Seven Things Every Business Should Know When Building a Website

Posted by Philadelphia Website Design in Boyertown - Media Fusion Tech on Friday, November 25, 2016

Let Electricians do the wiring, Landscapers do the landscaping, and Accountants do the accounting! Focus your business on doing what you do best, and hire other professionals to do what they do best.

Growing up as a child (more than a couple of decades ago), my perception of the day-to-day dealings between businesses certainly seems much less complicated than the dealings of today. My dad owned and operated a business and would often take me along in his truck for the 20-minute ride to the local supply store where everybody knew his name. Handshakes, wit and wisdom were exchanged with a smile. If they didn’t have what he needed, they were quick to refer him to other area businesses… where everybody knew his name.

Flash forward to the present where we are being bludgeoned with super-cyber-everything ads and offers via every electronic device within our view or earshot. A present time where we are more disposed to shooting a text than shaking a hand; a present time where we are more likely to click the ‘like’ than to engage in some face-to-face wit with a chuckle and a grin.

Many (of my generation at least) will argue that the Mayberry-Esque personal days of yore can’t possibly unite with today’s fast-paced, tech-savvy, “I need it yesterday” society. Seriously, when you’re hiring a company to build a website for your company, how can those age-old, pre-web, flesh-pressing principles possibly apply? Enough of the nostalgia and reminiscing. What should your company look for when building your website?

Can I Do It Myself?

Not likely, no offense. Not unless you are an established and experienced website design and development company. Not only are today’s web-tech requirements intricate, extensive, and demanding; they are perpetually fluid, changing sometimes on a daily basis. PCI Compliancy, bandwidth requirements, hosting, SEO, e-Commerce, email, Content Management Systems, tiered security access, multi-platform device compatibility… this is not your father’s static HTML website. You do what you do best, and hire a website development company to do what they do best, so that you can continue to do what you do best with the exposure and support of a great website that amplifies what you do best!

What About Hosting and Email Services?

Major considerations like high security, great bandwidth speeds, and a PCI Compliant infrastructure need to be seriously considered and researched prior to deciding on a website development company. Items like Shared Server Hosting, Dedicated IP Web Hosting, Dedicated Server Web Hosting, Web Analytics and Statistics Reporting, Branded Email Services and more need to be top priorities on today’s fast-paced internet. Settling for anything less plants you firmly behind the proverbial eight ball.

How Do I Handle e-Commerce To Sell My Stuff?

Online shopping carts need to be powerful, secure, and scalable to meet your growing needs. Your site needs to be quick and super easy to add new products, add options such as size and color, and more. It needs to automatically keep track of inventory levels so that you'll never accidentally sell a sold-out product. You also need to have loads of order management and tracking tools built in that you can access at any time. Your online shopping cart needs to communicate with your POS system, manage multiple locations, handle complex fulfillment options, integrate with your retargeting campaigns, and much, much more. People need to have ultimate confidence in the professionalism, functionality, and security of your website before they will provide their credit card information.

Should My Site Be Viewed on Every Device?

That is referred to as Responsive Design. Yes!! It is absolutely critical that all website designs and layouts are fully responsive to maintain cross-platform compatibility on any device, be it mobile, tablet, or traditional desktop. No further discussion required.

How Do I Effectively Market My New Website Online?

Online marketing services, especially Social Media Marketing (SMM), are among the most important and fastest-growing marketing services for any business today. Social Media is not about collecting people, it’s about connecting people. Statistics show that 71% of people state they are more likely to purchase from a brand that they follow online. Video Ads increase purchase intent by 97% and brand association by more than 130%!

The fact is that people don’t buy diddly from people they don’t know, like, or trust!! Today, awareness, trust, and affinity are largely built online, on mobile devices and on social platforms, long before they call you or set foot in your store. Social media marketing is an art form. Constantly pushing advertisements and sales copies no longer works on today's increasingly social-media-savvy consumers, which means businesses need to take on a more strategic, balanced, relationship-building approach. A perfect balance of text, images, video, hashtags, and the frequency of each relevant to the individual social media platform is critical.

Is Blogging Really That Important?

The idea of blogs is to draw new customers to your website. That means that every blog post cannot be a thinly-disguised or blatant sales pitch. Just like the rest of your social media marketing, blogs need to Entertain, Inspire, Educate, Create Conversation, and then Convince to use your brand... all on an equal level. A great business blog doesn't sell. Instead, it shows customers why they should do business with you and not your competitors. It shows a personal, human and entertaining side of your business. 

Think about how many pages will be on your website. Probably not a ton, right? And think about how often you will update those pages. Probably not that often, right? Blogging helps solve those problems. Every time you post a new blog, it's one more indexed page on your website, which means that’s one more opportunity for you to show up in search engines and drive traffic to your website in organic search.

What Are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Requirements?

The average person will click on one of the first three links that appear from search engine results. How do you ensure that your website is found among your competitors? With new businesses emerging daily, the only way to ensure that your website gains the exposure it needs is through the use of SEO services. As time changes, so do the needs of your business, and this is especially true when it comes to the world of SEO. The rules of the SEO game are always changing and your website needs to stay one step ahead. Dynamic and innovative solutions that will increase your overall web presence and drive traffic to your business are a must!

In Closing…

One of my first jobs – a dream job at the time – was spinning the latest hits on vinyl after high school on our local A.M. radio station. I called it ‘The After Hours Show’ meaning after school hours but, in retrospect, I doubt that the area businesses, blue-collar community members, or truck drivers passing through picked up on that little nuance. Fortunately today, vinyl has come back en vogue so at least I don’t have to waste two paragraphs explaining that little nuance.

One of my fondest memories of that job – as well as when riding in my dad’s truck – was when I would listen to the daily genius of the legendary radio broadcaster, icon and story teller, Paul Harvey. With his trademark hypnotic timbre, extended strategic pauses for effect, heart-warming tales, folksy observations, family values and the old-fashioned plain talk, Paul Harvey inspired – if not molded – the minds and lives of millions of Americans.  He always aspired to eloquently champion the American dreamer, innovator, and worker… the doer.

Many of those formerly young Americans are running today’s businesses and still firmly believe that people do business with people… not with brick and mortar, not with cyber and seclusion, not with emotionless entities. Rather, deals are done with a firm handshake and a confident gaze in the eye. Successful business owners accomplish what they accomplish through courage, ingenuity, dignity, gracefulness, honor, respect, morals, values, integrity… and sweat.

In the immortal words of Paul Harvey, “Our nation was hammered and hoed and chopped and sawed and clawed out of the wilderness by bare-handed men who asked nothing, for nothing… There is one fertilizer essential to the survival of civilization and that fertilizer… is sweat.”  Whether you hire a company to build your building, or build your website, you should settle for nothing less than this same respect, devotion, dedication, and an occasional handshake. 

Categories: Website Development  |  Social Media Marketing  |  Website Management  |  Content Marketing  |  Mobile First  |  Search Engine Optimization  |  Philadelphia Website Design

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