Most small businesses have a website that showcases what they do and the products and services they sell. But many small business owners don’t stop to think about the quality of their website and why a good website matters.

For most, that website has become their modern-day digital storefront, a tool that communicates their brand and at the same time is the vehicle to reaching new customers and processing sales.

While a website should ideally educate, persuade, and motivate potential customers, not all websites do that in a convincing manner.

Design, the quality of the website copy and other important essentials are often ignored for the sake of making a sale.

But perhaps the biggest mistake that small business owners make is failing to clearly state their value proposition.

Make Your Value Proposition Front and Center

While it’s easy to fall into the trap of going with a general, run-of-the-mill message to describe your business, in the end, that won’t fly, especially nowadays when people are searching online for answers to their problems.

Your solution needs to be clear right from the start.

Take, for instance, the case of a wedding planner who is looking for a florist to collaborate with.

Among a sea of other flower shop websites out there, what makes yours stand out?

You must think about that before putting your website out in the public domain.

Perhaps it’s the fact that you pay attention to the littlest of details, even when you providing floral arrangements for a large event?

Or that you never charge more during times like Valentine’s Day or other holiday occasions, or that you take on rush orders at a reasonable rate?

Whatever it is, a good website should include that value proposition on the home page so that visitors know exactly what makes you stand out from other flower shop owners and why they should do business with you.

A good website should tell its visitors in a couple of sentences why it is the best choice for them. Including multiple messages will only lead to confusion.

Reinforcing the Value Proposition Over and Over Again

It’s not enough to present your value proposition on your home page though.

It must be reinforced on other pages of your website too.

Perhaps you want to mention it on a How We Work page or the About Us page? It can be rephrased differently, but it should still be part of the website’s overall messaging so that the visitor is clear about what you’re offering.

Think of this as taking your customers on a journey from one page to another but making sure they don’t get lost along the way.

Attracting the Right Customers to Your Website

While some small businesses include only the barest of information on their websites, there’s a much better case for doing much more than that.

According to research from the Content Marketing Institute, 96 percent of successful content marketers believe their audience valued their brand as a trusted, credible resource.

But to get to the point that your website — and subsequently your brand — can deliver that kind credibility and trust, it’s essential that you attract the right kind of customers in the first place and then create the appropriate content for them.

Customer attraction is not just about knowing who that particular person is in your head; it’s also about creating the kind of content on your website that will attract that person.

For example, if you have a dog grooming business and you know that your customers earn a little more than the average pet owner, then you should create content that is applicable to them.

Examples might include writing a blog post about the top shampoos for dogs that leave their coats silky and shiny. Mention the disadvantages too, if there are any.

As the owner of an upscale dog grooming facility, you may have used a variety of different shampoo products, so writing a post like this shouldn’t be too difficult.

The advantage of creating content that is geared narrowly to your target audience is that you are establishing yourself as an expert in your industry.

Now when your ideal prospective customer is looking for a great shampoo for his or her dog and they can’t get to the groomer, the information you have just provided will be extremely valuable to them.

Content can be provided in the form of blog posts, infographics, even videos.

Getting that content out there is crucial. It should be shared on your social media channels and to your current email list.

Who knows but the receiver of your email might just forward it to a friend and that could be your next customer!

Good Website Design

It goes without saying that good, clean design is essential if you want your website to stand out.

I love lots of white space that makes a website look incredibly easy to navigate.

Too many flashing signs and other distracting details like the ones on this website are a definite no-no in my book.

If possible, you should hire a good web designer and a copywriter to do the job for you. Of course, if you are savvy enough, you could attempt it yourself thanks to a slew of tools like Wix.com, Weebly, and others that include drag and drop templates, making website creation easy enough.

But, to be honest, there’s a whole lot more to creating a site than meets the eye. There’s not only design to think of. You also have to properly optimize your website so that Google finds you, in addition to focusing on load time and page speed, social media integration, and more.

If your website needs a facelift, why not give me a call or send me an email to set up a free consultation.