9 Ways To Make The Most Of Your Website

You’ve been convinced that your business needs a website, but are you making the absolute most of your investment?

There are many obvious reasons why you may have decided to budget for a website. Your business is now open 24/7 thanks to your website, and it gives customers a place to get to know your brand before they make a purchase. Having a website is a necessity in today’s world of marketing, but are you maximizing your website’s full potential?
Here are 9 ways that you can effectively use your website to improve your growing business:

1. Track your progress. Print ads can be effective, but it’s near impossible to know how many people have actually seen (or responded to) your ads. Online ads offer a clearer return on your investment. Thanks to Google Analytics you can monitor everything from how many visitors to the way your average visitor is interacting with various pages on your site. Consider signing up with Google Analytics. Best of all, it’s free!
2. Advertise. Online advertising is great for many reasons. The best? If it’s not working, just change it! Unlike going through a long drawn-out process to change your entire advertising plan, just tweak what isn’t working. You might not get a great response from one advert so try pushing another offer. There is absolutely nothing wrong with experimenting with your online ads.
3. Run tests. Changing up your website seems simple, but how do you possibly know what to alter? Running an A/B test is a great way of trying out new ideas. If you have someone else managing your site ask them to run A/B tests to find the optimal features of your site.
4. SEO. Everyone talks about it, but what actions are you taking to improve your SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which basically means getting your site as close to the top of every search engine’s results as you can. SEO can be tricky; we suggest that you hire an expert if your budget allows for it. However, if you’re feeling adventurous, learn all you can and apply it to your own site!
5. Gather information on your customers. Your website is an ideal location for you to get to know your customers! Ask them to fill out contact forms and to sign up for newsletters and subscriptions to let you inform them of new products or offers. Depending on the type of business you’re managing, these simple techniques can help you stay connected to your customers. While you’re at it, give your visitors somewhere to leave feedback. A visitor on your website is much more likely to submit information online than in-store, and whether it is good or bad you can always learn from it.
6. Social Media. Going along the same lines of giving your visitors multiple ways to connect, make sure you have links to your social media platforms. We suggest implementing these links into your homepage design if possible. By having reciprocal links from your social media profiles back to you website it’s like having more doors to your shop. A few more Twitter followers may turn into a few more clients!
7. E-commerce. Again, this may differ depending on your business. However, if you’re selling a product, offer online shopping. A survey showed that 94% of consumers have gone online for local shopping purposes within the last six months. In other words, just about everyone is shopping online. It may increase the cost of your site to offer e-commerce but it is almost always worth the investment. If you’re looking for a more affordable approach, offer payment through PayPal.
8. Domain name. Once your site is live, make sure everyone knows your name! Publicize it everywhere. Slap it on business cards, flyers, Facebook and anything else that can hold your company domain. This is especially effective if your domain name is the online equivalent of, or very close to, the name of your business. Learn more about the importance of domain names by clicking here.
9. Credibility. Use your website to prove to your future customers that you take your business seriously. Include information on your homepage to assure visitors that you offer great customer service and are trustworthy. Where you can, offer a phone number and address for contact. Testimonials are great for assuring your visitors that their satisfaction is your number one concern.

You’ve worked hard to get your business where it is today. Now carry this through to your website. The reasons for having a website for your business are endless, so start making the most of your online presence today!
WestHost wants to help you make the most of your online business.
Check out our website builder to start building your perfect website. No technical skills required; we’ll take the hassle right out of creating a website!