Having a quality company website is more important than ever right now. While many small businesses rely on social media pages alone, having a centralize online presence in the form of a well-built website is essential in being found online. Here we outline six says to upgrade your small business website.

Add Ecommerce

Adding an ecommerce store to your retail business is a near necessity these days. Giving your customers the option to shop from the comfort and safety of their own home can dramatically increase sales and give your small business a global reach. High-quality images, videos and product descriptions are essential in moving inventory. You’ll also want to be extremely clear with your pricing and shipping method as miscommunication on either can be detrimental to your reputation.

Create Educational And Entertaining Content

Creating a content calendar that involves publishing 3-4 blogs per week on educational and entertaining topics that speak directly to your target audience will help to drive website visitors and build brand awareness. Consistency is key, as is distribution. Each blog post should be shared through email, on your social media pages and within industry relevant discussion groups. Using sponsored content through the different social platforms will help you build your audience and increase your reach.

Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile Friendly

Statistics show that in 2018 over 52% of website visits occurred through mobile devices and that number has continued its upward trend. When you consider that half of online traffic comes from mobile, it is essential that your website be optimized for it. If there is no mobile version of your site and customers are left to deal with tiny text and scroll bars, you stand to lose more than half of your potential traffic.

Develop Topic Clusters

Topic clusters allow search engines to more easily crawl your website and determine its relevance to the topics you’re posting on. This helps your site rank better for your chosen search terms.  Essentially a topic cluster consists of a pillar page with generalized information on a topic and several other supporting pieces that link to and from that pillar page. Consistently publishing targeted content and optimizing your link structure for search engines is the number one way to improve SEO.

Ensure An Enjoyable User Experience

Your website should be easy to use and navigate. Clear menu selections, whitespace and segmented information will make your visitor’s experience more enjoyable. Ease of use is a major factor in whether or not a person will frequent your site. Including interactive content, tools and helpful content all contribute to a better user experience.

Evaluate Your Page Load Speed

“According to Kissmetrics, 47 percent of visitors expect a website to load in less than 2 seconds, and 40 percent of visitors will leave the website if the loading process takes more than 3 seconds.” Ensure you webpages don’t have too many images or long videos that will slow them down. If your site takes too long to load, there is a good possibility potential visitors will leave.