Episode 24: Small Business Websites Brisbane

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[00:00:00]  Saul: Hi everybody, and welcome to the Web Design Brisbane Podcast. This is episode number 24. And today's episode is entitled Small Business Websites Brisbane. My name is Saul Edmonds. And as usual, I'm joined by the lovely Gillian Smith.  

[00:00:13]  Gillian: Good morning, Saul.  

[00:00:14] Saul: Oh, hello there yes again, we are the co-founders and creative directors of Roundhouse the creative agency, a local business with a passion for helping our clients grow. Over to you, Gil. 

[00:00:25] Gillian: Okay, thanks, Saul.  Well today, we will talk about small business websites, and the key features your website should have to grow your business. Our goal is to help small business owners’ start-ups and entrepreneurs in the city of Brisbane, Australia take their opportunities to the next level with brilliant website design. But if you're from another city, or location, welcome, thanks for joining us today. And we hope that we can help you increase your opportunities in the online space.

[00:00:54]  Saul: So what's today's topics? What are we going to talk about, Gil? 

[00:00:56]  Gillian: Today, it's all about small business websites. What are the key features, your website needs to have to be competitive, to be user friendly, one that produces real results, you want a website that will convert your visitors into leads and your prospects into customers? So today, we'll share our top seven must haves for successful business websites. 

[00:01:18] Saul: Let's get started.

[00:01:19]  Gillian: Okay, so let's go on to the top seven features. Number one, your business website must be responsive and we spend a lot of time talking about the advantages of responsive web design. Haven't we, Saul?

[00:01:29]  Saul: Yeah, that's right, responsive, being driven over again, by the fact that we're living in an increasingly mobile world and our devices so this has been driven by our devices that we're using, and people are looking at them so therefore, if they're looking at the more, it's more and more important, that really give the people what they want.

[00:01:56]  Gillian: Okay, very good. Well, the second key feature is small business website must be designed to build your brand, and we also talk a lot about brand around here, don't we?

[00:02:06]  Saul: Yeah, we should do because it's at the heart of everything. Choose to build your brand is a...

[00:02:06]  Gillian: It's more than a  logo. 

[00:02:11]  Saul:  Well, yeah, I mean, the branding encompasses everything and that includes your website, it's a representative of your brand, and it is your brand so therefore it needs to represent that well as it might be the first port of call for many people.

[00:02:32]  Gillian: Okay, well, the third key feature is your small business website must feature clear calls to action.

[00:02:39]  Saul: Yeah, and that sounds like a really simple thing but it's actually one of the top things that people overlook. 

[00:02:45]  Gillian: So just what is a call to action? Why do you say that?

[00:02:48] Saul: Okay, so before I say that, I'd say, people, and I guess  understandably so they don't want to be seen to be too salesy.  Generally, that's good. People don't want to be sold to. But a call to action is just an example. If people are thinking about it in sales terms, when you look at sales in a shop, and they're going to buy this 25% off, all that sort of stuff, that's also a call to action. 

[00:03:16]  Gillian: But calls to action can also be  how can I serve you

[00:03:19]  Saul: Yeah, or learn more, or learn more here, or things that will increase engagement. It just really means that you're asking people to do something to engage on your site, and sometimes it can actually be as simple as if you don't have a clear call to action. They don't know what to do,  or they do if they read carefully, but you throw into the mix people's unwillingness to read as much or short 

[00:03:53]  Gillian: It's actually about communication, too.

[00:03:55]  Saul: Yeah,  short attention span, and therefore you have to have even more clear calls to action. 

[00:04:00]  Gillian: Okay, well, the number forth for number four key tip that we have for small business website is it must be fast loading with fast loading pages. 

[00:04:09]  Saul: Yeah, fast loading pages is a good experience. And also, it's a good experience for Google, which is helping to boss not helping the rank it is ranking you then in their search engine. So that's one of the criteria that they use.

[00:04:27]  Gillian: Google actually preferences fast loading pages when it comes to search results. And it also, of course, is the best for your customer as well. Okay, well, the number five in the top seven-page features, is your website, most prominently feature your contact details that some people forget about that time, aren't they? 

[00:04:46]  Saul:  Yeah, they do. As strange as that sounds. Sometimes they actually do. They don't not have anything, but sometimes there might just have a contact form, and.. 

[00:04:59]  Gillian: Or  hidden no way at the bottom of the page. 

[00:05:01]  Saul: Yeah, that's right. And that's I mean, sometimes, maybe there's a reason for that, but generally, if you want people to contact you, you're building a website to that's part of why you're doing it is to enable people to get in contact with you, and also having..  

[00:05:19]  Gillian:  Make it easy. 

[00:05:20]  Saul: And having a form just in that to don't only use your form, just with the simplest of details, you can imbue your contact form with other information that makes your job a little bit easier. A simple example might be that, if you've got a range of services, you can add into the form information that a person can choose to say, I'm interested in this, and then anything else that's going to make your life a little bit easier so make sure you work your website user to its fullest potential.

[00:06:00]  Gillian: Okay, well, number six, in our top seven features is. Is small business website should feature positive customer reviews and testimonials?

[00:06:09]  Saul: Yeah, totally. That's one term for that, which is uses, then social proof too so if you're talking about if that's on, on social media, there's that idea that the fact that it's being shown by other people and other people are saying things about you.  It works in the real world, when people say nice things about you people go, that's probably true. Yeah. And so therefore..

[00:06:39]  Gillian: It's all about building trust,

[00:06:40]  Saul: Yes and that authenticity, and great customer reviews. And one little tip there too, is to watch, you might have a specific page for testimonials. It's also a great idea to spread the testimonials out throughout your side. So you can have an in the midst of content, you saw it. So it's becoming a part of how you're actually presenting that to people in the website structure destroyed.

[00:07:07]  Gillian: Okay, well, our top seven feature number seven is quality content, your website content must be high quality, designed to help your customers learn more about you, your products and your services.

[00:07:19]  Saul: Yeah, and yet again, your content is king. So true and always will be true. That really your website, and any digital services is a tool. That's all it is. It's a great tool, but it represents you well, and it houses great content about you, and content that's going to be appealing to what your potential customers and clients,  want from your service so if you can address also within that within your great content, the pain point, but what are they? What do they really need to solve? If you can address that reverse engineer that then win-win. 

[00:08:03]  Gillian: Okay, well, that's the top seven. But I've got a final bonus tip here, which is that your business should really include an about page with your photo. Okay, I think it's always important to put a person in front of you,  as the, that the at the business people know who they're dealing with. And another one is a blog, regularly updated blog.

[00:08:25]  Saul: A little  interesting fact about the About Us page, traditionally, across all the internet, the about page or the About Us page, or whatever name you want to have for it is one of the top most viewed pages on any website so that in itself tells a lot about how people what they want so people want some sort of connection, even though they want your service, they want to know there's a person on the other end that are going to help them because it's about, it's about helping somebody ultimately. So if you if you can include things in your about page that give people a sense of who you are without being too personal, don't want to, you have it in the realms of your brand. So it fits in well, some history

[00:09:24]  Gillian: In the business. 

[00:09:25]  Saul: Yeah. And then linking to other parts of your website, but a face to the business with good quality photography, as well that also fits in well with everything else that you're doing. So and just and the very last point, I regularly updated blog, super important, great for Google, also great information that can add incredible value to help position you as an expert in your field as well. And with that in mind. That's it for today, guys, thank you so much for listening to a podcast yet again. Before we go. Please don't forget to rate review and subscribe to this podcast. We'd love to hear your feedback. Also, if you'd like to read the transcript of this episode, please visit our website at roundhouse.cc forward slash web-design. We're on a journey to help local Brisbane businesses grow their opportunities online and exceed their goals. Thanks for listening and we'll see you tomorrow. Bye

[00:10:27] Gillian: Bye, everybody.