Category Archives: Best Practices

Best practices public information

Update content

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Never set it and forget about it, connect to Google analytics and monitor success and update content when necessary.

Many small business owners make the mistake of leaving their site be after they publish it, yet website management is not a “do it once – and – done” task. Instead, you should consistently refreshing the website based on how well it’s performing. Take a lead from the web analytics (use Google Analytics). If you have a page with low traffic, you may need to find ways to link to it from other pages, this could help to it to get page hits and increase the number of visits.

Other benefits of keeping fresh content on a website has to do with SEO. Blogs and social content give small business owners the opportunity to produce fresh content, which is one of Google’s many ranking considerations. 

Consider SEO

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Always consider SEO for your primary website

Most online experiences begin with a web search. In fact, there are around 3.5 billion searches concluded each and every day. The odds are pretty good that someone is searching for your business or industry right now, and having an online presence that is supported by an organic search, or SEO, is invaluable. “People are searching for your business, and you need to make sure they find you online,” says Alphametic.com

To ensure that your website is being found on Google and other search engines, you will need to implement at least some basic SEO on the website. Google has a complex algorithm with multiple ranking factors. So, as a small business owner, what can you do to boost your chances of ranking in top organic search positions in spite of increased complexity and competition? below are a few strategies:

Boost your page length:


The number of words on a webpage matter for SEO because Google wants you to offer enough text to know what both web visitors and website crawlers data to review and index.

Use SEO metadata and keywords:


Use a keyword tool (like Wordtracker) to find a keyword that is searched for a lot. First, focus on optimizing each page of your site with one primary keyword on each page. Then, use it on these elements:

  • Metadata: meta-title, meta-description, and keywords
  • Header tags (H1, H2, H3…)
  • URL
  • Body copy
  • Alt tags (images)

Consider your site’s load speed:


Google’s got a need for speed… And so do visitors. Page speed has become a higher priority—particularly as search engines, like Google, begin to penalize slow-loading web pages in both organic search and pay-per-click arenas. Your website’s page speed affects your page rank, bounce rate, and your bottom line. 

Mobile device friendly

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Today all websites should be built to accommodate mobile devices

The fact that in todays market, 30% of all website traffic originates from handheld devices like a mobile phones or tablets, yet 90% of small business websites are not designed to cater for these devices’ screen sizes. Failing to have a “responsive” site template or one optimized for these devices can drive away customers and hinder your search engine rankings and look unprofessional.

To check if your small business website is responsive ( for mobile devices) optimized, or needs a little tweaking, use Google’s mobile-friendly test tool.

  • Enter your site URL.
  • Google will rate your website’s mobile-friendliness using handy color-coded guides. 
    • A green light shows that your website passed the Mobile test,
    • A yellow light, there is potential for improvement,
    • A red light if you need a lot of help.
  • Google ranks everything from mobile page speed to screen capacity and resolution.

Verifying that your site is Mobile friendly and that your certificate is current and secure are an essential parts of the requirements.

The conversion factor

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Do not let creativity (or design) outweigh the conversion factor

Cosmetics do not be = conversion. 

Your website has a function or role to play. It needs to present people with the correct information, any next steps to take and be user-friendly. Developing your content, layout, and page or site design to support that purpose will assist and encourage customers into a higher conversion rate leading to increased sales. 

Your website shouldn’t be thought of as a digital signboard with a super flashy design. Instead, it should be a lead-generating machine that supports your business’ bottom line.

Action Items

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There are no well-defined prompts for visitors to take action

On a business’ website, clearly state what you want customers to do when they visit the site. Strange as it may seem, people actually want to be told what action to take!

Complete the following exercise…

On each page of your site, think about where and how you can add a call to action. Layer in conversion opportunities like pop-up forms, alert bars, and timed or exit pop-ups. Any lead forms should be prominent and click-worthy. (Remember: the goal of your small business website is to capture leads and nurture them to become customers.)

If you think that people may not actually want to leave personal information with you, providing something of value that’s for free, its something that makes people more willing to share personal info like their name or email address in return.

The branding and vision

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The website design doesn’t reflect your branding and vision

There are times that you may see a discrepancy between a small business’s brick and mortar business and the online footprint. It may be that the branding is different, or their website doesn’t reflect the professionalism of their brick-and-mortar store. Whatever the case, you need to create an impact with the online website design.

“The visual layer of a website, when informed by strategy and user-centered thinking, can elevate the entire brand experience,” says ElementThree.com.

“Design decisions can greatly influence the effectiveness of digital content and connecting with your intended audience, and help solve complex problems within the website. A great web design can also aid in telling a story to the customer, and when paired with useful, relevant information, it can educate, entertain, and delight while achieving business goals.”

A simple website design is vital to having a profitable small business website, an overly complicated website doesn’t convert site visitors into customers but may turn them away. To many stimuli on a website leads to confusion, and when a visitor is confused they quickly leave.

Be pragmatic in the use of colors, font types, and design elements. And use white space to your advantage, as it draws eyes into the important elements on a page. Stick to a main design theme and don’t stray from it.

Website strategy and goal

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Never Start creating a website without a strategy or goal

Everone knows what the common denominator of a profitable website is? A website strategy is started by creating a website plan helps a company define their goals, audiences, content, and even a measure of the performance. The website plan should answer the following questions:

  • Who is the audience?
  • What is your website’s goal or goals?
  • What functionality does the site require to achieve these goals?
  • What information do you need/want to present to the website visitors?
  • What other web properties will your site connect to?
  • How will you measure your success?


Defining a website strategy will help you not only balance having a beautiful site, but accomplish something for your business, too!

Relinquish control

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Relinquish control by outsourcing web tasks

Many small business owners think that to outsource web development tasks to expensive agencies or contractors will save them time. It’s sometimes helpful to delegate some small business tasks on others, in this case it might not be the best idea for your website to be one of them. 
Reasons? For starters, outsourcing your website makes it difficult to effect changes when and where you want. Paid programmers work on many sites and will always chase the best money. You may have to go through multiple hoops — or even wait weeks at a time to get a small website tweak made.

If you are considering or are already outsourcing, you are or have given away the control over your OWN site, this could result in added cost, delays, and headaches.
An example: 

You need to change the telephone number on your website. So you contact your outsourced web developer, but they could be away on vacation or busy with another customer for the next two weeks. You wait two weeks to hear back from them, and when you do, they quote a small change of $500.

 Cost. Time. Headache. Can all be avoided! 

Third-party

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Rely on a third-party website like social media as the companies primary website

Most SMB (small and medium-sized business) owners fear that because they don’t know how to code a website and the cost of a commercial one is inhibitive, they can’t have an online presence. Many therefore resort to using a third-party platform like social media as their primary website and point of contact. 

If you are one of those relying only on Facebook, Twitter or any another social media channel as a primary business hub, you could be missing out on many potential leads and sales. Relying on this type of platform, you’re always at the mercy of that third-party. You have little if any control over your content changes and if the platform changes access or policies, or you contravene their guidelines you are banned and the account closed with no consideration to your content, then you’ve lost the only means of income that you have.

Go ahead and create your own Website.

The 9 mistakes

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The 9 mistakes that you as owner of a Small Business Website Should Never Make!
A) Rely on a third-party website (social media) as your primary website
B) Relinquish control by outsourcing web tasks
C) Start creating a website without a strategy or goal
D) The website design doesn’t reflect your branding and vision
E) There are no well-defined prompts for visitors to take action
F) Do not let creativity (or design) outweigh a conversion factor
G) Today any website should be built to accommodate mobile devices
H) Always consider SEO for your primary website
I) Never set it and forget about it, connect to Google analytics and monitor success and update content when necessary.

On my next post I will expand on the above.