There are plenty of things that small business owners should consider, but the costs of running your business can sometimes become overwhelming. When you are growing your business, you need to be smart with your money. Here at Vervology, we know that small business owners must put their hard-earned dollars into avenues that are going to help their business grow.
Between startup costs, supplies, rent, etc., sometimes marketing gets put in the background. Now more than ever, small business owners are realizing the importance of marketing and digitizing their business for the online world. Many small businesses began scrambling to build websites during the beginning of the pandemic.
But there’s one place you should never cut corners on: your website. Especially if you are running or plan to run an online business as well. E-commerce security and cyberthreats are the biggest issues the technology industry is currently facing.
Don’t listen to your friend, brother/sister, or niece’s boyfriend when they offer to build you a website “for cheap.” If it’s cheap, it won’t be well-built or secure enough to host your customers’ sensitive data and information.
Here are 5 things small business owners should consider when taking that next step with their website:
1. Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a major threat to all business systems, but especially dangerous for small businesses who don’t invest in website security. This is a must if you have an e-commerce store on your website! If you lose sensitive client information in a data breach, you can be liable for thousands to millions of dollars in damages and lost revenue.
Don’t just take our word for it. Check out some of these haunting stories about cyberhackers and costly security mistakes.
Keep your customers’ data secure and your peace of mind with Vervology.Care plans, the ultimate service for keeping your website securely maintained and updated. If your friend or family member makes your website, you can bet that it won’t be as secure as if you have your website built by professionals who can stand behind their work.
Find a professional who can keep your website constantly updated and backed up. Out-of-date software is generally the main cause of gateways for hackers to breach your data.
2. SEO & Content Strategy
When creating a website with a professional, you have access to other marketing insights and strategy, including content creation and SEO services. What’s a great website if there isn’t any traffic going to it?
SEO (search engine optimization) is much more than creating Google ads on keywords and creating great content, there is some back-end configuration that should be completed in development as well.
SEO and content strategy are majorly important for a successful digital marketing strategy for a small business. In fact, content creation is one of the top 3 ways marketers generate leads and traffic to small businesses.
Good content isn’t just about blogging either. It’s about creating a community within your audience and providing valuable knowledge to increase brand reputation. Find someone to build your website with the end goal of generating traffic and new sales leads in mind. This way, you’ll have a website that is already optimized to take you to the top of search engines and beyond!
3. Dynamic Functionality & UX
User experience (UX) is becoming increasingly important in website development and design. In fact, recent studies show that for every $1 invested in UX, there is a $100 return on investment. This is a crucial part to building a website that people want to browse through and can spend some time looking through all of your pages.
When you hire an expert to build your website, they can include dynamic functionality and optimizations to help your website load better, mobile optimization, and ease of navigation. These are all key parts of user experience that a novice will often overlook (especially mobile design).
If a website takes too long to load or doesn’t have an easy “map” to find information, a customer will leave your website and browse to another company with better UX design. When auditing your current website, think about what the customer journey will be like to find out how to contact you, your address, store hours, and your mission.
4. Updates and Site Revisions
This is something that all small business owners should consider when taking the next step with their website. When you have someone just “make a website,” you are missing out on the technical support and updates that come with working with a professional.
As we previously mentioned, when your website isn’t correctly updated, you leave it vulnerable to cyberattacks. Not only that, but many plugins begin to crash your website if they are not updated often enough. Compatibility amongst plugins can also vary with different updates and new versions.
When looking for a web designer, make sure to hire someone that offers continuous technical support and consistent updates.
Trust us, when you go the “quick and cheap” way, you’ll end up paying more money in the long run if the website crashes and you need to get emergency technical support to work on it. Keep your peace of mind (and extra dollars) and hire an expert for your website design.
5. Cross-Functional Brand Cohesion
When you work with a professional web designer with marketing experience, you are able to create your website in cohesion with the rest of your brand. Tools like social media galleries, email marketing opt-in forms, and shareable buttons on content are all excellent ways to include cross-functional marketing into your website development.
Showcase Your Small Business and Hire an Expert Today
Are you looking to build a cohesive and easy-to-use website? Look no further, as Vervology is here to make building a functional and secure website as simple as clicking a button. With years of professional experience and an entire marketing team behind us, we can create a website you can be proud of. Most importantly, that can help generate new sales and leads.
Get in touch with us to find out how we can work together to create a beautiful and dynamic website to suit your small business needs.