In today’s modern society, business owners have to deal with a lot of competition. The internet has made it easier than ever to start a company, but even more difficult to sustain as one. If a business doesn’t have a strong online presence, then you’ll struggle to make an impact. In this guide, we’re going to discuss how successful online businesses dominate the internet.
The Federation of Self-Employed and Small Businesses (FSB) estimates that there are approximately 6 million businesses in the UK, as of 2020. While some small business owners believe that taking a more traditional approach gives them a competitive edge, an internet presence opens up a world of opportunities.
The Advantages of Having an Online Presence
There are many advantages to having an online platform for your business. Let’s take a look at them now.
Reach a Broader Audience
If you sell products or online services, then having a website will help you to connect with a broader audience. The best thing about the internet is that we no longer have to travel to purchase the things we want. E-Commerce makes it easy to go online, visit a website and order a product or service.
Websites are especially useful if you operate within a niche. With the right website integrations, you can ship your products around the world, which enables you to sustain your company and reach the right audiences.
It Fits The “Always On” Mentality
People are so busy these days. Hectic work schedules, childcare commitments and playing catch up over the weekend means going out shopping isn’t always an option. The good thing about the net is just because your business isn’t open, doesn’t mean people can’t shop.
When you provide solutions for your consumers’ needs, you can sell products without even having a conversation. People look for convenience, and a website allows you to provide that for them.
Advertise Your Business
Traditional advertising methods often meant a lot of leaflets, planning, and expensive agencies. The internet is a hub of advertising opportunities, and better still, you can do it all yourself or pay an internet marketing agency to do it for you.
Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and even using a free business directory are all excellent ways to advertise your business.
Better Experience For Customers
When you have a website, you can display all of your business information online. Customers can visit your site to learn about the products you sell and the services you offer. Not only does this offer them a better experience, but it saves your time.
Ways to Build a Successful Online Business
So now you know why having a website is essential, we’re going to look at how to build your business online.
Create a Website
When it comes to building a website, there are so many options available to you. For some companies, using a DIY website builder is ideal, but you have to know what you’re doing. Platforms such as WIX and GoDaddy offer cost-effective web design solutions, but they can look somewhat generic.
To make an impression, you could use a specialist website designer. Great designers will talk about your website needs and do their best to fulfil them. It’s important to remember that your site is the face of your business, and if customers aren’t impressed with what you have to offer, they won’t stick around.
Click here to read our guide on must-have e-commerce website design features.
Build a Social Presence
Social media is a vast sea of customers, and the only thing you have to do is catch them. Whether you’re a B2B or B2C company, there’s a platform that contains your target audience.
Every business should be on social media, and while many create profiles, they don’t use them as they should. Remember that people use social media for learning and entertainment. Nobody wants to hear about the new software you’ve just bought (unless they love your company).
Use your social media account to attract an audience and offer them valuable information. Unless you’re an established company, you should save the selling for your website and build useful connections through Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.
You can find the best social media platform for your company here.
Put a Content Strategy In Place
One of the best ways to get your business online, and noticed, is by putting together an effective content marketing strategy. PPC advertising can yield immediate website traffic and results, but content-driven marketing is a long-term strategy that can give you a constant stream of leads.
Implementing an SEO strategy is central to your success. You could write the best blog posts in the world, but if you don’t optimise them for search engines, your efforts won’t matter. However, when you do learn how to use SEO correctly, you’ll reap the rewards.
A strong content marketing strategy means that eventually, you’ll rank on the search engine results page. When this happens, it’s basically free marketing. According to Internet Live Stats, Google processes 40,000 searches per second. If your content reaches the first results page, it will drive people towards your website and through your sales funnel.
You’ve Got Email
Surprisingly, email marketing is still one of the best ways to attract customers. The majority of people that visit your website, won’t come back but if you catch their email address, then you can use it to drive them back there.
Building an email list is an invaluable asset to your company, and nurturing the leads you have is more straightforward than finding new ones. It would help if you thought about how to keep your leads interested so that when they’re ready to make a purchase or buy a product, you can direct them to your site.
Many businesses offer free e-books or downloads as incentives to retain subscribers. Whatever you decide to offer, it’s important that it appeals to your audience.
Top Tip: Check out what your competitors are doing. You can subscribe to their mailing list and see how they interact with their audience.
Don’t Ignore the Numbers
The best thing about technology today is that it makes it easy for anyone to analyse how their business is performing. Gone are the days of analytical experts, because Google Analytics tells you everything you need to know.
Using tools gives you valuable information about the visitors you’re attracting, how long they stay on your site, and the content they interact with most. Once you have this information, you can use it to improve your website, update your content and figure out ways to turn leads into customers.
There are so many software solutions available, and it would be impossible to name each one. If you’re not sure where to start, then think about the type of industry you’re operating in and search for the best solutions related to your company.
Check out our extensive guide on getting started with Google Analytics here.
Keeping Your Business Online
It’s one thing getting your business online and attracting an audience, but if you don’t remain consistent, then none of your initial efforts won’t matter. If you want a successful online business, there are some vital factors to consider. Let’s take a look at them by answering some of the most problems our clients face.
Which Platform is Best for My Website?
Well, there are a lot of great options around, but we recommend WordPress. As a team of experienced website managers and designers, we look to WordPress because it has such incredible functionality.
With WP, you can choose from a selection of plugins, widgets and integrations to load your site with the software it needs. At Zapp Sites, we offer WordPress solutions for businesses of all sizes, and we do that because we know the platform stands head and shoulders above its competitors.
How Do I Know Who My Target Audience Is?
A big challenge for small business owners is finding their target audience. It’s difficult to conduct extensive research on a small budget, but there are some techniques you can use to isolate the individuals that will purchase your product or service.
Two of our favourite ways to conduct research is the use of social media and forums. For example, imagine you sell women’s clothing. There are plenty of Facebook groups that women interact on, and you can use your account to create polls to find answers to your questions. Most importantly, you can learn how to solve your target audience’s pain points.
Another tactic is becoming an active participant in online forums. People love to connect and often discuss their issues.
Want to learn five free ways to do market research? Click here.
If At First, I Don’t Succeed..?
You got it. Try and try again. Building an successful online business isn’t easy. But if it were easy, then the results wouldn’t be so profitable. Everything from finding your target audience, to creating a website and building a marketing strategy takes a lot of time and commitment.
The blog posts you create won’t immediately gain attention, but if you continue to put in the effort, you will see results.
Are You Ready to Create a Successful Online Business?
In these uncertain times, a lot of people want to take advantage of the freedom of owning a successful online business. But a lot of them don’t want to put the work in and believe us – there’s a lot of work involved. The long-term rewards of the time you spend building your business include a prosperous financial future, the ability to travel and many other freedoms.
If you’d like some support with your website, then Zapp offers website management services UK wide. Our experienced team can support you to keep your content fresh and your site at its peak performance. Contact us today to discover more about how we can help you.
For people that want to work from home, e-commerce can be the ideal industry to get into, but it can also be a challenge. According to Statista, the UK has the biggest e-commerce market in Europe. In this post, we’re going to discuss 11 e-commerce website design features you can’t afford to miss.
The Top 11 E-Commerce Website Design Features
It’s important to note that all websites are unique, and if each followed the same design, then it might not work for specific niches. But, there are certain features you can incorporate into your design while still maintaining your brand identity.
Mobile Responsive Website Design
In this day and age, if you don’t have a responsive website, then you might as well not have one at all. Shoppers want convenience, and it’s a lot easier to use a mobile device to shop instead of turning a laptop on.
When a website is responsive, the content and design features adapt to a variety of screen sizes. It improves the navigational elements of a site, which results in a positive user experience.
Companies around the world realise how important it is to optimise a website. Walmart managed to increase its mobile sales by 98%, which shows that taking a small step and making your site mobile friendly can turn your business around.
User Reviews
Everyone reads reviews. Think about the last time you shopped on Amazon. Did you see a product and click the buy now button straight away? The chances are you scroll down to the user reviews before making a purchase.
Positive reviews can convince a potential buyer that your products are worth their investment. Nobody wants to waste money, so not displaying customer reviews will impact your business.
Negative reviews should also be present on your website. If a visitor sees nothing but five-star positive reviews, they might get suspicious and think your site isn’t reputable. Include a mix of positive and negative reviews so buyers understand the drawbacks and can make an informed decision.
There are plugins available from Yelp, Facebook and Foursquare, so you can choose which reviews to display. Sharing these reviews to your social media profile is a great way to keep your business in people’s minds without spending ages on finding content.
Special Offers
Never underestimate the power of a special offer, because everyone loves to save money. E-commerce websites should always include a compelling offer for their visitors. Popular options include discounts when signing up and buy one get one free incentives.
Another method a lot of e-commerce websites use is the flash sale. For a specified amount of time, visitors can get huge discounts on products. Flash sales are prevalent because they create a sense of urgency and can result in more sales.
If you use regular promotions, you can keep your site in people’s minds and improve your SEO rankings.
Related Items
Related items are so dangerous for consumers but excellent for e-commerce sites. When a buyer makes a purchase, a related items list comes up to show similar products. For example, if someone buys some hair straighteners, a related item could be heat protection spray.
Showing your buyer related items gives them the impression that you get them, and consumers prefer a personalised experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
The biggest issue with e-commerce sites is they lack the face to face interaction consumers often seek out. For example, if someone wants to purchase new makeup, they can head to a cosmetics store and receive advice about which products are best for their skin type and tone.
Online shopping is undoubtedly more convenient, especially for people that have hectic jobs, but it does mean that consumers can’t always get a completely personalised experience. The best way to deal with this issue is to have an FAQ section for each of your products.
FAQ sections can answer the most critical questions a user might have about your product. For example, which skin types and tones do the product suit? How should it be applied? Should people with certain skin types avoid it?
When people have the answers to their questions, they’re more likely to purchase your product. Giving your customers the information they need to make an informed decision means more people will trust your site, and you can generate consumer loyalty.
Security Features
Internet security is vital, especially in this day and age. As you can see from this article in Security Magazine, there are thousands of security breaches each year which expose the data of millions of people.
If your website isn’t secure, people won’t purchase a product. The last thing anyone wants is to risk their personal information from being exposed. Luckily, there are ways you can instil confidence in your users and ensure no personal data breaches occur.
Once you have a secure platform for your e-commerce business, you need four other things; SSL certificates, firewall, a privacy policy and two-factor authentication.
SSL Certificates
An SSL certificate secures the connection between your user’s browser and your website. People know when a website is secure because there is a green lock in the browser bar. Secure websites also display as HTTPS instead of HTTP.
A firewall creates a barrier between two networks and only allows authorised traffic through. It blocks all other traffic which keeps your website secure.
Privacy Policy
Privacy policies are a must-have for your website. They detail the steps you take to protect a user’s personal information. Most websites have a link to their privacy policy in the footer so people can access it easily.
Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication can be annoying for users, but nobody can deny it offers more security. It works by generating a code send to an email address or mobile number when someone accesses a site with their username and password.
Customer Support
Customer support is vital for any business, especially e-commerce sites. People want to access advice and support instantly, so it’s useful to display your contact details throughout your website.
It would help if you made it easy for your customers to reach you by providing numerous options. Include your phone number and email address on your contact page and encourage people to get in touch.
Live chat is becoming increasingly popular because it offers immediate support. If you want to guide your visitors through the buying journey and signpost them to relevant pages on your site, live chat can be incredibly helpful.
Don’t forget; we live in a see it, buy it, receive it tomorrow society. If you can offer immediate support to your visitors, you have a much higher chance of turning them into paying customers.
Returns Policy
Returns policies let users know the steps they need to take if they want to return a product and they’re essential for your website. There might be times when a customer wants to return an item, and if they know the process, they won’t need to contact your customer team.
Your returns policy should detail the timeframe in which a customer needs to return their item, the address they should send it to and whether or not you offer a collection service.
High-Quality Images and Videos
The worst thing you can do on your e-commerce site is to use stock photos. Your customers want to see the actual product, and if you don’t deliver that, then you won’t make a purchase. When you make an effort to showcase your products in their best light, your audience will see that you take pride in your stock.
Instead of using stock photos, display your products on a plain surface and take high-quality images. You should also incorporate videos showing items being used by people if you can. While written content is essential for blogging and telling your brand story, 91% of people prefer visual content.
It would be best if you also thought about how popular the products you sell are. If you use Google Shopping to display your items, then high-quality images will make your stock stand out, and people are more likely to visit your website.
Clear and Concise Shipping Info
It’s so frustrating when you purchase a product and wait weeks for the delivery. People want their items immediately, and if you can’t cater for this, then you need to let them know. Providing clear and concise shipping information gives your customers transparency on what they’ll pay for delivery and how long it will take.
People are always willing to spend more money if free shipping is included. You should always make it clear that you offer free shipping when someone spends a specific amount because your customers might purchase more items to qualify for free shipping.
Remember, if you can’t get peoples items to them within five days, then you need to let them know. If your customers like your products and you cater to a unique niche, most will be happy to wait.
Offer User Accounts & Guest Checkouts
In our opinion, there are two types of customers:
“I need it” people
“I might want it” customers
Type one consumers know they need to purchase an item, so they do some research, find the best price and want a hassle-free checkout process. Type two consumers identify with a brand, enjoy the products they offer and while they might not make an immediate purchase, they can become loyal customers.
Naturally, type one consumers might not want to fill in a form or create an account, but type two consumers will look forward to receiving updates about your products. To cater to both types, you should offer the options of guest checkouts and user accounts.
Users that frequent your site often can benefit from having an account that streamlines their sales process. One-click checkouts are popular because they save time, but never underestimate the importance of guest checkouts.
The Takeaway
A career in online shopping can offer many rewards, but your e-commerce website costs you a lot of money if you don’t include the above features. Your success depends on user experience, so never forget that the customer always comes first.
If you need some help with your e-commerce website design features, Zapp is here to help. Our professional UK web design platform has a wide range of e-commerce packages to fit your needs. You can find out more about what we do here.
There are so many things to think about when you start a business, and as technology improves, a lot of new company owners find themselves feeling lost and confused. If you haven’t heard of robots.txt files and why they’re essential for your business, then read on.
What is a Robots.txt File?
Robots.txt is a tiny file that might seem of little importance, but it can destroy your website. Every search engine has bots that crawl a website and determine which pages to index. When your pages are indexed, they show up in the search engine results page.
You can use robots.txt to tell search engines not to crawl individual pages, which means those pages won’t appear on the search engine results page.
How it Works
Every search engine follows a set of rules to ensure it delivers the best results for both users and website owners. A search engine will check to see what your robots.txt file says before it begins crawling and indexing your web pages.
Robots.txt is useful because you can configure your files to cancel out certain web pages, which means a search engine won’t index them. This can be beneficial if you have duplicate pages, broken links and specific areas of your website that you don’t want spider search engines to crawl and index.
Most search engines can only crawl a limited amount of pages every day, so when you configure your robots.txt file to eliminate less valuable pages, you have more opportunities to rank on the results page.
How to Use Robots.TXT
You can check if you have a txt.file by typing this formula into the search engine: [domain.com/robots.txt). Once you know if you have a file, you can use it to direct search engines to the pages you want them to crawl.
Here are some of the things you can do with a robots.txt file.
Allow Everything
Most websites find it’s easier to allow search engine bots to crawl and index their entire website because they don’t have to configure their txt.file. Using this option means crawlers can find new pages and automatically crawl them.
Block One Sub-Directory
If you have a specific area on your website that you don’t want spider search engine crawlers to find, then you should use the block one sub-directory option. This option enables you to block the checkout area, specific files or an adult section on your site.
Block Certain Files
Some people like to display images on their website, but don’t want them to be indexed by the search engines. Using this option means you can block GIFs, PDFs and focus on the vital information.
Block Certain Webpages
If you want to block your terms and conditions pages or any others that might take up valuable crawling time, you can use a command to make sure search engines ignore them. Your website visitors can still discover less important pages, but you won’t have to worry about missing out on your most important pages being crawled.
The Bottom Line
Now you know the basics of robots.txt files; you can use them to make sure the search engines crawl your most important pages, which will increase your visibility. You can use these commands to configure your robots.txt file.
Would you like to know how to create web pages that turn visitors into customers? Click here for our extensive guide.
Do you remember the old Nokia phones? People were so excited about being able to send text messages and play snake. Fast forward a few years and Smartphones have become a staple for most people, so businesses have to adapt to consumer trends. One of the latest things companies must consider is accelerated mobile pages.
In 2018, mobile usage finally took over desktop, meaning Google had to come up with a way to help websites optimise themselves for mobile browsing. Their solution is AMP.
What is AMP?
AMP was developed by Google to improve how websites are optimised for mobile search. In basic terms, AMP refers to a framework that works around existing HTML to create an effective way to streamline the information browsers exchange with each other.
By using AMP, users get a faster browsing experience, and loading speed for mobile pages is instantaneous. The most significant advantage of AMP is it integrates well with all browsers and content management systems.
Accelerated Mobile Pages SEO Benefits
It’s important to note here that while AMP isn’t a ranking factor for your SEO, but implementing it does offer two major benefits. Let’s look at them now.
Faster Page Load Times
Google recently announced that in 2021, its ranking factors would change to include user experience. One of the most significant aspects their algorithm will look for is page loading times. AMP can boost the speed of your web pages, which will result in your search result page ranking.
According to Google, implementing AMP into your website means your web page loading time could be under one second. As Website Magazine points out, slow loading pages are one of the most significant reasons people leave a web page so that AMP can make a big difference to your SEO.
More Visibility in Search Results
Google makes certain websites that use AMP are rewarded by enhanced visibility in the search results. As you can see from the image below, AMP pages are highlighted by a lightning bolt so users can see which sites use it.
AMP is also a deciding factor in if top stories will rank highly in the search results. If you don’t implement AMP, Google won’t include your post in the top stories carousel, so for blogging and content marketing purposes, AMP looks like it will become a vital integration for all sites soon.
Things to Think About
Implementing AMP is a good idea, but before you dive in head first, there are a few things you should consider.
Is AMP a stable investment?
What we mean by stable investment is can you invest once in AMP and expect to not make any future investments on upgrades? Unfortunately not. Google continually updates its algorithm, and it’s likely accelerated mobile pages.
Is there more work involved?
You’ll need to either have a development team in place or partner with a developer if you want to create content. SEO is more complicated with accelerated mobile pages, so it’s worth considering if you can afford the extra costs, time and input.
The Bottom Line
AMP holds a lot of benefits, but it seems while larger companies embrace it, SMB’s need to think about whether the pros outweigh the cons. There’s no doubt that accelerated mobile pages for SEO are important, but it’s not a cheap option for companies on a budget.
WordPress is one of the most popular website builders and content management systems in the world. What makes it so good are the sheer number of plugins available. In this post, we’re going to look at the best WordPress plugins available.
Yoast is our go-to tool here at Zapp Sites. We know how important SEO is, and Yoast makes it so much easier. There’s a free version and a paid version, but both are excellent. Using Yoast means you can update your meta titles and descriptions. It also shows you how many times your focus keyword appears in your test and gives you useful tips on how to improve your SEO score.
The premium version of Yoast has more capabilities, including synonym keywords and other words. It’s an excellent option for larger businesses, but the free version has everything you need to get started with your SEO efforts.
Web designers UK and worldwide use Visual Composer to create their sites. The frontend and backend page builder enables you to modify existing pages and create new ones with ease. Better still, the fully responsive plugin will integrate into any theme you choose, and it has full responsiveness.
Visual Composer isn’t one of the free WordPress plugins, but for everything it offers, it’s worth the money, especially if you want to build high-quality websites.
If you’re already familiar with WordPress, then you know how essential widgets are. The most significant issue users have is that if you don’t give your widgets a title, the word ‘text’ displays. It causes problems if you have multiple widgets on your site, but you can remove the text with this free plugin.
While this plugin might not seem like a big deal, it makes all the difference when you want to manage your widgets and titles from the backend.
Most people think WooCommerce is just for selling physical products, but you can also use it for subscriptions. It’s one of the best free WordPress plugins around and has endless add-on features. You might have to pay for more premium add-ons, but overall WooCommerce is ideal for people that want to maximise their selling potential.
If you want to begin selling on your WordPress website, you can integrate WooCommerce and save yourself some money. The plugin is quite complex to use, so you might find it’s better to get a professional to help you set it up.
Everyone knows how important a mobile responsive website is, especially if your business operates locally With so many people using their phones and tablets to browse the net, you need to make sure your site works across all devices. The AMP plugin enables you to optimise your website for Google and make sure you have the best chance of ranking on mobile searches.
So, those were the best WordPress plugins you can’t live without. If you’d like to learn more about developing your website, check out our helpful guide on web page design and the best practices to make your site stand out.
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