Design: 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Designing Your Business Website

Small business owners should not look at their website as a mere connection to the vast online world. A well-designed website plays an important role in your digital marketing strategy as well as company branding.

In order to maximise the potential of your website, it is essential for you to create a personalised experience for your existing customers, potential clients and online visitors.  Here are some of the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs commit when designing a website.

Top Common Mistakes to Avoid When Designing a Website

 

Messy Structure

When a possible customer went to your site, you have at least 2 seconds to impress them.  Those two seconds is all they need to decide whether they should stay in your page or go to another website.  This is where proper structuring takes the front seat.  It is not enough that you have all the right elements incorporated in your site; you need to place them in a strategic position.  Proper structuring takes time, you need to gather enough data and study the behaviour of your customers.  In case it doesn’t work the first time, you need to study the heat maps on where to place the right elements.

 

Poor Navigation

If you look at most of the e-commerce sites today, one thing you will find similar would be their navigation system.  You can easily go to the page that you need without going into so much intricacy.  If a customer made it to your site, they are most probably searching for something and they need to get it done right away.  Perhaps they need to contact you, or they want to find out something about your company or product information.  Make sure to keep your navigation system simple and self-explanatory.

 

Weak Call-To-Action (CTA)

Have you seen the button telling you to ‘download’, ‘sign-up’ or ‘join their newsletter’?  Those are referred to as CTA or Call-to-Action.  This is how most companies are building their lead list and it helps a lot in their email marketing strategy.  When you are creating a call-to-action, make it simple and visible. Tell about the thing that they should expect once they click on the button.

 

Code Formatting Mistake

Code formatting is crucial and should only be handled by a professional.  In case it is wrongfully done, the text in your webpage will look scattered and chaotic.  The layout will look amateur, and there will be some missing text or images.  Imagine building an entire house and having a mistake on one portion of the house.  That one mistake can serve as the cause of the inevitable demise of the structure.

 

Failure to Include Social Media Account

Finally, do not forget to include your social media account. The social world is a vast community that you can utilise to effectively market your company.  Be sure to allot a place in your website where people can see your social media account.

These are just some of the common mistakes that people usually commit when building their business website.  Be sure to stay away from these mistakes to create an effective and user-friendly website.

 

Lifestyle: How to Turn Your Passion for Writing into a Business

One of the secrets of people who own a successful business is that they are passionate about what they do. If you are just in it for the money, then you will get bored easily. You will lose interest in the venture when money is not coming in as fast as you want it to be. But if you do it with passion, you will not worry about how much you make and be successful before you know it.

Live your passion is what they say, and if your passion is writing then pursue a business that involves it. However, once you have decided to create a business around creative writing, make sure that you are ready to take responsibilities, being accountable for your actions, and showing up every day. And once you are ready to turn your passion for writing into a business, below are some tips to make it happen.

 

Determine what type of service people need

One of the things that you need to determine first is how writing can be used in a service that people will be willing to pay for. You could help other professionals create newsletters, or teach small businesses how to use content to reach more customers. There are lots of services that you can offer. And whatever you choose to do, you should avoid being stuck in the planning stage. You will gain more progress when you take action and make mistakes, as long as you learn from them.

How to Turn Your Passion for Writing into a Business

 

Choose your Platform

Once you have found a niche, the next step is to develop your platform. The platform can be a website or a blog. You can use the tutorial here to find the best platform for your blog. You can utilize this as a way to reach out to potential clients who are interested in your services. If the service is for small businesses, then you should design the platform to attract the business owners. When choosing and creating the platform, you don’t need to find out what people want. Once you have attracted a couple hundred people, then you can ask them what they want. On the downside, developing platform will take a lot of time and effort. However, you don’t need to wait for your platform to grow in order to start making money as a writer.

 

Do Freelance Work

The best thing about being a writer is that you can start working right away, even without an established portfolio. When starting out, you can find freelance writing gigs. However, if you choose to target small businesses, then you need to find them. You need to put some effort to get clients, and show them the advantages of having a strong online presence. Most of the business owners know that they need to use online content, newsletters and blogs, but they don’t have the time to do so. And that’s where freelance writers like you come in. And when you are getting clients, your network continues to grow. In article on Entrepreneur.com, the writer explains how volunteering can be instrumental in helping an individual turn their passion into business: “Many professional opportunities start here. Networking and the ability to tap different ways of thinking matter.”

 

Create an Email List

When you start a platform for your writing business, it is important that you allow visitors to sign up for a mailing list. Email subscribers are interested in your products, services, and content. That’s why you should start creating a list right from the start. This is how the business model works. You can easily determine the problems your audience has, and then provide a solution to their problems.

 

Offer Information Products

Another way to turn your passion for writing into a business is to offer information products, such as online courses and e-books. Creating an online course is easy for writers, and because of your list, you will be able to know the topics to cover. Then you can sell these information products to your audience through your platform. The key to these types of products is to test your ideas as fast as possible. There’s no need to develop a 200-page e-book. You should listen to your target market and find out what their biggest problem is. Creating a short e-book is a good start, and if your audience like it then you can expand it into a full online course.

These are just some of the ways that you can use to turn your passion for writing into a business. While it is not easy to find clients and sell your products and services, you can learn how to do it over time. What’s important is that you do something to make writing a good source of income.

Digital: Reasons Why Every Small Business Must Have a Well-designed Website

 

A lot of small businesses underestimate the power of a well-designed website, and all of them are losing the chance to reach their target audience effectively. It’s understandable that when you have a small business, you focus on your urgent matters and upfront necessities, but it’s also important that you invest on your website.

In today’s economy, being active on your social media accounts is not enough to have a robust efficient online presence. Having a website that’s easily understood by your customers can boost your business recognition and sales rate. Here are some of the reasons why your small business should have a well-designed website:

 

Marketing anchor 

A website should be your first step for your advertising campaign. It should have all your business details, the products or services that you’re offering and also the promotions that you’re giving out. After this, you can start printing out business cards and other marketing materials with your domain name.

 

24/7 sales staff 

One of the best reasons why you should have a website is because it can serve your customers 24/7. It’s like your digital brochure that can give your customers a thorough detail about all your products and services and up-to-date information.

 

Builds connection with your customers 

When people are having problems, the first thing that they do is search the internet. If you have a well-designed website that can be a potential problem solver, then people will go to you whenever they need your products or services.

 

Benefits local businesses 

A lot of small businesses think that websites are only for big international companies, but the truth is that small businesses can benefit better when it comes to their own locality. When people search for a product or service near them, then your website can be at the top of search engines lists.

 

Builds credibility

When you have a well-designed website, more people will think of you as a trustworthy company. Happy customers always share their thoughts on social media sites which can be great for your marketing.

 

Builds your online destiny 

If you have your own website, then you control it better. A lot of small businesses rely on third-party platforms which can give little disadvantages. When you’re controlling your own website, you can easily add or edit contents and maintain your platform.

 

Affordable and yet so simple to use

You can save more money when you build and maintain your own website. Plus, you can monitor your progress better if you handle the marketing on the site yourself.

 

These are just some of the reasons why it’s important for any small business to have a well-built website. Remember to always check out and analyse your progress to ensure that you’re reaching all your target customers.