4 Things Successful Brands Do to Build Exceptional Websites

Many businesses wonder why their website isn’t performing as well as they hoped. Even the most successful brands ask that question every day.

Businesses often desire a sleek and attractive website more than a well-planned marketing strategy, and that is why some businesses fall short. While an aesthetically good looking site may keep visitors coming back, if they don’t actually click through to pages that can turn them into customers, it doesn’t do much good. It’s vital to realize that a highly optimized website is the most pivotal digital asset a business can have.

How to Build Exceptional Websites

Take a look at these four tricks the most successful brands utilize to build powerful websites.

Pretend You Are a Customer

In order to increase mobile engagement, create your website based around solving problems for your prospective and current customers. Gartner research tells us by 2020 customers will self-manage about 85 percent of their relationships with businesses without ever talking to a live person.  This means that websites need to have the subject matter the customers want to know. Strive to create real-time website interactions so your website delivers unique experiences based on each customer need at that moment. The one size fits all approach will not work.

Mirror Your Customer’s Verbiage

Strong keywords are the only way to go when building a powerful site. If you create a sitemap but don’t grasp your customers’ intent, you will leave profit on the proverbial table.

Keywords are the representation of what matters to the audience. It’s known as semantic search and its impact on search engine optimization is significant.  Search engines can determine the searcher’s intent and understands the relationship between the words used in the search and the searcher’s actions. For instance, if someone searches the cost of a private jet, the right keywords will help them find a business that can help them.

Make sure you prioritize how and where you can be competitive and use the right context as you build your site structure.

Place Your Trust in Your Site

What would you do if your sales team were gone? Think about it — your website acts as your best salesperson. A well-designed website mimics the sales discussion you want to have with customers and will grow your business.

It’s common to create marketing materials and websites, failing to listen to the conversations being had with prospects during their journeys. The majority of the buyers’ journey happens online, so a website needs to act as a phone call and face to face interaction. Use the language that customers use to describe their inquiries. Communicate with words, calls-to-action, images and videos to make the viewer feel like the website was designed to serve their needs specifically. Your goal should be to solve your customer’s problems before they ask.

Act Like You Know Very Little

Shift your mindset so it’s one of an unfamiliar mind. Your website and everything that surrounds it is essentially an experiment – trial, and error to see what works and what doesn’t. Many business owners and marketers fall into the trap of checkbox mentality, feeling that launching a website will make everything fall into place. That isn’t true. The tools you use are critical but don’t do everything for you.

Building a website is an investment for your business. Every piece of content, every landing page, the keywords, videos, and images all add up to make your website what it is – an online marketing asset that will help your business prosper.

Team at Computer Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "4 Things Successful Brands Do to Build Exceptional Websites" was first published on Small Business Trends