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5 Essential Elements of Small Business Websites

Posted on by Mario

The Important Elements for Small Business Websites

For a business to operate in 2018, having a website is indispensable. It’s not enough to have an Instagram page or a Facebook account; you need to have a space that you could call completely your own in addition to your actual place of business. That space is your website.

Gone are the days where you need substantial skills and experience in web development. The advent of user-friendly web builders means that you could set up a website of your own, for a fee, in the time it takes for me to finish this piece, perhaps even quicker. Contrary to popular belief, these do-it-yourself web builders actually enable you to design a website that wouldn’t look out of place sitting next to a graphic designer’s portfolio.

Small business websites, explained

When designing a website for a small or a new business, there are certain considerations you’ll have to take. You can’t just look at what the big companies are doing because you don’t have the kind of influence, recognition and standing that these companies have. For small businesses, website should act as an introductory course, communicating clearly just what does your business stands for and how you can help your potential customers.

What you should put in your website is obviously going to be informed by what kind of business you are running in the first place. The website for a design & marketing firm for example would be drastically different when compared to a boutique shoemaker but as each are small business websites, they inevitably share some common essential elements and features inherent to their nature.

A short introduction on your main or landing page

As stated before, websites act as an introductory course for small businesses. They tend to act as the first place of meeting between a business and their potential customer. It’s like whenever you enter a new job, the first thing you’ve got to do is introductions, to your new coworkers and superiors, to your new position and to the company itself.

Big companies don’t necessarily have to enunciate who they are because chances are, the public already know. Small businesses don’t have this luxury and as such, the main page of your website should communicate clearly who you are and what do you do. For businesses that deal in tangible products, displaying images of your product is one way of achieving that goal. For professional services, using a simple tagline would suffice.

Background details on your company and your value proposition could be tucked in further down the page but it is important that customers know what you’re selling the second they access your website.

A definitive guide on who you are and what your company stands for

Once the short introduction is out of the way, you still need to include detailed information on your company’s background in your website, usually in the ‘About Us’ page. Ideally, this page should include what vision you have for your business, what exactly drew you to be in the business and your value proposition, what makes you stand out against the competition.

Your customers are human, which means that they aren’t entirely objective. Sometimes, having the right personality and a vision that is in line with your potential customers is enough to nudge them over to your business.

Reviews and testimonials

Again, not a concern for major companies but could be a game changer for small businesses. Professional services rely on reviews and asking previous customers to put in a good word for you to display on your website has been a mainstay of small business websites. For business that deals in products, including a selection of photos of your products being used or worn by actual customers is a good idea.

A simple web address

There are a lot of ways you can be creative about your business but the URL is not one of them. Your URL doesn’t have to be an actual word, the important thing is that it’s short, uncomplicated, and easy to remember and preferably, has your company’s name in it. Dashes are a nightmare and ideally, it should not include a number unless it is a part of your company’s name. For domain, stick with .com as that’s the default setting for most users.

Easy-to-find contact information

This could be achieved in a number of ways. The most obvious recourse is to include a ‘Contact Us’ page and your social media links in a fixed navigation bar. A fixed navigation bar is a navigation bar that sticks in place even after the user scrolls down the page, which would ensure that you will always be easily reachable at all times. If you have a physical place of business, including your location in Google Maps is a preferable way than merely listing your address.

Additional considerations

In addition to the considerations listed above that are specific to small businesses, the usual best practices for general web design also apply. Mobile friendliness, text legibility, and minimalist design are some of the additional considerations you might want to think about. Remember, you only have one chance to nail your first impression and you definitely don’t want that impression to be a cheap mess of a website that is somewhat common for small businesses.

Name It Right: How Your Brand’s Name is (Apparently) Important for Your SEO

Posted on by Mario

SEO tips

Ever search for a restaurant you want to visit on Google, and then what appears next is a number of totally different places instead of the restaurant you are searching for? If that has ever happened to you, then the restaurant you were looking for has made a bad decision in choosing their restaurant’s name. Why? Believe it or not, a brand’s name plays a crucial role in SEO. If you are a business owner hiring SEO services to help your business grow, then you must consider naming your brand properly and uniquely. This article will tell you how important your brand’s name when it comes to SEO. Keep reading to find out!

How important is a brand’s name?

Well, most of you may already know Vin Diesel from his big role in Fast and Furious movies. Did you know that his name used to be Mark Sinclair? Surprised? Yeah, me too, when I first found out about it. But, have you ever wondered why he changed his name? Apparently, according to the information from people.com, he changed his name because Mark Sinclair wasn’t tough enough in Hollywood. The same goes with a brand’s name. A name can either make or break your brand, because the name of your brand will represent your brand’s authenticity, originality, characteristics, and uniqueness. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, if your brand’s name is still similar to other brands, or if your brand’s name is too general, then it will be difficult for people to find you. For example, you own a hair salon, and you recklessly name your salon “Beautiful Hair Salon.” Well, it might be a nice name, but when you search the name on Google, there will be plenty of salons using similar names and therefore making it difficult for you to rank high. Aside from that, “Beautiful Hair Salon” has ambiguous meanings that it can translate into “a hair salon that is beautiful” as well.

Then, how do we create a proper brand’s name?

First, think of a name that represents you but in a unique way. You can also use your own name for that. For example, if you own a cake shop and your name is Sharon, maybe you can use this name: ShareOn Cake by Sharon. However, be careful with the space. If you separate Share and On, it would be a general phrase with common and mixed ambiguous search results. Therefore, it is better for you to Google it first to make sure you are not creating any ambiguous or similar names with other things found on search engines. This will also let you know whether there are cake shops with the similar name or not.

The next step is to decide the targeted keywords that you will be focusing on for SEO purposes. When you type specific kinds of keywords on search engines, chances are, you will find millions of results. For example, if you type “delicious cakes” only, you will get millions of results. But that is not necessarily a good thing. Why? That is because you will get tougher competitions in terms of ranking. Therefore, it will be difficult for you to start up. On the other hand, if you type “delicious cakes in (your region and more specific region)”, though the results may reach to 800-100.000, it is less competitive and you will get more chances with the rank.

Last but not the least, shape your brand’s name with brand identity that will also explain the real origin of your brand’s name choice. This will strengthen your brand’s name and boost your brand awareness.

That’s how important a brand’s name for your business and how to make a proper brand’s name. I hope this gives you insights on what to do before starting out a new business. If you have any question about SEO or brand shaping, feel free to contact us and our professional team will be glad to help.

Creating a More Accessible Website

Posted on by Mario

In general, website accessibility is known as an attempt of removing online barriers faced by people with disabilities. The goal is to provide everyone with equal access to online information and functionality.

This website accessibility issue has been broken down by the W3C or World Wide Web Compliance organization into 12 points and the accessibility requirements will continue to evolve. But, don’t worry, as you can improve the accessibility of your website by following the best practices below for web design, development, and content management to improve the user experience on your website for all visitors. If you are a web developer, this article will suit you best, so keep on reading and learn how to create an accessible web today!

How to Design for all Users?

Below are ways that you can apply to make your user interface design and visual design more accessible. These tips can be applied both to a new website and to an existing site.

Applying the Right Color Contrast Ratio

Color contrast helps people see the text clearly as it gives sufficient contrast between the text color and background color. Therefore, it is important for you to provide a good color contrast ratio. As a best practice, your foreground text should have sufficient contrast from the background colors. A contrast ratio of 5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text are good standards to follow and also meet the minimum requirements for WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

Avoiding Sliders and Animations

Some studies reveal that user experiences and visitor engagement are not good for conversions and can cause low engagement. Therefore, it is better to avoid using any rotating slides and carousels on web pages because some website visitors may require more time to view and read a slide, besides, rotating and moving content will only create frustration for visitors.

Utilizing WordPress for Accessibility

Since February 2016, WordPress has released WordPress Accessibility Coding Standards which provide a compliant based on which custom themes can be built, most major themes and frameworks on WordPress, like Genesis or Avada.  Furthermore, all new or updated code released in WordPress must conform to the WCAG 2.0 guidelines.

Form Labels and Errors

Instead of using placeholder text, make sure all forms on your website have proper form labels. For example, the form pictured below has placeholder text for username and password, but once the form field is clicked, the user can no longer see what information should be entered into the field. This kind of form will create a hindrance for users that need extra time filling out a form.

Web Page Navigation

Another thing that you should bring to your attention is the accessibility in creating a website that can be navigated using a keyboard. This is because some website users with mobility impairments can’t use a mouse to navigate your website and rely on a keyword or keyboard-like device.

In fact, the better your page’s structure and semantics are, the more navigable and understandable it is for all users. Therefore, make sure that your WordPress developer is following the best practices in page structures by using proper heading hierarchies, enabling skip links, and using accurate semantic HTML.

How to Manage Content for All Users?

Don’t forget about content, because having an accessible website requires an adjustment in how you handle all website content going forward, so here are some of the ways that you can do.

Adding Alternative Text to Images

To describe the appearance of an image on a web page, alt text is used within an HTML. Visually impaired users rely on alt text to understand an image on a website. With WordPress interface, website administrators can easily update website content and add alternative text to images. In this case, alternative text is helpful for SEO, as search engines look for alternative text to identify and properly index an image.

Video & Audio Captions

Just like having captions on images, you should also put captions and transcripts on any video or audio. By giving captions, to multi-media, the visitors can easily enjoy and access the knowledge offered in the media. Furthermore, with captions, visitors can conveniently watch videos with the sound off. Today, it is easy to find numerous free tools available for adding and editing captions to your video and audio files.

So, whether you are creating a new website or upgrading it, it is important to protect all that work by ensuring the website is secure from hackers and security breaches. In fact, you may need to have a daily backup, not only for security, but also for breaking a component related to accessibility.

In summary, major online businesses are realizing on the importance of accessibility that is able to encourage closed captions on videos for users who are deaf and hard of hearing, so are you ready to start creating a more accessible website today? Remember that it is important to create a website that can be accessed by anyone, anytime, and anywhere.