A website can be the greatest asset for businesses as it allows them to reach - anyone, anywhere, anytime. 

It can help businesses, especially SMBs, to establish a powerful online presence, build brand awareness, and accelerate their marketing efforts, thereby boosting revenue. 

What's more? Several reports affirm that prospective customers visit websites before making purchasing decisions. No wonder, successful companies of varying sizes have well-designed websites catering to the needs of their target market. 

If you are an SMB facing challenges in creating a high ROI-generating website, this post can help. Here, we will share five actionable tips to ease your journey.

Let's get started. 

#1: Create a Responsive Website

Responsive web design allows content to load fast across devices of all sizes and resolutions, including mobile, laptops, and desktops. This helps users access, navigate, and interact with websites seamlessly, thereby improving usability. 

More than that, website responsiveness is a crucial Google ranking factor. With an array of users using mobile devices to search, Google's algorithm is inclined to rank user-friendly, responsive, fast-loading websites that fit the bill. 

In short, responsive websites can provide a positive user experience, thereby reducing bounce rates. The more a user stays on your website, the higher the chances of sales. 

Here are a few aspects you should specify to web designers for creating a responsive website.  

  • Choose a mobile-responsive template that matches your brand theme.
  • Use CSS or responsive breakpoints to align web content with the user's screen size. 
  • Avoid loading speed issues by using light images and CSS.
  • Incorporate the viewport with a meta tag to manage the page scaling and dimensions.

Pro Tip: Test the responsiveness of your website on mobile devices. 

Deploy Mobile-Friendly Test, a web-based tool in Google Search Console, to ensure a seamless user experience on mobile devices.

Enter your page URL and see how it performs on mobile devices.

#2: Build an Attractive Homepage

A website homepage is the first point of contact that introduces prospective customers to the business. So, it should reflect the following elements -

  • Products or services you offer
  • Pain points your offerings can solve 
  • Why prospective customers should choose you over competitors

This gives a rundown of your value proposition, thereby easing customers' decision-making. However, to make the page engaging, ensure including attractive and relevant visual elements, such as imagery, videos, infographics, and more. 

In addition, use subtle colors, easy-to-understand fonts, and personalized CTAs (call-to-action) to encourage user action. 

Take inspiration from HubSpot's homepage. 

Notice how it has included all the eye-grabbing elements we discussed.

Their homepage depicts business values while ensuring engagement.

#3: Offer High-Quality Content

With big brands competing in the digital ecosystem, SMBs can find it challenging to achieve top rankings in Google SERPs. However, with high-quality content, attracting top Google rankings and generating leads can be easy.

So, evaluate whether your content offers value to the target audience.

Here are a few aspects to consider. 

  • Relevancy: Create relevant content that addresses pain points and matches the search intent of your target audience. Count on tools like Semrush and Keywords Insights to gain valuable insights for building a winning content strategy.
  • E-A-T Guidelines: Ensure that your content adheres to Google's E-A-T guidelines (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). This can help improve your website SEO, drive traffic and increase the chances of conversions.
  • Readability: Create content that is simple to understand. For instance, add bullet pointers to break the flow of the content and avoid using jargon. This can help educate visitors about your products and services. 
  • Format: Leverage content formats, such as blog posts, infographics, how-to guides, and more, to boost audience engagement.

Notice how Tilde, a portland based startup, leverages all the shared tactics to create compelling content.

The content on their website is relevant, high-quality, and optimized for SEO. Take inspiration from Tilde and start creating compelling content for your website.

#4: Invoke a Sense of Urgency

A sense of urgency can prove to be a game-changer. It can accelerate the sales process by nudging prospects to make buying decisions. 

Here's how- 

Let's say your prospective customers added a few products to the cart. However, they did not buy them and switched to another website to grab better deals. 

In such instances, creating a sense of urgency can help save you from losing valuable customers. 

For example, you can run an offer that ends in an hour. This can create FOMO (fear of missing out) and encourage them to make quick decisions.

Notice how LivingSocial uses this tactic to trigger urgency.

Observe how this marketplace offers a flash one-day sale to attract maximum users, thereby boosting sales.

Pro Tip: Incorporate the following words into your content to trigger urgency.

  • Buy before it's gone!
  • Now or never!
  • Hurry up!
  • One time only!
  • Last chance!
  • Limited-time deal!

#5: Optimize the Checkout Process

The checkout process signifies several steps prospects follow to buy the products. However, encouraging customers to take action is challenging because of several reasons.

Research states that the average cart abandonment rate, which signifies prospects leaving without buying, is 69%. 

Another study by Baymard Institute reveals that 17% of cart abandonments occur due to a complex checkout process, 18% due to security reasons, and 9% due to limited payment methods.

Factors that make the checkout process complicated include -

  • Unnecessary questions.
  • Painfully long forms.
  • No mobile optimization.
  • Lack of payment options.

Here's how you can optimize the checkout process to provide a frictionless user experience. - 

  • Merge the customer login options with social media channels. Add a few auto-fill segments. This can save their precious time and help them complete the checkout hassle-free. 
  • Provide multiple payment options, such as credit cards, debit cards, and more.
  • Display security batches to assure prospective customers of your payment security. This can help you earn customer trust. 

Observe how Chubbies Shorts ensures a seamless checkout process.

Their checkout page shows a simple order summary and multiple payment options with security measures.

Conclusion

Your business website is not a "set-and-forget" kind of investment. Optimizing it can help create a solid digital foundation for your business. 

The tactics shared in this post can boost your organic traffic and convert quality leads into loyal customers. 

So, add them to your marketing mix to reap the best business outcomes.