40% of small businesses in the US do not have a website, as reported by Cision. This is an alarming statistic given the fact that businesses need to have a strong online presence to thrive in a post-pandemic world. Additionally, not only is creating a website affordable, it provides various benefits such as increased brand awareness, higher sales, and the opportunity to collect valuable customer data. In this article, we explore the best practices small business owners should follow when creating a business website.

1. Prioritize Mobile Responsiveness

As a business, you need to be where your customers are, which in 2022 is on smartphones. According to research by Tech Jury, consumers in the US spend 5 hours daily on their phones, and 35% of them prefer to shop online through their phones. Take a look at these mind blowing cell phone statistics. Hence, when it comes to creating your website, give preference to the mobile version as it will garner higher traffic and sales.

2. Make the Website Look Good

An aesthetic website is bound to catch customers’ attention from the first second. Here are a few ways to make your website looks better than that of competitors:

• Include Your Logo: Having your logo on the website is a must as it helps to build brand awareness and recall. Include the logo in the header and footer of all pages. With a new website, consider revamping your logo by using an online logo creator which provides you with various customizable templates which can be adapted to your brand style in just a few clicks. 

• Utilize Whitespace: Including too many elements on a page will make it load slower and look clunky. Using whitespace makes the website look elegant and clean and allows customers to read the text with ease.

3. Have Easy Navigation

Create simple navigation bars on your website using which customers can easily find what they’re looking for. This will lead to higher page views, reduced churn, and an increase in conversions. Additionally, ensure that all links provided in the navigation bar are clickable and direct customers to the right page.

4. Focus on SEO

Search engine optimization is the process through which you can rank your website higher on search listings, garner more traffic and perform better than competitors. One of the best ways to improve website SEO is to include relevant keywords on all pages across headings, images, and meta descriptions. To find the best keywords for your business, use this tool. You can also choose to work with an expert like SunCity Advising SEO company to carry out your SEO activity for you. Outsourcing this may also be the better route to get the best results.

5. Combine Your CRM and ERP Tools

Daily, your website will generate a ton of customer data which can directly be fed to your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. Analyzing this data will provide in-depth insights relating to the performance of marketing campaigns, customer satisfaction, and much more. But you can take this a step further by integrating the CRM with your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tool, as it includes data regarding customer orders, billing information, etc. This integration will make it easy to manage inventory, avoid duplication of customer data, and provide you with a holistic picture of customer behavior across your website and other modes of sales.

↪ Use a Process Mining Tool

If you haven’t already, start using a process mining tool that will help you analyze the performance of your website and make data-based decisions. Leveraging the power of AI, a process mining tool analyzes the log data created by all software used by the business to create a digital map of all your processes, which can help you to:

• Evaluate the performance of key tools such as CRM, ERP, and cyber security software.

• Find inefficiencies in website performance that can be fixed promptly.

• Improve sales and marketing efforts to drive higher traffic to the website, leading to an increase in conversions and registrations.

To get the most out of this tool for your business, consider reading this guide to learn more about process mining.

Having a website will play a key role in making your business a success. Along with a great design focus on having good backend systems such as a CRM and a process mining tool which helps you stay on top of website performance and make prompt changes as and when needed.