Watching your hard work pay off and your business grow is enough to put a smile on anyone’s face.
But quite often, businesses aren’t prepared for what that means for their website.
More traffic is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. But when your business grows, your website HAS to be able to keep up.
If your website isn’t easy to find and navigate, or it’s super slow, you will inadvertently turn away potentially fantastic leads, and all of that growth will have been for nothing.
In this blog, we’re going to run through five website elements you need to consider to make sure your website is heavy-traffic-ready.
Change Your Domain Earlier Rather Than Later
Many business owners choose to host their own domain name, and it can work well if you’re lucky to get a good one. But quite often, opting for a free domain name means you end up using a domain name that’s below par and forfeit searchability.
If your business is growing, it’s time to get professional. Maybe you got stuck with a .biz domain name, and you’ve seen a .com equivalent come up. Or you’ve changed the name of your business and need to keep your branding consistent. Whatever the reason, if you want to change your domain name, do it now – before your following is too big.
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Getting ahead of the game and changing your domain before a huge jump in popularity means the temporary drop in rankings, which will rebound to pre-change numbers within a few months, will be over and done with before the crux.
Speed Matters
We’ve all given up trying to use a website which is running slowly, and that’s how your customers are going to feel if yours doesn’t work as fast as it should.
Pages loading at a snail’s pace are enough to turn a warm lead dead cold in minutes because fast website speed is expected these days.
Not only that, but a slow website negatively affects how your website ranks in the search engine results pages, whose algorithms look at site speed alongside other determiners.
Test your speed using one of the online tools such as Pingdom, or GTmetrix. How fast does your site load? Google recommended page load time is under two seconds, and there are lots you can do to speed up a laggy site.
Keep Pesky Malware At Bay
Malware is software that is specifically designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorised access to a computer system.
You don’t want it, and neither do your customers.
Scanning your website for malware more frequently will give you peace of mind that your website, your customers AND your reputation are safe. No one’s going to fancy buying from a site that let a virus wreak havoc on their laptop, are they?
Optimise Your Contact Pages, Lead Magnets and Opt-Ins
A growing business will see heavier website traffic, so getting your site hooked up with dangling carrots well in advance will give you a much higher opt-in rate when the visitors start to come knocking.
These dangling carrots are known as lead magnets, or lead bait, and deploying them effectively is a great way of growing your list with high-quality subscribers. Lead magnets are freebies that you offer up on a plate in exchange for a cold prospect’s information – most often their email address and permission to contact them.
Positioning lead magnets alongside your opt-in forms, on your home page and in your blog footer, make sure site visitors frequently see the offer and are more likely to take you up on it.
You Don’t Have To Do It Alone
This is such a big one.
Not every business owner will want or be able to manage their website, especially as the business grows and their attention and skills are needed elsewhere.
We’re not all website developers! Or content writers, for that matter.
The professionals know what they’re doing. They understand what works, what doesn’t, and can optimise all aspects of your website far quicker and to a higher level than you likely can. Don’t be afraid to pay someone else to do a fantastic job – it frees you up to do what you do best, too.
Watching Your Business Grow Is Exciting!
You put the work in. You deserve success.
But it can be hard to focus on the positives when you know that effective websites require serious maintenance.
Why not let us take care of it? Our ongoing support and improvement plans take the weight off, whilst still leaving you in full control. Check out our care plans today.
