Tips: Getting Started

Know your budget

Websites will usually go over budget. If you are new to the game, make sure you have a detailed technical specification and contract to match. Never hire a web contractor on an hourly rate unless you are absolutely certain you know what you are doing.

Make your website attractive

The most important part of your website is the design, if this is done well, the rest will follow. People associate the quality of your business with the design shown on your website. A professional and successful business will (9 times out of 10) have a professional looking website.

Have a clear message

As soon as someone looks at your website, they need to immediately understand what you offer and why they should call you or look around your website for more information. A clear message is the backbone of your business, so make sure you have one.

Make your website easy to use

Break your website down into a few key sections and keep the navigation bar simple. People easily get lost when clicking around a website, so keep the layout consistent and make sure they can always find their way back!

Keep your website clean

Only put the most important information on your website. If you want to put a lot of useful (but not critical) information on your website, put it on its own separate page somewhere out of the way.

Provide value

People should leave your website having gained some kind of value. Think about what you could offer people who come to your website and why they might come back or tell a friend.

Be found

Make sure your website ranks highly on Google and other search engines. If not, look into search engine optimisation and undergo some online promotion such as google ad-words. Promote your website offline as well such as on your counter, business cards and newsletters.

Measure performance

Your website should come with some reporting features built in. You should be able to see how many people are looking at your website, where they came from, which pages they clicked on and how long they stayed on your site. Keep an eye on these stats over time and you will start to notice some very important trends.

Convert your viewers

Getting people to view your website is one thing but having them call you or buy something from you is an entirely different problem. Over 90% of people do their market research online which means they visit a large number of websites before making any purchasing decision. Try to ensure that you convert a large number of your viewers into paying customers.