Websites that work
Most businesses have a web presence, but by not providing the right information on your company’s website, you can have an adverse impact on customers and other users.
According to recent consumer research commissioned by webhosting company 1&1 Internet, a surprising 83% of Britons have been negatively affected by being unable to find contact details from a business’s website. The problem made over half feel angry and stressed, with one in five feeling powerless and desperate.
Alarmingly, the research found the inability to find a way to contact a business from its website to be the biggest customer service bugbear for 77.2% of people – beating both being held in a telephone queue (77.1%), and being forced to listen to bad on-hold music (42%).
The survey also found that 90% of consumers want real-time live dialogue with a business online, using live-chat, forums or call-me-back facilities. A third actually want them from the UK businesses they currently use. By contrast, however, further recent 1&1 Internet research among small and medium-sized enterprises found that nearly all businesses did not offer such facilities and almost half had no plans to introduce them.
But making your business easier to contact and offering sophisticated online dialogue facilities are only part of the solution. Customers have to find your website first. Many consumers nowadays use a search engine to track down the services they require, and if your website does not come up quickly you could lose potential income.
While there is no quick fix to occupying a top spot or high ranking with any search engine, you should be using search engine optimisation techniques (SEO) to make the most of your website. The costs for doing this can vary, but you can do much of the initial work internally with minimum expense, other than time, before deciding on what, if any, outside assistance you might need.
Start by understanding what ranking you currently have, the keywords and phrases customers are using to find you and how you can capitalise on this knowledge. There are various free web tools which can also show you what the competition is like for each search.
You should bear in mind other factors that can affect rankings. Search engines pick up and penalise websites that contain duplicate or similar content but ‘promote’ those which are regularly updated and have links from external websites. Initial analysis should indicate how important your website is and help you decide how much money you are therefore prepared to commit to improving communication and deploying SEO techniques.