We live in a digital age where technology plays a prominent role in our everyday life. Business owners must stay on top of, and understand how, new and emerging digital trends might impact their enterprises. Below, I have outlined the importance of digital enablers and how an effective website can be leveraged to benefit a business.
Digital enablers are technological tools with the capability to drive a digital transformation for a business or industry. For small business owners, these tools can be a critical way to facilitate and improve the proficiency of certain tasks such as managing purchasing, inventory control, payroll and more. On a larger scale, digital enablers can help businesses increase their visibility, operations, sales, and stay competitive in the market.
One essential digital tool is your business’ website. A well-designed website will accurately reflect a brand and make a positive impression on prospective customers, all while aiding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – the process used to optimize a website’s technical configuration, content relevance, and link popularity to make its pages more easily findable. Therefore, a website should be designed keeping in mind the needs and wants of the target audience. Building a website specific to the customer ensures an optimal user experience and an overall positive impression on business.
Three points to consider when building out or revamping a website:
Keep it simple: When it comes to the layout and design of a website, the last thing customers want is to feel overwhelmed. Simplicity is often best – just make sure to have clear emphasis and direction towards the most important content on the site, including your call to action. If possible, test a couple of different designs with your target audience. It will provide clarity on what works best for the target consumer.
Know who you are trying to reach: Building a website for a specific target customer will help keep your website simple. But first, the business needs to know who its customers are. Being clear on your target customer will help you understand why they are visiting the website, their preferences, and most importantly their behavior. These insights will help you align the customer’s wants and needs with the design of the website. Do not skip this step, as these insights will inform your entire business model. I recommend business owners conduct thorough market research to understand their consumers and target audience.
Include content that showcases your expertise: Your audience is viewing your website to understand how your organization works, and how it can work for them. Keep content relevant and up to date. This can include blog posts, video reviews, customer testimonials, and more. Use content to guide them to the business’s offerings– whether that be through the purchase of a product, the submission of a request, or simply browsing and spending time on a page.