During lockdown businesses all over the world have been affected very differently. Some businesses have taken a massive hit and have either had to atop trading altogether or have had to try and find alternative ways in which they can still sell their products or services. Some businesses have boomed or may of just been set up due to the increase demand in a product or service they sell. It may be that your business was affected massively during the first lockdown but not so much now as you have had time to get procedures in place to allow you to continue trading.

If you are tracking the visits to your site and have noticed a dip in traffic then you need to investigate it. If you have been trading for more than a year it is often worth check back to see if you noticed the same thing this time last year as it could be a seasonal trend. With lockdown, many businesses are getting a lot less traffic to their site as people are worried about spending too much money when there is so much uncertainty around still. Hopefully once things start to get back to normal a little and restrictions begin to ease, you should notice your traffic starting to come back up.

Designing and developing a website can have large financial implications for any business so it is important to make sure it is as effective as possible at targeting potential clients. This group of people who you consider to be specifically interested in your products and services are the people who you want to find your website amongst the abundance of websites out there but how do you make your website more effectively attract clients?

When you are in the process of designing your website having a meeting with a good web designer to discuss your options is an excellent place to start as they will be able to advise you on the most effective way to promote your business. Your marketing budget can be discussed, and most web designers will be able to provide a website to fit your budget. It is important at this meeting to identify who your target client group are and discuss your ideas for how to direct your clients to the relevant pages of your site.

A web developer will be able to advise you on the SEO that can be utilised on the site so that your site is ranked higher when visitors are searching for products or services.

Website marketing is essential to ensure that your site receives traffic and you can gain sales or enquiries. There are a huge number of different ways in which you can market your website and it can be tricky to know which ones will work best for you. Many business owners may wonder why they are not getting much traffic to their website as soon as it goes live, but it takes time for the search engines to index the site and during this time you may need to do other forms of marketing if you wish to.

Google say that it can take up to six weeks for a site to be indexed but usually it will happen quicker than this, although you may see your pages appearing in dips and drabs. There are also things you can do to try and speed this up such as creating a site map of all your pages and submitting it to Google.

Even a site that has been built with SEO in mind will need to be regularly updated. You need to add new relevant content on to your website in order to improve your rankings. Google likes to see that you are offering your customers the best experience and if there is new content being added it shows that you are trying to offer up to date information.

When you have a good website, it’s frustrating if it doesn’t succeed. If the website itself is new and well designed and functions well, the problems is likely to lie in your web marketing strategy. To reach answers, you are going to need to take a close look at your marketing and how it is executed. Here are some of the most common marketing errors:

• Your SEO strategy is targeting highly competitive keywords. You are very unlikely to rank for massively popular phrases, unless you are a big business. Look for smaller, more local keywords that could be easier to succeed with.
• You content isn’t good enough. Content is the cornerstone of web marketing. If your content is too thin or isn’t relevant enough, you are going to struggle.
• Your budget is too small. You need a healthy budget, at least at first, to get your website noticed. Speculate to accumulate.

Web pages need to load fast, or you are going to lose your customers. People expect a website to be easy to use and quick to load and if it isn’t, they will simply go to another site. You could be losing out on valuable conversions if your website is too slow to load.

Make sure you have your website designed by a professional who can make sure you have a modern, well-functioning design. They will be able to make sure you have the right coding to give you a good-quality website that your customers will enjoy using. If there are any issues, speak to your designer and see what they can do to improve it.

You also need to be careful where you host your website. A slow server means a slow website. Choose a quality website host that offer customer support should you need to know anything else.

Having a new website built is no mean feat. It’s probably not going to be cheap, and it could take a while to put together. When you’re going to all that effort, it’s important to make sure you’re getting something that is worthwhile. Spend some time sourcing a web design agency who will be able to complete work to meet with your own high standards.

Check the work that an agency has done before. Luckily, this is very easy as you will be able to access previous websites they have built on a device that has internet access. See if these look professional and like the kind of thing you might want for your own website.

Have a chat to the agency and see if they’re able to design the kind of site you want. Some will specialise in brochure sites and others in ecommerce so find out what they do best. Consider whether they’re the right agency for a client like you and if not, look elsewhere – there are lots around to choose from.

Nothing says quality like a bespoke, tailor-made website to show off your business. You will be able to ensure that the design is perfect for you and that all the functionality you need is included. It’s the modern way to attract customers and build up a new audience.

A beautiful, bespoke, designer website will probably come in at a higher price point than a run-of-the-mill template. However, it’s worth every penny. Once you have a good website, it will act as a strong sales tool for your business and will take on a central role within your marketing strategy. Whether your business model requires an ecommerce site or a brochure site, you will be able to get your name out there and expand your influence.

A custom-made website will give you ultimate control. It will allow you to edit and update your website as and when required, and will give you the freedom to play around with the layout, the design and the copy. If you work with a reputable agency, they will also be able to give you ongoing support and advice relating to your website.

When you push the boat out, it really shows. A website is your business’s most prominent online presence. If you use it to show your customers that you’re professional, trustworthy and pay close attention to detail, it will really work in your favour.

Blogs are incredibly important in the digital world. Many people are now making use of them, and businesses often have people or even whole departments dedicated to their digital content. Here are some of the reasons why you should make use of blogging:

• To showcase you business. A blog is an excellent way to communicate your achievements and write about what you’re doing well. Use your blog as a way to show potential clients what you can do.
• To demonstrate your ability to pay attention to detail (as long as your blog is well written, of course!) Make sure that you use good punctuation and grammar and spell everything correctly. Ask someone to proofread your work before posting.
• To boost SEO. Fresh content is an important factor in helping your website to rank well. Regular, detailed blog posts that make use of keywords can make your site more visible.
• To build up a more personal relationship with your clients. Blogs are your opportunity to communicate directly with your target audience. Tailor your content to them and ensure that you have something worth reading.
• To give you more content to share on other platforms. If you write a good blog post, make sure people know about it. Share it on your business’s Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts to spread the word.

It couldn’t be easier to make a blog in the age of the internet. There are many websites which offer user-friendly platforms for writing and hosting blogs. However, depending on what you want to do with your blog, you might decide that you would prefer to have a self-hosted service. If you do decide to go down this route, there are a number of benefits and you will be able to get far more out of your blog. Here are some of the most important reasons to self-host:

• You can choose your own domain name. Whilst you can choose a domain name on other sites, it will cost you extra and you’ll be paying more than you need to be.
• Freedom. You have far more options, such as whether or not to use advertising.
• You won’t be restricted to themes. Lay out and design are much more in your control.
• SEO. If you want good SEO, you really need to be self-hosted to stand any kind of chance with the search engines.
• Upload space won’t be limited to 3GB. This can be a problem if you want to use lots of images and videos.
• There won’t be any hidden costs to unlock features. Blog sites are notorious for trying to charge users for access to additional functionality.

There are a number of different reasons you might want to buy a domain. You might want to begin a blog, start up a business website, have a personal website, and many more. The first step is finding the right domain name for you.

Find out whether the name which you want is still available. There are numerous websites – called domain name registrars – which will allow you to search for domain names and see which ones are available. If there is a name which you particularly want but which is currently taken, keep an eye out. Domains need to be renewed each year so it’s possible that your preferred domain name will become available at some point.

Think of a name which truly represents you or your business. You will want it to be as easy and accessible as possible so choose something very relevant. The registration process will usually cost around £10, though domain names which are more in demand might cost you more. For example, domain names ending in .com might be more expensive than .co.uk