Blog

Posted by admin on January 20th, 2009

With the current financial climate, you may have been considering the best way to make the most of your business online, but should you be updating the look of your website or should you be going for a completely new website altogether?

There are many important questions for you to consider and hopefully they should lead you to the decision that is right for your business.

Does your website achieve what you want it to?
Basically, is your website bringing in the sales you want or is it struggling to provide online enquiries while you hear about how the rest of the world wide web is flourishing? If you aren’t receiving orders from your website it may be because of what your website is saying about your business, and making amendments to your website can help to rectify this.

Is your website easy to navigate?
Generally, most people are a bit lazy and don’t want to spend lots of time searching for information, especially if they aren’t even sure that you have the product they are looking for! Making sure your website is easy to navigate and including menu’s on all pages will encourage people to click through the pages on your website and not just click back to the search engine! Also, adding internal search engines to your website can cut the time it takes for your visitors to find the product they are looking for – something most people will appreciate!

Is there sufficient product information?
One of the problems with buying online is that you are totally dependent on the information and photos of the product because you are unable to pick it up, feel the material, see the size of the item, etc, like you can in a shop. Making sure there are plenty of details will allow people to visualise the item better, making them more likely to purchase.

Is the website secure?
Identity theft is a very big concern to a lot of people and not having an ssl certificate on your website means that most people will not place an order. If you do not have an ssl certificate in place, it’s advisable to purchase one immediately. This is also likely to increase orders as your visitors will see their details are secure.

Is your website attracting the ‘right’ people?
All businesses have a target audience and making sure your website reflects the people you are targeting will play an important part in encouraging them to place an order. If you are targeting a younger market; make sure your website is fun and fresh, if you are trying to target businesses; a professional, clean looking website will be more appropriate. It is important to know who your customers are to make sure they stay on your site once they have found it.

Do you have a search engine campaign?
Having a great website is important but making sure people can find it is even more important! If someone links to your website it will eventually appear in the search engines by itself, but, by having a search engine promotion campaign in place you can make sure it appears quickly and with a successful campaign, you can target specific keywords and aim to get your website on the first page of results, creating a steady flow of visitors to your site.

Does your website meet the standards set by your competition?
When searching for a product, it is proven that people will shop around and compare you against your competitors. If your competitors have websites that are of a much higher standard, the chances are they will place an order with them instead. In order to be considered over your competitors, you will need a website that is at the least to the same standard.

Is your website cost effective?
Is it easy to update the information on your website or do you have to pay other people to do it? Having a CMS site or an ecommerce site that can be updated inhouse means you can make as many updates to the site as you wish, add new products; immediately increasing your marketing time and save money.

Making changes to the way your website looks can improve your conversion rates and help to avoid shopping cart abandonment, and updating things such as the copy of the site can improve the professional feel.

If the website cannot be significantly improved by updating the information and pictures, you should consider a completely new website design. A website redesign will cost more than an update but if the new website is done well you should be able to see the ROI (return on investment) in a reasonably short amount of time.
If your website is not on CMS, you could also consider a new CMS website, allowing you to update the information rather than paying for it to be done.

For more information about how Studio 2 Online can help you achieve the most from your website and search engine promotion, please call us on 0116 2758456.

Dani
Studio 2 Online
Web Design Leicester