About 15 years ago, all you had to do was place your business on a good street and have a beautiful and eye-catching facade to attract consumers. But now, more than ever, we live in a digital era where website design and social media are the first impressions.
The recent COVID-19 crisis also changed consumer behavior: even those who didn’t like to buy or research services online started to do so.
According to a recent Forbes article, many people continued to shop online even after physical stores reopened last year. Businesses of all sizes will need to reevaluate their digital image to attract and retain consumers.
But how do you do that when there are millions of websites competing for users’ attention? There are several things to consider to provide a more enjoyable digital experience for your customers.
Cohesive Branding
Most internet users spend less than 15 seconds on one website before switching to another. This means you have little time to attract a potential customer with a website that stands out.
A good website has the same effect as a beautiful showcase. Logos, text, and color schemes should match across social channels and websites, creating your brand identity.
If you already have a well-known logo, take advantage of the same color palette to create the themes for your website and social media accounts, using similar filters and designs to create an appearance that the consumer can recognize as legitimate.
If you need help creating your online identity, Crafted, a digital branding agency in NYC, offers unique content ideas to attract digital traffic.
Design Extremes
A website can be either minimalist or maximalist to draw attention. But remember that many internet users are still more attracted to the visual than the content.
The company branding should match the aesthetic. If you have a cleaning company, for example, the style of your website should be clean. A bad or confusing design can reflect poorly on a business. Avoid this by following these steps:
- Inform and update all data about your products or services, business hours, business address, and more than one form of contact (not just a phone or an email).
- Adopt fonts that are easy to read. Remember that many people today access the internet from smartphones.
- Good photos of your products or services can attract more attention than large blocks of text.
- Complicated websites keep visitors away. Make sure that navigation is simple and all options and shortcuts are well distributed on the main page.
- Customize your website rather than trying to copy a competitor’s website design.
- Add icons with shortcuts to your pages on social networks, showing visitors that your company is active.
Add Blog Content
In addition to an official website, maintaining a consistent and updated blog is one of the most effective ways to create brand awareness, attracting potential consumers through valuable information and interesting articles. In other words— first, you make people interested, then you transform them into customers.
Blogs are also an inexpensive way for small businesses to direct users to their websites. Longer pieces keep people on the page longer, and the content can be more informal and personal. By incorporating videos and photos, you can create greater interaction with users, inviting them to participate directly with comments and suggestions.
Keeping a blog updated and interesting makes your brand and company appear more consistently in search engines. However, an abandoned blog gives the impression of disorder and can lead consumers to believe that you’re out of business.
Personalize Staff Bios
A company is made of people, and the consumer likes to know who those people are. Putting a face to a name helps to convey an image of confidence. There are different ways to do this, from the most creative and friendly to the most formal. You must decide which one best identifies your style.
Generally, companies opt for official photographs of the team with a brief profile of each employee. More recently, some have adopted creative bios with a more informal description, citing the staff’s favorite movies and music.
You can also periodically post “behind-the-scenes” photos or videos of your staff on the company’s social networks. This allows people to see the daily interactions and feel more connected to the company.
If It’s Not on the Internet, It Doesn’t Exist
For many users, the internet is their major source of information. If they do a quick search and your website doesn’t appear, they may never know about your company.
A good website, an updated blog, and a constant presence on social media help increase your business’s online exposure. If you don’t have time to update these tools, hire a specialized agency to take care of the posts for you.
Your website is the most simple and direct way to present your business to customers and future customers. In times of transformation, a consistent digital presence is essential to establish yourself as an expert in your area.
