordPress theme you can have your own website up and running with great functionality in a short time and at low cost.
Who ever you employ make sure you:-
Check out their website
See samples of their work
Get a quote of what you should expect to pay
Check whether your website can be easily updated and updated by you if you want this function.
Okay, so you have decided to have a website have chosen someone to help you create that website what next. It is wise to speak with your website creator with some knowledge of what you want, don’t go in empty handed it is not good for you and only confuses your designer. I have listed below what you will need to think about, decide on or create so that your web designer can achieve good results fast.
1. Business Name
What is your business name? If you don't have one choose one and whilst you are choosing check out any of the names you are thinking of in google search, see what comes up. Who are your competitors? Do some keyword searches to get a good idea of what terms are specific to your business.
2. Domain Name
This ties in with your business name before you finalise your business name make sure you check the availability of the domain name. You can simply go to a site like crazy domains and type in any name and it will show you if it is available. Also do you want it to be a dot com or from your home country like .com.au or .com.co.uk If you are predominantly getting most of your clients locally then chose your country domain, this will rate you higher in google and with geotagging is more specific. If you are predominately global then .com is still the best option. I recommend that if you go .com that you buy your local one as well. Decide who will host your website, there are many hosts out there, the good the bad and the ugly, for all price ranges and functionality.
3. Logo
You will need to have a logo for your business now this could simply be the business name or could incorporate symbols or a specific design, but you will need to have created this logo and have it in a form that can be imported into your website easily. For images, logos etcetera, the most common formats are jpeg and png.
4. Brand
This is a very big subject, so briefly the basics, as far as the website is concerned, you will need to decide on the theme and the colour scheme for the website. You need to have in your mind who your clients/customers are and what you are wanting to convey to them. Why have they come to your site and what problem are you solving for them. What will visiting your website do for the visitor?
If you are interested in getting your Branding right, here are links to other articles that will help you.
28 Questions to Answer Before You Brand.
5. Products and Services
What are your products and services and how do you want to offer them. Do they need to fill out forms to have a 1:1 conversation with you or is there simply a list of products you sell. Be clear what you have and what you want to offer and how.
6. Website Goal
What is the main goal for your website? Is it to show you as the expert, is it to sell products, is it to pull in new prospects, is it to position you so that you become more visible and heard, is it as a base to collate all your information? Is it a mixture of the above? If so chose one primary objective first. It is important to know what you want you website to achieve.
It is also worth remembering here that whatever the primary goal of your site, think client/customer first. By this I mean, fundamentally the website should be about and for them, it is not about you and your business. You and your business are there to showcase all that you can do for your client/customer. Everything on your website should speak directly to them.
7. Integration
Another big topic and one your designer should discuss at length with you. Please have this discussion first to sake headaches later. It is important to do this first. Let me explain, by integration I mean what external resources do you want your website to integrate with. For instance if you have a product that some one can buy off your site, you need somewhere for them to pay their money and for you to receive the payment this is called a Payment Gateway but as there are several you need to ensure that your website works with and integrates with the chosen method.
Another example is if you are going to have somewhere that you have educational material that you only want those who have purchased from you to have access to then you are more than likely going to need a membership site. You may also need somewhere to store all the educational material such as videos and pdfs, both these need to be able to integrate with your site, they need to be able to connect and work together. The other big integration is with your chosen CRM, that is your customer relationship management, make sure this integrates easily into your website. You can see why you need to discuss this first so that the right parts are integrated together at the beginning.
8. CRM
As I mentioned above this is your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) it is a system for managing your businesses interactions with current and future customers. It involves using a service (often paid monthly) that allows you to organise, automate and synchronise sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support. It is the connection between all your information and your prospects, clients and is where your database is stored.
Now there are many services some free many with a monthly fee and that fee can be anywhere from $20/month to over $300/month some start free like Mail Chimp and then progress as you grow. I use Ontraport which is super functional and even I can drive it, they have packages starting at US$79/month. Main point here is know what you think you may use, plan for the future, and ensure the system integrates well with your website.
If you have completed all of the above or at least the first 6 so that you know what your business is conveying and what you want to achieve you will be well on your way to completing your website. Importantly if you consider all of the above you can build a website now that will last you into the future. A website that can adapt and change as you grow and expand.
I can not stress enough how a little thought and planning at this end will save your thousands in dollars and hours in time, and it will also greatly reduce your stress and overwhelm.
Good luck, the end result will be well worth it.
P.S If you need help on the above or have any question send a quick email to support@nudgemarketing.com and we will do our very best to answer promptly.
P.P.S Sorry about this – so much to say but this is important, remember to think mobile, make sure your website is responsive on all smart phones and iPads.
P.P.P.S I am often asked what we use at Nudge Marketing. Well our websites are WordPress using the Optimize Press Theme and our CRM is Ontraport. So you can find out more for yourself click on the images below.
