In today’s digital world, your website is the face of your business. Would you go to a job interview without looking presentable? Or, if you owned a retail store, would you allow it to be disorganized and disheveled? We didn’t think so.
Imagine your website as a physical location potential customers visit when deciding to choose you or the competition. How can your website look polished, professional and credible? Here are 5 tips we believe will help your website put its best foot forward.
The first step to selecting a professional domain name is having it match your business name as closely as possible. This helps to eliminate any confusion for customers when searching for your business online.
When choosing a domain name, select a .com domain whenever possible. Since .com is the most widely used TLD (top level domain), most customers will type this extension in first when searching for your business online. Additionally, because most URLs end in .com, it is the most trusted type of TLD by customers. If you're site is used mostly outside the US, you'll want to consider the perceptions of domains in your target country.
It's a good idea to avoid numbers and hyphens, which people and search engines (such as Google) can view as spammy.
Although it may be tempting to use a premade template to quickly build a website yourself, trust that hiring a pro will make all the difference in your site’s appearance and credibility.
As mentioned earlier, a website should be viewed like a physical retail store and should be organized and aesthetically pleasing. Consider your web designer your store’s visual merchandiser.
Using a professional to write your website's copy is as important as hiring a web designer. As we discussed a few weeks ago, copy makes or breaks a website.
High quality images also greatly contribute to the credibility and attractiveness of your website.
Testimonials are another essential component to building your site’s trustworthiness. Did you know 88 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations?
Finally, showcase your work by featuring a professional portfolio on your website. It's also effective to write case studies that describe how you helped your customers. A portfolio and/or case studies provide potential customers with proof that you can actually do what you say.
Are you ready to make your website more polished, professional and credible? We’d love to help you take your website to the next level.