Before potential customers or clients meet you, learn what your company does, or can find you, they visit your website. The design and content is crucial to their first impression so your website should be a priority in your marketing mix.  Susan Poore, RN, Life Coach for Balanced Health 101 (www.BalancedHealth101.com) and 1&1 Internet customer, has learned many lessons through her experience of creating her own website from scratch.

Her website has helped secure speaking opportunities across the country and it is in large part a reflection of certain rules she follows:

1.       Consistent Business Branding – Some web design templates come with pre-filled text, which is a great help if you are having writers block but don’t limit it to just that. Make your business website your own by incorporating your company information. “Make sure your company name, email and location are visible on every page of the website,” Poore stresses. This increases recognition and makes important information, like your company address, easily accessible anywhere on the website.

2.       Link it up – If your company is active on other websites like social networks, publicize it. Provide links to the business’s page on your site’s homepage so that others can easily find you elsewhere online. This will help build up your following on Facebook and Twitter while improving your customers’ awareness and interest in the business.

3.       Keep it Universal – “Make it friendly for everyone who sees it,” suggests Poore. Depending on your business, you may attract all types of clientele so don’t focus your website design on one demographic. By ensuring that people across all ages, educational levels, and markets can understand and learn from the site’s content, you will likely increase the number of website visitors and ultimately, your active customer base.

4.       Update – There is nothing worse than a website promoting events from two years ago and contact information that is outdated.  Poore has noticed that by keeping her website updated with upcoming speaking opportunities, it has helped her succeed as people know where to attend workshops and how to find her. Promoting company events or sponsorships via your website is a useful marketing tactic, but make sure all details are current. If information is outdated, website visitors may think that you do not pay attention to every aspect of your business

5.       Freshen up – If you have had a website for some time, give it a face-lift. “Change it around ever so often to freshen up its look and feel,” Poore advises. This will keep website visitors interested in the company and also encourage them to explore what else has changed on the website. A little update never hurts but avoid making drastic changes where the site is unrecognizable.

6.       Help Please! – Don’t be afraid to ask for help. While managing a website can be easy to do, small- to medium-sized business owners may have questions and concerns while building or editing their website.  “My biggest advice to web design newbie’s is to use the technical support people as much as you need,” said Poore. “If I didn’t understand a section, I called for help and they were always willing to walk me through the process.” This is why companies have support teams!

“Without a website, how will people find you? You have to be on the internet in order to grow as a company” urges Poore. With these guidelines, you will be able to create a website from scratch with the comfort of knowing it will be successful. “I get great comments on my website all the time… and I did it!”