5 Steps That You Can Take Right Now to Improve Your Small Business Website

If you’re short on time, short on resources and short on patience then this is for you.

These 5 steps are a quick win to increase your website’s ranking potential and improve your user’s experience too. Sound good? Let’s dig in.

1. Google My Business

Every month, there are over…

  • 5 billion searches on Google for restaurants
  • 3 billion searches for hotels
  • 1 billion searches for clothing shops
  • 600 million searches for hair and beauty salons
  • 5 million searches for coffee shops

Source: https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/business/

Google My Business is a really easy way to improve your ranking on Google. A Google Business account has so many benefits, it allows you to:

  • Take control of, and update, your opening hours on Google
  • Post updates that will show when people search for your business
  • Build customer trust by responding to reviews
  • Give customers more ways to reach you
  • Share offers directly on your Google Business profile

So head to Google My Business, claim your business listing and fill out your profile.

2. Bing Webmaster percentage of web

Bing should not be discounted as a search engine. In January 2020, it (Bing) accounted for 5.53 percent of the global search market. Market leader Google had a market share of 87.35 percent. Chinese search engine Baidu’s market share was 0.7 percent. It’s a small slice but worth tapping into. How? As with Google, you can set your business up on the search engine. Go to Bing Webmaster and fill out as much as you can and verify your ownership of your business.

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/216573/worldwide-market-share-of-search-engines/

3. SSL Certificates and HTTPS

Have you been on a website recently that has given you a warning saying that it is insecure? If you have then you might agree with me that it is a bit of turn off. This happens when you don’t have something called an SSL certificate. When you have one of these you can serve your website over a secure connection. Not sure whether you have an SSL certificate installed? Go to SSL Labs and run a test or ask your domain registrar.

4. Keep everything consistent

It’s critical that you keep the business name, address, and phone number (NAP) consistent. Display it prominently, accurately, and consistently throughout your site’s content. Check that this information is in the footer or header of your website and on any “contact us” pages. If you are a multi-location business, it’s best to build unique, optimised pages for each location. Check your social media accounts too, they need to display the same information. Also double-check those Google and Bing listings to ensure they match your website.

5. Optimise that homepage

In the past homepages were a competitive place. Businesses would pack them full of every service they offer in great detail. They would list latest blog posts, events they were running and everything else. Most small businesses still do this.

Now, your business homepage should have a lot more clarity, focus and purpose. Search engines understand that your website is about more than what’s on your homepage. Your homepage can now focus on the specific people who will be coming directly there.

Make it visual — convey your unique value proposition right at the top of the page

Don’t use lots of text, this page needs to be visual and not complex. If you include a video or image at the top of your page then test it. Show it to someone who doesn’t know anything about what you do. If they understand what you do from that video that’s great.

Answer some frequently asked questions about your brand or services/product

Your prospect will hit this page, become aware of what you have to offer, but have some questions. Answer some of those questions in this section.

Not sure what those questions are?

Start making a note of questions that come up in conversation with prospects, leads and clients or customers.

Prove that your small business is an expert in your sector

Social proof in the form of testimonials or reviews can be a great way to prove that you are good at what you do. It can be an excellent way to qualify your value proposition. Include reviews that will resonate with your prospects problems, but don’t go over the top.

Include one main call to action (CTA)

Flooding your homepage with various buttons is not generally a good idea.

Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia Business School, spoke about the art of choosing in a 2010 TED. She said,

“Too many choices can overwhelm us and cause us to not choose at all. For businesses, this means that if they offer us too many choices, we may not buy anything.”

Make the one main action that you want your users to take the most prominent button. You could then relegate secondary actions to a less prominent button. You can and should still have internal links to other areas of your website, but push forward your primary call to action.

Summary

You don’t have to be a web expert to start making some small improvements, that will make a huge difference to your small business. If it all seems a little overwhelming then try to tackle one of these steps a week.

There’s plenty more ways to improve your small business website.

Try out our free website audit (worth £500) and I will personally take a look at your website to show you how to improve it.

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