Business Website Design – how do websites make money?
The Anatomy of a Business Website - and Where it Begins
The first question any business owner should ask about Business Website Design is, “How will you ensure that I make money from this website?” The second question is “how will you implement this?” Surprisingly, very few business owners ask even these simple questions.
It can be surprisingly hard to help these customers, because until they get to know their supplier and trust has been earned, the customer rarely wants to know. He/she/they have done a little research and usually they convinced themselves that they know exactly what is needed and they tend to resist advice, because it could be a ‘scam’. We understand. Sadly, there are far more ‘cowboys’ put there than there are quality suppliers and instructing someone in the science of effective business website design is not easy.
The Anatomy of a Profitable Business Website - Being Understood by Google
Informing a customer that a website must be ‘properly structured’ rarely gains traction – it sounds like another pitch when in fact, it’s critically important advice. A good business website structure right from the start will at least have a chance of ranking, receiving traffic and making money. That’s the first lesson of onsite SEO. A competent web developer knows how to do this and will patiently explain it to you.
You might have great content, wonderful products and services and the best prices ever - but if Google does not understand how your products and services are structures and related, and does not understand what you are offering then your business website design does not work and your website will never rank for the things you are trying to sell. This is not a controversial statement - it's simply the truth.
So what is that structure? We enlarge on that, as well as the related aspects of online presence you need here.
Attracting the Right Customer Traffic
Business website design no matter what the business may be, aims to sell two things and only two things:
- 1Products
- 2Services
In this at least, all online businesses and business website design are the same! But how is one business website design of a site that sells for example essential oils better than another? We're going to use an example of our own here, a website called Mystical Breath on which we used to sell essential oils in the USA. Almost four years ago, we wrote a post on that website called "Essential Oils for Autoimmune Disease" and today, it still ranks at number one in the US at which it is targeted. Even here in Australia, it still ranks at number 3 on Google and we've dome nothing to it for years. Why?
Blog Posts with National Reach for Organic Ranking on Google
On Mystical breath, we were selling essential oils - that's how the site started. Essential oils are one of the most competitive selling areas on the web - and on Amazon. So we needed to attract customers and then send them to our Amazon product. Adverting in this niche is extremely expensive so we went for organic traffic - and it worked.
Everyone wants an essential oil for a specific purpose, so we chose a niche, chose a purpose, and chose suitable oils - and did good onsite and offsite (more of that later) SEO. The results were excellent and we sold thousands of dollars worth of product off that one article.
Credibility of a Business Website
Our Mystical Breath website design accommodated a wealth of information for users of essential oils, which gave us great credibility. We just needed to rank one excellent article to get customers to the site and then see what we had available. Whether you are selling health supplements, medical services, power tools or anything else, this method generates focused traffic and profits.
For credibility with your customers, you also need to post TESTIMONIALS. These are often the number one factor in a customer making a sale or walking away.
On-Site SEO: Internal Links and Meta Data in a Profitable Business Website Design
Once you have posts ranking on Google, it's a piece of cake to get your products noticed and ranking with internal links, BUT, the site data and structure in your business website design must look like a trail of data breadcrumbs to Google. The relationships between ranking articles and product should have common terms in product categories, blog categories and titles as well as links to related subjects on your site and elsewhere,
Local Search Aspects of Business Website Design
Many searches for business are now local searches, which means that if you are a local business and your customers are local then your business website design must reflect this. This means having very visible clickable links for phone and email, visible address as well as a Google Map that will allow people to click and get instructions on how to reach your premises.
There's more to this though! Many businesses serve a number of geographical areas. Google My Business (see below) only allows you business ave one address. So how do we surmount this roadblock? Many businesses find great benefit in adding regional pages but this comes with its own limitations and difficulties. This is a major subject by itself, and you can find more information here. A solid local footprint is an essential business website design too, for profit generation.
Use of Schema in Business Website Design
So what exactly is SCHEMA? It's an 'under -the-bonnet' markup on your website that explains to users what your busines sis all about. Results for schema are presented differently to other web results and give clearer insights into your products and services.
When a website has schema markup in place, users can see in the SERPs (Google mainly!) what a website is all about, where they are, what they do, how much your services and products cost, plus lots of other information. Many people call schema markup “your virtual business card.” So it's powerful - and another way to give your business website design and edge in pursuing greater revenue and profit.
Voice Searchability for Local Business Websites
We cannot emphasize strongly enough how important this aspect of business website design is becoming. Google estimates that in 2020, more that 20% of searches on the web will be voice-search. Here is some information on this growth trend on voice search from 99firms.com (in the link):
Voice Search on YOUR Business website
Imagine you run a restaurant or eCommerce store and have a good business website design - people find you online and go to your site. But now you have a large menu or product list and it takes time to find your products. Now imagine that with ONE CLICK a customer can speak a few words and find what they need on your business website immediately. that's the power of voice search for your website - and a great way to attract and keep customers.
Speed of a properly designed Business Website
We have a saying at our office - "If it's too slow, the money won't flow!" A properly designed business website needs to load fast on mobile and desktop - and particularly on mobile. You can learn more about the importance of website speed here.
Technical Errors on a Business Website - Designed In
There are a whole host of technical errors that can stop your website making money. We have listed just a few of the more common errors below. A full technical audit is needed to identify all of them.
Can my Business Website Design be Fixed?
Yes - but it can be expensive and your developer needs to know exactly what he/she is doing not only technically but for your industry. Many designers won't take a job of this sort though because it's very time-consuming, painstaking and low profit. Many will promise to do this work 'cheap', but they tend to rely on the lack of a customer's knowledge. Rather get your business website design right at the beginning.
Offsite Magick - The SEO that Wins Business
OK! Your business website design has been verified. there are no technical errors; the meta tags are perfect. Your keywords have been professionally investigated and included in your posts and content and products; your website loads fast; your content is of high quality, relevant and interesting - and unique; And you are still not ranking weeks later!
This is because external links are also needed. But take care - not all links are created equal! Bad links from link farms can and will sink your website. Rather a few genuine links from credible websites than a thousand links from a farm. But of course, it's more complicated than that too. Google wants to see links from citations on directories, press releases, product reviews, and general evidence of your business credibility. This requires a whole SEO strategy customized for your website and business.
Like anything worthwhile, SEO is not cheap. It costs real money but when done well it gives an excellent Return On Investment (ROI). So when you see a quote for hundreds or thousands of dollars for SEO - ask yourself how you will profit from that investment and how long it will take.
How Poor User Experience Kills Website Profits
You may have seen a term bandies around a lot the past few years - Ux, or user experience. In general, the term has been abused by people who know very little about it, but who want to sound 'up to date'. In fact, in many instances it's just a meaningless buzzword.
But Ux is very important. A competently executed, user-focused design leaves a hugely favorable impression on every business website visitor. Here are four essential elements of good Ux design:
- 1Graphics, layout, text, and interactive elements work together to provide the user with an experience - not just information. This sounds 'fuzzy' but it's true.
- 2The website must be 'scannable' by human eyes, because that's how people interact with websites.
- 3A successful business website design provides both clarity and simplicity to the visitor
- 4Use commonly recognized design elements that make using your website easy and familiar- don't reinvent the wheel unless the wheel happens to be broken.
Conclusions - Why Some Business Websites Don't Make Money
We're pretty sure you get this now! Many business websites are simply not structured for Google to understand what they are about and how their data can be accessed. This is only a brief article, and each subject above merits a whole article for itself. For instance, when we talk about meta data, it means not only suitable keyword use in headings and snippets and content, but also the right meta data for your images and links to related content and products. This is at the heart of effective business website design.
Solutions for your Business Website Design Needs
Sydney Business Web provides solutions to all of the above business website needs - the keys to profitability - in conjunction with solid and long term offsite SEO. Contact us HERE.
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About the author
Rowley Keith MBA BSc (Hons)
