The benefits of running your own venture can be gratifying, but the life of a small-business owner can be filled with tremendous responsibility too. From accountant and sales director to administrator and social media manager, it’s likely that you have many job titles. With so much responsibility, wouldn’t it be great if there were a few aspects of your business that you didn’t have to spend quite so much time on?
Thankfully, that might be more doable than you realise. Due to advances in technology, you can now optimise your website and benefit from the peace of mind that, behind the scenes, it’s working just as hard for your business as you are. Here are three ways to help you optimise your business website.
SEO optimisation
For your website to act as a platform to help your business grow, your customers must be able to find it. When your customers search online, websites are ranked by the most relevant to their search enquiry. Search engines gather information – such as keywords, content or images – from websites and rank them based on their relevance to the user’s search terms. This is called Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), and the websites that implement it tend to rise to the top of search results and are effectively easier to find.
To help optimise your website with an effective SEO strategy, identify your audience and understand their intent by thinking about what words and phrases they’re searching for. If you’re able to weave these keywords into the fabric of your website, you could increase your SEO ranking and, therefore, your visibility to your audience. When utilised effectively, SEO could boost your traffic and extend your audience reach, solidify your brand, and help you generate more leads.
Exit popups
Not every visitor to your website can be converted into a customer immediately. But sometimes, all they need is a gentle nudge or an incentive to make that commitment. An exit popup – a message a visitor receives when they attempt to leave your website – can be an effective strategy to make one last effort to turn them into a lead. There are many website providers and plugins that enable you to make the most of exit popups.
If your small business offers a service, for example, your exit popup could offer a free trial or consultation. And if you sell a product, you could consider offering a discount if they subscribe to your newsletter or half-price on a second item when they make a purchase. It might sound simple, but when done correctly, it could help to not only improve your website conversion rate but also increase the likelihood of positive referrals by keeping your brand top of mind when the time is right.
Insightful analytics
Wouldn’t it be great if your website told you what did and didn’t resonate, and how you could better engage with your customers and grow your business? With tools such as GoDaddy Websites + Marketing, you receive tailored guidance and recommendations for your website, based on data from millions of other small business websites, many of which are industry competitors. For example, you can track purchase history, and create unique customer lists for promotions, product announcements, or loyalty programs.
As a small-business owner looking for ways to streamline your processes and spend more time on your business strategies, website technologies can be of help. By increasing your search engine visibility, giving customers more incentives to stay on your website and taking advantage of analytics’ helping hand, you might find that your online presence is working for you.
Jill Schoolenberg, Regional President for Canada, Australia and Latin America, GoDaddy
