QUICK TIP MAY 13, 2016 BY AARON MONTGOMERY
Creating a Company Website – First and foremost, your website must show that you actually care about being online. This means having a page that is updated regularly. For example, if your page says “copyright 2014,” and it is 2016, that sends a message that you don’t care about being online. Even if you are not a website builder or don’t want to pay someone thousands of dollars to build one for you, there are plenty of ways to look professional online at a reasonable price. Don’t use a free personal site service with ads all over it. Website building is a lot less complicated now than it was even three or four years ago. If you don’t have the resources for a web designer, or the skills to build a site yourself, allocate some of your budget for a paid website platform like wix.com or squarespace.com. These services feature extremely user-friendly interfaces with drag and drop layouts. You can build a functional, modern looking business website without having to spend hours learning code or hiring developers. As a personal testimonial, I maintain a couple of sites myself (www.2regularguys.com, for example) and am the farthest thing from being a website programmer. If I can do it, you can too.
Once you have a website that looks like it belongs in 2016, it’s imperative that your site has a call to action at the top. This doesn’t have to be a “Buy Now” button, but more of an action that you would like for a potential customer to perform once they come to your site. Think about what’s in it for the prospective customer and design your call to action around them. For example, “Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter” is enticing because you’re offering users information relevant to your niche. Another common call to action is “Request a Quote” in exchange for a free shipping offer, or similar incentives.
Last but not least, some business owners prefer to direct people to their social media pages, but personally, I believe that this should be the other way around. Facebook will have no problems maintaining traffic, and you want to make sure your social media posts direct people back to your own website. I suggest putting social media links at the bottom of the page on your website.
