Promoting a business by advertising is key to massive growth, people remember a brand with tangible things like flyers, brochures, etc. They still read the newspapers and magazines. They still notice billboards, they still watch TVs and they still listen to radios. Advertising can get a bit expensive, not to mention the time and effort you have to put, for example giving out flyers or brochures.
Based on statistics, globally 47% of people have access to the internet. That’s over 3 billion people all over the world. Imagine having a platform to reach that number of people with less effort. Although the traditional way of marketing your business is effective, having a website can reach a massive amount of potential customers.
Where do I sign up? Here are some basic tips in creating a basic website for your business:
1. To easily create your website, use a Content Management System
We recommend using WordPress. It’s easy to install, deploy, and maintain. They have thousands of design templates for your website and thousands of plugins like page builders that would help you build your web pages even if you have zero experience with web development. The best thing about it, is it’s free!
You can find more information about WordPress here, you can also find Themes and Plugins on the website. To find the best themes and plugins for WordPress you could visit also ThemeForest and CodeCanyon.
2. People hate waiting, your website must load fast.
A person can only wait for 12 seconds. In the first few seconds, people would feel that the system is generating results, giving them time to focus on their train of thought . But after 10 seconds, the person would feel no control of the website. Having a fast loading website gives the user the feeling of navigating freely. You’re in luck, good thing WordPress offers plugins to speed up your website.
A popular plugin you can use is WP Super Cache.
3. Easy to navigate
You want your homepage to be very attractive to your potential customer, so you’ll focus the majority of your efforts there, there’s nothing wrong with that. But take a step back for a while and ask yourself “What do I want my potential customer to do when coming to my website?”. That’s when you’ll realize that you need your customer to interact with the website, drive them to a contact form or to purchase a product. One of the best ways to do that is give them a way to easily navigate your website.
4. Most people are on their mobile phones
3 billion people have access to the internet and a good 80% of them are accessing the internet through their mobile phones. You’re website must be mobile friendly. There are design templates that offer Responsive Design, so you wouldn’t worry of what your website would look like on a desktop, tablet, or mobile phone.
5. Call to Action
When someone goes to your website, what is the one thing they should do? This is the reason you need a website, you need to get leads, prospects, or customers. You can have the give their email address, sign up for a promotion, etc. There are also plugins that would help you create a form or an email list.
To build your Email List, you could use Contact Form 7 and an extension called Contact Form 7 MailChimp Extension.
6. Link your Social Media Pages
Most people are on their phones because of Social Media. If you link your Social Media Pages, they can also interact with you where they’re comfortable with.
7. Analytics
Here’s the best part of having a website. You can add Analytics to your website. Analytics can track your user’s interactions, giving you reports on how to make your strategy more effective to generate more leads or customers.
For analytics, we recommend the most used Google Analytics
These tips that we’ve given you for your website are essential when you want to create your own website but of course, not everyone has the leisure to create websites of their own. At this point, you might need the help of a website developer to bring your vision to life.
Once you have your web developer on board, it’d be best to help him/her out with a wireframe in order for your developer to know exactly what they need to put up the site of your dreams.
CREATE A WIREFRAME FOR YOUR WEB DEVELOPER
Nothing can be more difficult than to have a website made and have countless revisions done to it. Not only is it difficult for the web developer, but also for the client as it slowly consumes resources. The best ways to avoid any additional cost is to assist your web developer in the process by providing a wireframe.
First thing you might be thinking as you read this is “What is a wireframe?” Well, to give you a brief description of what it is, it’s basically just an image manipulation that is essential to the website building process. It shows them exactly what you have in mind and gives them an idea of the scale of various elements that you envision for your website.
“Why do I need to make a wireframe?” Simple. You don’t want to be the client that says “Oh, I actually wanted the navigation to be at the side… Sorry, could you fix that?” or be like “I forgot to tell you that we’re doing away with the dynamic banner. Please make it static instead” because for sure, you’ll earn mean looks from your developer and you’ll be spending all your money on these revisions that could have been prevented if there was a clear wireframe to start with.
Wireframes are basic structures that will determine the general look of your website. Your developer and your whole team, for that matter, will be with you as you bring your website to life.
There’s no need to overthink this. There’s no need for a full-scale design or sketch of your website. All you really need are the basics like where you’re going to put your navigation of how the layout is going to be for your pages. It is the developer’s job to help you with the design and the overall performance of the design, but something as basic as a wireframe can be done by the client.
Wireframes are easy to create. All you need is a vision for your site and you’re good to go.
You have to remember that everything is a process and the process of making your website requires helping hands and for a faster process, you have to lend your hands as well. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. Once you have your wireframe ready, then it’s off to your web developer and web designer to bring it to life, with your help of course.
We’ve been so used to having the developer do everything from scratch that we don’t realize that it can actually be done by ourselves. Maybe this is even a good thing because it lessens the chances of mistakes in the long run or as your developer starts to work on your site. Your help will be very much appreciated.
If you’re looking for professional web design and development services, Artzap Studio in Alabang offers expert web services. From design to development, we ensure that every project is treated with the utmost care and urgency. We aim to produce top quality websites for our clients in order to ensure their success. When creating a website, always put yourself in the shoes of the user. What information do you want to see and how you would want to find that information. Once you’ve established those, your website will be a great marketing platform.
Artzap Studio offers a variety of web development services. From basic websites to full ecommerce sites, we offer quality service at a competitive price. You can visit our portfolio here and contact us at inquire@artzapstudio.com!
