When it comes to launching a new website for your startup, there are many things that you should consider. A website can be really helpful for your business as it can get you new customers, partnerships and sales. Many people will also form their first impression of your business based on your website. This is why we are listing some important things that you should pay attention to when deciding to build a website for your startup. So, let’s get started!
What do you want to achieve and who are you?
First of all, you should introduce your company and be clear about what kind of products or services you offer. As they have just found your website in the search results, you have to make a quick connection to build trust.
For this specific task, a good-looking landing page is important to make a positive first impression. There are tons of free WordPress themes that are great for making your landing page shine through.
Loading time matters!
The devil is in the details. It might seem like a negligible thing to consider, but in fact, the majority of internet users (83%) expect your website to load in maximum of three seconds. If your website does not meet the expectations, you can lose valuable traffic or even potential customers.
First of all, you should consider using different tools to measure your website’s loading speed. In order to improve it, you can reduce the size of the pictures, implement caching plugins, or you can also just leave the maintenance tasks for us.
Eye-catching web design
Do you know that feeling when you access a website and just by the design itself you can feel that you are at the right place? Many visitors judge a website at first sight and they might decide to leave. Even if your product is great, a poor website design can ruin your reputation by looking unprofessional.
On the contrary, an appealing website with innovative design features, and the right set of colors, can have a great impact on how people perceive your website and your brand, thus raising the chances for your startup to succeed.
Creating a simple but insightful user journey
User journey is part of the user experience (UX) design of the website and it can be useful to see how users interact with your website in order to understand their behavior better. It can also be a great tool to demonstrate different ways how visitors could interact with your website. This way you can see what possible functions you could use to create a better user experience.
Visitors will begin their journey on the landing page, where they will have their first impression of the company. Afterward, they can get to the other pages to get to know more information about the product and your company. This is your chance to influence their journey! Based on your knowledge of your target group, you can create a layout which will help them navigate through the website in a simple and convenient way. As they know more information about your company and your products, it is more likely that they want to subscribe to your newsletter.
Optimize it for mobile
As more and more people use their mobile devices to browse the internet, it is very important to have your website optimized for all the different platforms (mobile, tablet, desktop), so don’t lose any traffic.
There are differences between the mobile-friendly and mobile-optimized websites. Mobile-friendly websites are just a narrow version of the website’s desktop version. On the other hand, mobile-optimized websites are specifically targeted to mobile users and the website is designed for smaller screens.
There are also many features of mobile-optimized websites, like formatted content for maximum readability, easy “thumb friendly” navigation and simple, and quick answers to inquiries compared to desktop searches. This way the visitors can enjoy the full experience of the website and they will be able to have a better experience. If visitors will have a better experience on your website, it is more likely that they will visit your page again and more traffic leads to more sales.
Tell your story!
Nowadays all startups have a story to tell (like we do) and you should be no different. You should tell the visitors why did you start the company in the first place and what motivates you on your journey to success.
With a well-structured ‘About Us’ page, you can really show who are the people behind your company and you can make a more human connection. If you can tell your story adequately to your audience, you have better chances that visitors will remember you and trust you.
How can I contact you?
If you want to reach out to people, you should also give them the opportunity to reach out to you. This is exactly what the ‘Contact Us’ page is good for and you can even create forms for different inquiries.
This page plays an important role in converting visitors into potential customers. It is an indispensable part of your website, as not only customers, but investors and advertisers can also get in touch with you through this page. You can provide an email address where they can reach you, a phone number in case they would like to call you and your address in case of physical letters and Google Maps location. Contact page should be easy to find and it should have a well-designed layout, which shows your brand well.
Great engaging content
Providing exclusive and engaging content is the cornerstone of every digital marketing strategy as it can help you in many ways to develop your brand online. It helps you to increase brand awareness. Unique written and visual content can help you to stand out from the crowd and build up your brand recognition. It can also serve as a tool to drive more traffic to your website and the creation of interesting content will provide additional value for the visitors of your website.
Creating high-quality content is not only good for your visitors, but it can also help with your SEO efforts. As you create content which is relevant and interesting for search engine users, it is more likely that these people will share it on social media. This will further contribute to your search engine rankings in the long-term. Content is not only a great tool to get new customers, but to strengthen your relationships with existing customers. You can publish content about how to use your product, or about additional services which you provide to your customers.
Security and backup
Last but not least, it is necessary to make sure that your website is secure. It is very important to create a backup for your website, as you can lose data in a security breach and with a backup you can easily access data from an earlier time. In case if online purchases can be made on your website, it is recommended to get an SSL certificate to ensure secure payments in the future. In order to backup your website data, customer information and other data, you should use a cloud-based backup system.
There are certain things that you should be cautious about, as your website is exposed to many risks and dangers. Websites are being attacked quite often by hackers, and ransomware attacks are also on the rise in the first half of 2017. By having a backup you can be prepared if you notice strange things on your website. There are not only external threats facing your website, but things can go wrong internally too. For example, you store all your data on a computer hard drive and it crashes or your data simply leaks online. Don’t forget to keep strong security measures, protect your website and backup your data!
Conclusion
As we understood, it is necessary to have a website for any startup. It is one of the most valuable and effective ways to reach out to people and show your company to the public. By telling your story you can add more value to your company in the eyes of the customers. There are many in-depth technical details, but if you will follow these steps mentioned above, you can reach your goals. It can take a long time to become successful, but with the right website and persistence, you will achieve your dreams for sure!
