There are an estimated 2 billion active websites according to internetlivestats.com as we speak.
Among them are the big players such as Google, Facebook, or Amazon. But what about all the otherbusiness and personal websites?
Digital entrepreneur and SEO expert Fernando Raymond knows how frustrating it can be for any business owner or freelancer to not reach their target audience.
He has helped many small business owners to get their websites ranked on search engines to increase their online visibility.
He is happy to share some valuable insights into how to develop a website strategy fast and easy for any small business website. And he has launched the world’s best web application to register, host and manage websites, so he knows what he’s talking about.
So, here are a few hot points to consider supporting anyone with their website strategy for their online success.
Image credit: @petraeujanephotography
The Challenges of managing a Website & Strategy
As a business owner myself, I completely understand the importance of a website, yet I also see the barriers such as time and lack in technical support that any entrepreneur will experience.
I try to conduct adequate research and a SWOT analysis before launching a website so the whole process requires as much strategy and thought as any other business process. The modern-day rise of the digital economy makes a website the most important aspect to pay attention to in my view, especially when you’re starting a new business.
Just think about Amazon, one of the world’s most successful websites and its content presentation and web marketing strategy alone and how that has led to its incredible success as an online marketplace and business. It takes a lot of planning and strategizing to get to this level of course.
Many of my SEO clients at my marketing agency ClickDo really struggled with their business website management and I saw how that hindered their online success. At SeekaHost we have crafted the ultimate solution for setting up and managing a website. This was very important to me and with the SeekaHost.app anyone can get started by creating an account where they can easily access the domain registration and web hosting panels to search, register and host their website in less than 5 minutes.
The first important Step for developing a Website Strategy?
Your success journey already starts with the choice of the domain name. Ideally, get an easy to remember and spell domain name that is recognisable. So, if your business has a name, register that as a domain, if available. For a personal blog you can register your blogger or freelancer name. You need to envision establishing a presence on the web that accomplishes much more and has a future.
Before you set up your website, carefully think about its purpose and format as that will determine its specifications. In the case of a business website, the purpose is to generate more revenue, aid in the expansion of sales channels, broadcast information, and receive feedback in general. However, every business is different, and their website should reflect that in the design and content.
If one is not sure about the design, they should hire a web designer and at my agency ClickDo Ltd. we also offer tailored web design services, because I know how difficult it is for business owners to get that right, especially with SEO in mind.
The Website is up and running – what’s next?
Once the website stands, the real work begins. Because now it must be found on the web and exposed to the right users. So, effectively a website strategy involves the purpose of the online presence, which impacts its design and its marketing strategy.
The website strategy differs from a tactic in that strategy is long term, whereas tactic means short-term adjustments to the strategic plan.
Business website strategies usually involve fundamental questions like:
- Where is the business currently and what does it wantto achieve in the future?
- How should the products or services be presented and made accessible for website users?
- How will the business website be funded?
- How is the website mainly used and what purpose does it serve (customer acquisition, organic growth, strategic partnership, etc)?
For the website strategy you should ask yourself:
- How important is the website for the business?
- Why does the business have a website?
- What is its role in your business development plan?
- Who is the audience?
- Will the website SEO be managed by an in-house team, outsourced to an agency, or a mix of both?
- What role would the digital marketing strategy and SEO play?”
The most important Goals any Website Owner should include in their Strategy
Website strategy begins with defining the role of your site and aligning it with the main business development strategy.
Ask yourself: Is it an online store or hybrid model that works alongside the physical business or an informational website?You need to develop long and short-term goals for the site.
The short-term goal can be analysed with asking questions like:
- How would the online store function?
- What is the technology to be used?
- Who would be logistics partners?
- How will SEO be managed?
- Who would maintain the site and update product pages?”
Of course, there is nothing wrong with buying a domain name for just $6 at SeekaHost and creating a basic website before you have chalked out all these answers.But it is advisable not to take the site mainstream, invest in business web hosting and search engine marketing without a detailed plan of action.
The technological Aspects of managing and planning a Business Website
A website is only as good as the technology it employs. Essentially, there are two parts to a site – the frontend (which is displayed on a browser) and a backend (that resides on a server).
The frontend is created with the help of code such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The backend depends on coding with Python, PHP, and databases such as MySQL.
The most popular software platform to build websites is WordPress and WordPress hosting is most suitable for these sites. You can also get managed WP hosting, which automates a lot for you and reduces your work.
If you are setting up an online store, the most popular platforms are:
- WooCommerce (24%) with WordPress
- Squarespace (24%)
- Wix (6%)
- Shopify (3.7%)
- Magento (2.3%)
The biggest factors to consider are:
- Cost related to design, hosting, maintenance, recurring costs such as SSL.
- Availability of developers. It is quite easy to find a WooCommerce developer because of its popularity. Far less easy to find someone who knows how to make Magento jump through the hoops.
- Ease of customisation is critical. A website needs to have a unique and attractive look. This is the task of a theme. Some vendors have more themes and allow a greater degree of customisation.
- Availability of plugins that enhance the functionality of a site. Plugins help with analytics, SEO, and many other functions, such as cart management, email management and CRM.”
Many business owners struggle dealing with the technicalities of choosing the right software and features, so at SeekaHost and ClickDo we offer consultation services and web design services and with the SeekaHost App we try to make the web hosting control panel, SeekaPanel, as easily accessible as possible with a straight forward interface.
SeekaHost can help with yourBusiness Website Strategy
SeekaHost offers simple domain registration and web hosting in the SeekaPanel and our other features like the knowledgebase and the SeekaHost University integrations provide background information about WordPress, web hosting, blogging, and SEO/marketing.
Another aspect that I as an SEO consultant find very important is the ability to use the information deriving from the website. It allows for so many opportunities to optimise business operations such as identifying the buyer persona from analytics for example.
Analytics is a broad term that encompasses all the activities that seek to identify and collate user behaviour on a website. We have integrated Google Analytics and Clicky analytics as the easiest way to track site visitors and how they navigate and behave. You can use both in the SeekaHost.appportal if you connect them with your accounts.
I use it to analyse and strategize the website strategy for my personal entrepreneur blog for example:
Google Analytics offers a comprehensive set of website data being the most used search engine worldwide to date.
With additional plugins and software that we share in our blogs, website owners can measure various parameters, such as time-on-site tracking, customer journey mapping and campaign tracking – in the above screenshot we use Monsterinsights for example.
So, in terms of offering our customers the best technology for their websites we also offer many additional perks that help with the website strategy. However, analytics are of little use if the data they provide is not accurately interpreted. And that’s where experts in digital marketing come in hence why we offer SEO and marketing services via ClickDo.
Website strategy develops on a continuum and there is no actual endpoint.An endpoint would mean that the website is everything it could possibly be.
So, invest in the initial set up of your website, work at it every day and your site will mature. It will evolve as your business evolves hence why it will require constant attention, maintenance, and input to remain competitive. It’s a virtual asset that is a huge part of your business, so don’t underestimate its importance and use the best tools and solutions from the start to avoid serious damage which can negatively impact your business.
