Top 10 tips and tricks for building a website

All modern businesses need websites, whether they sell hairdressing services to a few dozen customers or groceries to millions.

But crafting a winning website isn’t always straightforward.

That’s where this post can help. We explore the top ten tricks and tricks for building a website that converts. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Choose An Easily-Remembered Domain Name

The first step (if you haven’t built a website already) is to choose a domain name that is easy to remember and relevant to your website's purpose. Adopting this approach gives you an immediate boost, particularly at the start.

You want your domain name to be:-

• Memorable and something that people can say easily (with the proper combination of consonants and vowels)
• Suitable for future growth (such as Etsy.com instead of Crafts.com)
• Able to generate SEO-friendly URLs

Avoid website or domain names that:-

• Have hyphens or other strange forms of punctuation
• Don’t make much sense for your brand
• Are too expensive for your budget.

2. Find A Good Web Host

Next, you’ll want to find a web host that offers the features you need to run your site reliably. Many are available and vary in price, features, uptime, and customer support.

Always compare your options before settling on any specific service provider. Look for operators located nearby if you sell to local audiences. (More distant hosting solutions usually come with an annoying lag).

Also, preferentially choose a “dedicated server” for your business where your brand is the only one using it. Shared servers tend to be slower because other website owners can hog resources.

3. Use A Website Builder And Content Management System (CMS)

Next, you’ll want to pick a website builder and CMS. A website builder is a tool that allows you to design and build your website without coding. Options like Squarespace, Wix, and GoDaddy let you drag and drop items onto pages without requiring technical knowledge.

A CMS is software for managing and updating your website content. Popular CMSs include Wix, Shopify and WordPress.

Some website builders are also CMSs, and vice versa. This setup means you don’t need to operate two separate platforms.

4. Give Your Website A Structure

Once you’ve done that, the next step is to consider your website’s structure. Think about the navigation and the hierarchy you’ll use for your pages. Consider how visitors will move around your site and the order they will click on different sections. It should make logical sense for the products and services you sell.

Pay special attention to navigation. Thirty-seven per cent of users say bad menus are a significant reason they leave websites prematurely.

5. Write Engaging And Helpful Content

The next step is to write engaging and informative content. Users should leave your pages with something valuable they can take with them.

Generally, content should be:-

• Free from punctuation and grammatical errors
• In line with your brand voice and tone
• Split into various headings with bullet points
• Surrounded by plenty of white space to prevent readers from feeling overwhelmed
• Written in highly-readable language

Professional bloggers and marketing managers also include multiple GIFs, images, graphics, and videos in their content. To increase shareability, they link to social media accounts and point readers to products and services to drive conversions.

6. Include Chatbot Features

Next, consider communication. How will you talk to people who arrive on your site?

One option is to add the Click4Assistance chatbot. This assistant uses natural language AI to understand visitors’ inputs and provide them with answers to their questions. It’s an affordable and effective substitute for sales reps.

You can also programme it to provide stock responses or guide users to specific actions. Brands use it to triage between visitors who require help from a human rep and those who don’t.

The best thing about chatbots is that they can talk to hundreds of website visitors simultaneously, freeing up staff for other tasks. This feature lets them reduce your overhead significantly.

7. Add Live Chat

You may also ask yourself, “Should I add a chat feature to my website?”

Our answer is a resounding “Yes, you should.” Eighty-nine per cent of consumers say they prefer texting with a business over other forms of communication.

Adding live chat is the perfect way to facilitate this. Users can talk to your colleagues via a small chatbot at the bottom of their browser window. Advisors can respond immediately to their queries, boosting conversions and resolving issues.

8. Optimise For SEO

Once you’ve built out the structure of your website, the next step is to improve your search engine optimisation (SEO). This way, new prospects to find you.

To rank higher on Google or Bing, you’ll need to:-

• Include keywords that embody commercial intent in your web copy
• Avoid negative keywords unrelated to your enterprise
• Add titles, meta titles, and meta descriptions to all your pages
• Include internal and external links
• Add a sitemap
• Register your site on search engines’ indexes 

9. Test Your Site’s Functionality

After that, you’ll want to test your website’s functionality and usability before launching. Testing helps root out errors or issues that might affect its performance and user experience.

For instance, check if your website works well on different browsers, devices, and screen sizes. Also, test backend security to ensure hackers can’t steal data.

Again, you can do this yourself or hire a professional. Website testers run through every aspect of your site, checking it works and does what you want it to do.

10. Promote your website

The last step of building a website is to promote it online. You can do this by:-

• Providing links to pages via your social media account
• Sending your existing subscribers a newsletter telling them your site is now up and running
• Using paid advertising methods, such as Facebook and Google Ads, or influencer marketing, to inform target audiences
• Analysing your website’s performance on Google Analytics to see what works
• Create high-quality content to attract organic traffic

In summary, creating a small business website isn’t as easy as it first looks. However, with proper design, management, and features, you can make significant progress.