Tips for Creating a Website for Your Family Business
A website is one of the most important components of business success, regardless of the size of the company or industry that you service. For a small business, a website allows individuals to connect with your company, see your hours of operation and location of service, and discover if you fit the needs they are looking to fill.
But for small, family businesses, you probably don’t have the means to hire an entire marketing department to help create your company webpage. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a website. Here are tips that you can follow to create a website for your family business.
1. Create a Goal
Before you begin creating your website, come up with a goal for what you would like your website to help you accomplish. This will help you to lay out your page and make it easier to understand what kind of information you should push.
If you are a restaurant, you may want your website to help you get more take out orders. If you are a service, you may hope that your new page helps to bring in new customers. Whatever your goal is for creating a website, you can use it to create a strategy.
2. Make Your Content Clear
Your website needs to be clear and concise about what you can bring to potential customers. Explain your services, how they can help, and what makes you unique in the industry. For someone considering your services, you don’t want to have any confusion about what you can actually provide.
To ensure your content is strong, ask someone completely removed from the company to proof read your copy. When you are too close to the company and the services, you may not be explaining the details in the depth they need to be.
3. Create a Page Map
A page map takes a look at all the pages on your website and outlines how they connect. Although it isn’t likely that someone will visit every page of your website when they visit, there should still be a clear connection on how they can get from one page to the next.
A page map can help you determine what is missing, what may not be necessary, and what should be moved around. This helps keep your focus and can help to push your visitors to meet your goals.
4. Secure a Reliable Host
Your hosting will influence the strength of your website, so you’ll want one that you can rely on. If you’re not sure what host to go through, Drupal hosting can easily meet your needs.
Drupal hosting is reliable and easy to use for someone new to creating websites. When creating your first website, you’ll want a hosting service that you can rely on and can meet the needs of visitors coming to your website without breaking your budget.
5. Purchase Your Domain
There are a number of websites that allow you to create a free page but does not give you the ability to customize your domain. While this may seem like “good enough,” if you want to be perceived as professional and allow your business to grow, you should consider purchasing your domain.
Owning your domain allows potential customers to easily find your website. Your domain should be a clear representation of what your company is, including your company name or the service that you provide. Purchasing a domain is also relatively cheap, so it shouldn’t be difficult to include into your marketing budget.
6. Have a Responsive Site
You’ll want a web design that is fully responsive, meaning it can adjust to meet the needs of different size screens. As a family business, you probably operate in a local area. For local businesses, a “near me” search on Google is crucial. These searches help individuals on the go, ready to purchase a service relatively quickly.
If you don’t have a responsive site, you could be shut out of these local searches. When your page is difficult to view on a mobile phone or tablet, potential customers will return to the list of searches to find one that better fits their needs. With a fully responsive site, you can have a better chance of meeting new customers.
7. Get Personal
As a family business, there is probably a lot of history behind your creation and your story. Don’t be scared to share this information with your potential customers. Using a personal story can create a strong connection that keeps customers returning.
When looking for a company to work with, people like to feel as if they are unique and welcomed. When you share your experience with your customers on your website, you’re letting them into your world.
8. Use Testimonials
Having a few customer testimonials on your site can give you support and show that you are a strong service provider. Allowing potential customers to see that you gave them a great experience provides credibility and can influence them to make a purchasing decision.
Keep the testimonials section of your page clean and not overflowing. There is no need to add every testimonial you have received to your page. If it doesn’t give a unique perspective to what you provide, you can leave it out.
No matter how small you believe your business is, you need a website. With a strong web presence, you can begin attracting new customers, clients, and buyers. Your website will give you the ability to connect with your audience, share information, promote special services or deals, and keep your customers thinking about you. Creating a website doesn’t need to be hard and if you don’t have it in your budget, you don’t need a professional.
Consider your business goals, what makes your company unique and strong, and create a website that shows exactly what you can do.