The art of running a business has evolved substantially in the last decade. Businesses, whether offline, brick and mortar brands or online eCommerce retailers have started relying more and more on the digital world to market and manage their business.

A company’s website has become one of its most powerful tools to not only reach out to new customers but to convert them to loyal, paying fans. COVID -19 has played a large role in forcing companies to pivot their operations to cater to the changing customer needs. Social distancing and lockdowns have forced millions of shoppers to turn to online sources, and businesses have scrambled to keep up.

So, whether you are a fully digital brand, or whether you are looking to take more of your operations online, we thought we would take a look at all of the important aspects of your website – how you optimize it to drive traffic and how you add value to convert that traffic to customers.

Optimized, Professional Sites Drive More Traffic

Let’s start off with one of the first things to look at. The basic design and layout of your site is key in your customer journey and could be the difference in your customers staying and converting, or bouncing, and never returning.

Websites should be simple, yet effective. Crisp, high-quality images, eye-catching CTAs, quality content and simple design principles and color schemes are currently the biggest trends for websites. If you do not have a website yet, there are a number of options for you to choose from to get one online as soon as possible. Firstly, you can create one from scratch. This will take longer than the other options, but the advantage lies in the fact that you have a totally unique, and custom-built site.

The second option is to use an online template like WordPress to create your site. This is less time consuming than coding one from scratch, and you can easily put together a site that is optimized for your customers.

Lastly, you can buy a website. This usually entails buying the whole business from the seller, but here, you inherit all of the existing traffic and current customers. There are a number of companies that sell website domains and pre-established websites to buyers looking to take on a digital business. This could be an option for you if you are looking to take on an existing, successful business.

Automation Can Heighten Traffic and Save You Hours in The Day

Once you get your website up and running, the next step is to automate as much as possible. We have always recommended that once you perfect one of the processes, or operations, get it automated and move onto the next thing.

Luckily for you, there are thousands, if not millions of automation tools online that will keep simple operations on and off your site running while you focus your attention on growing your brand.

Your sales funnel, for example, can be a fully automated process where the customer can go through the entire funnel; including filling out the forms, the whole cart and checkout process and receive a thank you message, as well as confirmation message in one swift action and without any action required from you.

Inventory management is another example. Automation tools have taken the headache out of the supply chain and warehousing processes by automating almost every step of the process. From picking and sorting to order management and shipping, it has been simplified and streamlined to reduce human error and to make it more effective.

Off-site, you can automate your social media processes, your emails and your paid ads. Let’s take LinkedIn, for example. LinkedIn automation tools will allow you to grow your networks with standardized invites, build message chains and save vital contacts from the platform. This will take hours out of your day while growing your database.

Informative, Educational Content Will Heighten Your Conversion Rate

Content is key for two different reasons, which we need to expand upon.

Content Converts Customers

Content is vital to reach new audiences, and convert them to customers. People buy from brands that they can trust, and if you are putting out information that educates, informs, and helps them, they will learn to trust you.

If you do not already have a blog on your site, look into it as soon as possible. WordPress offers thousands of templates and great WordPress tools to make it as easy as possible for you to get the right content out and seen.

Post regular content about topics that your customers will be interested in. Say, for example, you are an organic food retailer. Posting articles on ‘5 Ways to Lose Belly Fat’, or ‘Healthiest  Alternatives to Pasta’ will help your brand come up in the results because those are all topics that people are searching for.

You can then slip in CTAs and links into the article to products on your site that just happen to be on special that week, or that you want to draw your customers attention to.

Your blog can be a powerful sales tool which you can factor into your marketing calendar. Not only can these posts be shared on social media, but to various affiliate sites and influencers to really extend your reach.

SEO Relies On Content

Secondly, it is important for SEO purposes, and to get your site ranked on search engines. Google will regularly scrape your site, picking up the vital keywords in order to understand where you need to be ranked, what category you fit into and where the search results you should fall in.

The smart use of keywords on your site will make sure you are ranked correctly making keyword research really important for your rankings. You will need to get the right long-tail and short-tail keywords on your site to be picked up when customers search for them. Be careful though, do not stuff your content, as Google will pick this up and penalize you for it.

The more blogs you post, and include your keywords correctly in, the higher you will be ranked. You can also ensure that the right products can be ranked at the right time. Posting an article on ‘4 Turkey Alternatives This Thanksgiving’, for example, can be picked up by a huge audience if posted at the right time. So, pay attention to your content calendars and match up your keywords to important dates for extended reach.

Wrapping Up

The rule of thumb for adding value to your site is to understand what your customer wants. Your customer journey is vital throughout your website, so take some time getting to know your audience and understanding how they behave on your site and what will spark their interest. We will always advocate you going through the site yourself and taking the journey to know where you can optimize key elements.

Lastly, try and test everything. Keep an eye on your data to see what works and what doesn’t. Google Analytics is a great free tool to watch your traffic and keep an eye on how your traffic behaves on your site. You can get a good idea of what are successful pages, and what people bounce from in order to streamline your future strategy. So, keep measuring and using these metrics.