The year 2020 was an atypical year for everyone, and the economy was greatly affected. Dealers had to quickly reinvent themselves, those who weren’t on digital had to join the trend or risk going out of business.
It is an opportunity to be able to sell and stand out on digital, especially at this time of uncertainty in which we live. Whether micro, small or large companies bet on digital, it is an open market (despite the competition) but one that still has a lot to explore. Even if you are a small brand, blogger or influencer, create a website. But before making that decision, learn about the tips we have so you can have a modern, attractive, optimized website with the potential to convert visitors into customers.
1st analysis
Before moving on to creating a website, first analyze what the competition has done, the points that are missing and what you can fill in, thus standing out from other web portals.
Make a checklist of what you would like included in your web platform, which adds value to your consumer. Don’t or don’t ask for a website, in desperation. If you’ve only just analyzed the possibility of monetizing your business being on digital, do something that makes your customer’s experience unique, so that he can spend time on the site and fall in love with what he consults.
2nd Analyze the availability of the domain
Checking domain availability is something very important, first see if it matches our brand name, whether it will be .com or .pt – What are the differences?
The domain is the name of your brand on the internet, the gateway to your website (usually that of your company/project/brand) and should have the extension you selected.
As for the choice of extension (it is .com or .pt), what we advise is always to choose one according to where you intend to operate. In other words, if your preferred market is Portuguese, choose to register the .pt, in which case you will know that it is a company operating in Portugal. If, on the other hand, your niche is foreign or represents your biggest share of activity – or if you strategically intend to go there – then choose .com, this means that the brand operates for the foreign market.
Then choose the domain. That nothing more than the name of your brand on the internet – it is that address that the user puts in the browser of the type www.marcabis.pt the marcabis is the domain, it serves to locate the information that it makes available to its customers. Confused? Let us then explain how the arrangement of websites on the internet works.
Web pages are books – with varied information that will be made available by the library. What is the library? The library referred to here is the server where your website will be hosted. There are companies that own large computers (those giant computers you see in movies) and that provide drawers or spaces in the drawers so that we can place the information we want, in this case the books. And how do you get information from books? It is with the domain, when writing the domain in the browser (internet window – commonly used Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer. Let’s call it (browser) librarian), it will go to the drawers or shelves of the library to look for the book you want to in fact it is the information that is made available on the website and presented in milliseconds so that you and other users can consult it.
Hence, when you ask a developer or website development company to build one for you, the first thing they ask is – do you already have a domain name? Yes, because it is necessary to check if the library has availability for that name, it may be that someone has already published a book with the same name, which cannot match the information. Ways around, if the name is already being used, is by extension. It may be that when choosing www.marcabis.pt it is already taken or expensive, but .com is free or even .net. And then you can have your domain with the same name as your brand. But be careful to pass this information on correctly to your customers so that they do not start accessing a site other than yours.
3rd Choose a good hosting company
What is this hosting? Hosting is the server where your website will be hosted. Let’s deal with the library as mentioned above. Choose a quality library that ensures your site is available 24/7. You can choose free or low-cost hosting companies, but this has an impact on the performance of your web platform. As? For example, the limit of files that can be uploaded (files we can consider images or videos) is limited, there may be failures and breakdowns on the server which will make your site constantly unavailable or you may see your site take a while to display the information, because, as it is free or low cost, it is shared with other customers, which overloads the system.
In fact, administering a website is not easy and that’s why we advise a good hosting service to guarantee – website security, constant backups to avoid loss of information, responsiveness to moments of greater congestion on the web, which loads quickly and also guarantee the availability of a technician whenever extra help is needed.
4th Design (UI/UX)
Website design goes beyond being beautiful, having a good font, quality images, color and visual identity. A website with UX – user experience is a website that, in addition to having a good appearance, also presents a good navigability interaction. In other words, your customers/users must fall in love when browsing your web platform. As? It must have all the information mentioned above (good image…), it must be intuitive and easy to navigate. When building a web platform, you shouldn’t build it for yourself, but for those who will make constant use of it. It should be a well-architected project with an interactive menu that’s easy to navigate. Above all, you must ensure that this platform is responsive – adaptable to any device used by the customer.
Entered in the UI component – user interface is how the user will interact with the platform. With the detailed choice of buttons, colors, icons, fonts, sizes, formats and even copy, all of this impacts user interaction. Even UI and UX go hand in hand when it comes to design compliance. For example, when the designer chooses a color for an icon, it’s not because it looks good, it goes beyond that. The colors influence the permanence of the user on the site. Strong colors tend to create visual fatigue for the user, so when entering the platform, if he sees many strong tones, he automatically goes back. Result = loses a possibility to sell.
5th Responsive
In point 4 we talk about the interaction that the user will have with the web platform, and we mention that the platform must be responsive. Why? The phrase of choice: “the site is not for you, but for your customers”. Therefore, you must think that the platform must be accessible from any device that allows access to the internet.
Now, let’s talk a little about what being responsive means – it’s the ability of the website to automatically adapt to a desktop, tablet or smartphone (adapt to the screen of any electronic device capable of accessing the internet). When we talk about adapting, we mean that the information to be presented to the user must be the same whether it is on a desktop or smartphone, and must respect the same concepts referred to in the previous points.
Alert: a responsive website is an open door to search engine indexing. This means that search engines like google will classify your site as good to be available when someone searches for services or products that your site presents.
6th Relevant Content - SEO Techniques
“Content is king” premise for marketing. By offering rich and valuable content to your audience, you will convey confidence in what you sell. For example: you are a self-made pastry shop and you want to attract more customers, if you make videos with recipes for some sweets that you sell in your pastry shop, you will create expectations in the customer of the final product, since he is following the process and will have a better perception of the product he will consume. In addition to viewing the recipe, he will recommend it to close people, because he even likes it, you can even try to recreate your recipe, but it will never come out the same. The truth is, it becomes more practical to go to the pastry shop and buy their products that have a special touch – yours. So, in addition to showing the recipe to the customer, you are involving him in the process of creating the sweets he consumes.
And, that’s what content does, it creates compelling links for the audience where your product stands out.
Furthermore, only with quality content and optimized with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies can your website reach relevant positions in the search engine, and may even reach the top – in the first positions of Google or another search engine. Being in the top positions on Google only results in one thing – more customers.
7th Delegate to a digital marketing agency
You noticed that there are a lot of steps, right? But it’s not impossible.
If you want a professional platform with permanent assistance, request and entrust its development to a digital marketing agency. By trusting this strategic partner, not only does it delegate all the bureaucracy, but it also guarantees the use of the right tools at the right time, that things are being done in the best possible way to present your brand/business/company online, standing out from the competition.
Talk to a UNMA creative to learn more about creating a web platform (website) by clicking here.
And in the meantime… Happy holidays and good sales.