4 Things To Consider When Designing A Website
Your website is one of the most powerful internet marketing tools for your business. It needs to function day and night, and provide you with a valuable connection between your brand and your clients. A website that is designed well should be a marketing funnel that drives leads into your inbox, storefront or events. But, how can you capture these leads? And how can you be sure you’re designing a website that is going to function well while accurately representing your brand or products? The key is to work with an internet marketing company who understands your goals and objectives. Even if you decide to build your own website, we strongly encourage working with a marketing company to develop a marketing strategy. This way, you can optimize your efforts and maximize your results.
1. What do you want it to do for you?
The first thing to consider is why you need a website. Are you hoping to have an e-commerce site that you can sell from? Do you want people to be able to shop your store from Instagram? Or is it a way for people to view your portfolio, menu items or general contact information? Deciding what type of website to build depends on your goals. A digital marketing team can work with you to decide what type of platform is best. For example, if you want to sell products on Instagram they may suggest a Shopify website. Or, if you need to invest in Search Engine Optimization because there is a high level of competition in your industry, WordPress site may be best. Will you be using a blog feature on your website (hint, the answer should be yes)?
2. A picture is worth a thousands words
Stock images and iPhone photos are not good enough. A marketing team can help you put your best foot forward by capturing the best images with professional photography for your website, digital marketing and social media. Having a well-built website is wonderful, but the images are what help you convert leads. It is for this reason social media has taken off. Why write 500 words when you can post a single picture?! Plus, once you have those high quality images from your photoshoot, you now have an arsenal of content to pull into your digital marketing on other channels, like Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Then your marketing is cohesive and tells the same story. The images are the same style and quality which elevate your branding and brand message.
3. Your Call To Action.
Every website should have a solid and straight forward Call To Action (CTA). Much like your social media marketing, your website should be a driver of your end goal. What do you want people to do once you get them there? Call you? Email you? Add to cart? Complete a form? Your website should be built around this CTA. A internet marketing company will be able to tell you how to best structure that button on your site and help you decide which plugin or systems to use so that your CTA functions for you. For example, if you are trying to collect email address to build your newsletter contact list, you may want a pop up that asks for a name and email as soon as they land on your homepage.
4. Your Tone.
The tone of your content, images and overall voice of you website should be well planned and orchestrated. All of your website content and copy should be written with the same tone— and this tone should accurately represent your business. Having someone help with word choice and tone is essential. A website designer understands how tone can elevate your website and send a cohesive brand message to all potential clients or patrons.
At South Made Marketing, we have a copy writer on staff who specializes in website content— writing and editing, so that you can be sure your content is written with the correct tone, word choice and spirit. Before you start to write your content we encourage you to browse brands you admire and see how they “talk” on their website.
Now what?
Once you establish these 4 main objectives it will impact how an internet marketing company designs a website. For instance, if the tone of your site is happy, positive and uplifting you don’t want a dark template that has a lot of black space or dark images. If your main focus is showcasing a menu, picking a web template that helps you show customers your menu easily and consistently is key.
Look, we love a good deal, and we know people are bombarded with ads from WIX, Webbly or Shopify all claiming they can help you stand out with a free website. But, if there is anything you should have learned about owning your own business, nothing is free. Most of the site builders offer free templates but the truth is they can’t achieve all your goals and at the end of the day, they look like a free template.
Even if you decide to go with Shopify or other build your own platform, you may be able to hire a web designer in Knoxville who you can work directly with you and can build the site faster and with less headache than you can. Your time is valuable. Enlisting the help of a local internet marketing company, can actually save you money.
If you’re ready to take the next step and hire an internet marketing company in Knoxville, we would love to talk.