If you want your business to succeed and get ahead in such a competitive online market, there are a number of things that absolutely have to be right. Any of the following could be letting you down, and even be the difference between success and failure in your business.
A Professionally Designed Website
Your site should be attractive and visually pleasing, but without putting style over substance. It needs clear navigation links, has to be intuitive to click around and needs to have a search box too. This makes it easy for visitors to find anything that’s not on the main page. Clear contact information is absolutely vital, you will also want your social media information up on there too. Research has shown that if customers are so put off by websites taking more than three seconds to load, they would click off and never come back. It highlights just how important it is to keep on top errors and monitoring loading times. In terms of design, a professional website designer is a solid investment. They will put everything together, and many even offer support for when things go wrong for an additional fee.
A Well Written, Engaging Blog
A blog costs next to nothing to set up, but is the perfect way to drive up the page rank of your website in search engines. When it comes to standard websites, the information is relatively static. However, every time you publish a blog post, you’re putting out new content, with each post being another chance for your site to be indexed by search engines. And the more clicks and activity you’re getting to your site, the more highly it will start to rank. A blogging platform such as WordPress will easily integrate with your existing website, and you don’t even have to be much of a writer yourself. There are tons of freelancing sites where you can pay a writer to create you a piece based on your guidelines.
An Interesting Mobile App
Mobile apps are something that many small businesses haven’t got on board with yet, so use this as an opportunity to get ahead. They’re useful as they allow customers to have all your information at their fingertips. This can result in much better interaction and lead to more sales. It can help you gain new customers as well as keep the ones you have. Having an app installed on your customers’ phones means your website is always just one click away for customers.
Good Security Systems
Every business needs to take a multi-faceted approach to completely ensure their security. As well as the physical safety of cash and valuables at the office, there’s online safety to think about too. A good burglar alarm and window shutters will secure your physical items. Online use strong passwords, backup to the cloud (instead of on hard drives and disks which can be stolen or damaged) and use secure networks. For more information about this, you could visit a site like https://www.vpnsrus.com/what-is-a-vpn/. This is particularly important if employees will need to connect to the network from their own homes.
A Well Thought Out Social Media Strategy
One thing customers will be looking for when buying from somewhere new is whether the business looks legitimate and trustworthy. A good social following can really help with this, as it shows that your site hasn’t simply appeared from nowhere. It also allows you to interact with customers, run marketing campaigns and advertise- all for free. Ask customers to share reviews to social media, this will all improve the chances of new people shopping with your business.