Before setting up the site.
First of all, a brief explanation: according to Mastercard, in partnership with AMI (Americas Market Intelligence), during the pandemic, starting in 2020, there was an increase of 46 % in the volume of purchases made online.
In addition, we constantly see new mobile devices and more advanced computers, and this increases the number of people with internet access.
But then, why create your website?
We have separated some points to help you understand how a business website can bring benefits and growth to your company:
1. Increased Visibility.
Let’s say you live in the north of the country and need of a specific product, but don’t know where to find it or how much it costs. By doing a quick Google search, you will find some options for stores, in different corners of Brazil, with the possibility of delivery in your region, and all this without leaving your home and with a few clicks. This is the feeling that your customer will have when looking for a product or service from your company and coming across your site in the search engines!
In addition, customers who are close to you will be able to have quick access to your services and products, facilitating their purchase decision.
two. 24 hours online.
When we put our website online, it also means that we don’t have to stop selling when we go home. The internet does not have a fixed opening and closing time.
Who never came home after work and remembered that they needed to buy, for example, a pain medication Of Head? If the pharmacy you usually do your shopping at has a website where you can order and pick up at the store or even receive it at home, it is likely that you will go to the website and order it already, so you don’t forget again, right?
Therefore, when placing your product online, the customer can access it at any time of the day, see prices and even buy the product they want.
3. Reliability
A reliable company presents itself in a transparent way, always seeking to offer all relevant information to its customers and willing to offer solutions. Let’s make a brief comparison between two companies, A and B, which offer the same service: cakes. The company A has an Instagram account, where they occasionally post photos and a personal contact phone number of the store owner. The company B, in addition to having an active Instagram account and providing a WhatsApp Business for customers to contact , also takes care of your profile on Google My Business and has a website with the cake menu, opening hours, contact phone number and a tab for the customer to order right there, through the website. Which of these two companies gives you more confidence? The answer is clear: the company B.
Now that you already understand the importance of having a business website, let’s talk a little about domain registration.
Registering the domain
Before setting up the site specifically, it is a good idea to idea to look if there is already a site with a similar or the same name, we don’t want your company to be confused with another one, right?
The domain is like the Your store’s zip code, but within the internet. It’s the way people will access your online store. By accessing the following link, you can search if the domain you have chosen is available
Caso want to know more about domain, access our content about: Web domain – understand the importance for your company
How to create a website – Choosing a host
After registering your domain, it’s time to hire a provider, server or website hosting company. Two important factors when choosing a good hosting are the UPTIME and Backup information of the site, let’s explain a little more about them.
Uptime or Availability
It is important to say that, when hiring a hosting plan, in the contract there will be something described as uptime, or the acronym SLA. Uptime is the time that the company guarantees that the site will be online, which is normally between 99.5% to 99.9%.
The problem is when this availability starts to slow down, and your service starts to be affected by it. So it is important to investigate the reasons for these falls, to detect if the problem is the internet or the hosting.
What are the consequences of the site being down?
When it happens If the site goes offline, it is important that it comes back as soon as possible. What are the consequences of the delay?
- Positioning on Google: Since 2010, Google considers some items as a ranking factor. One of them is the speed at which the site loads, if a site takes too long, it loses points. So think of a site that goes offline constantly.
- Reputation: Since the biggest search engine today is Google, the search ranking is evaluated by it. Therefore, if your site is poorly ranked, it will not be shown to people as much as it should.
- Loss of Revenue: If your site is an online sales site, the moment it goes down you lose your main source of income.
Inoperative employees: If your store uses an ERP system, for example, not having access to the site will cause a large part of the team to be unable to work.
- See our content on: Site down – what to do?
Always keep a backup
Maintaining a backup is essential to avoid data loss if your site is victim of some hacker attack, data loss, file corruption or even some outdated plugin. If you don’t have a backup, after going through a problem like the ones mentioned above, your website will come back with an outdated version, which can cause your team to lose hours of work and your customers not be able to access certain important functions of the website.
To prevent situations like this from happening, it is always very important to keep a backup of information, data and source code. What is important to be done mainly in sites that have a constant routine of modifications.
Objectives of the site.
Having defined the previous parts, let’s create the site, for this it is necessary to think about why it is being developed, be it a site for selling products or services.
Most sites already have an idea to be followed, some of the common goals are:
- Presentation of the catalog of products or services;
Help the public find the physical store; Contact channel between company and client; Company history, objectives and missions;
- Reaffirmation of the reliability and quality offered.
Template
It seems like a difficult thing, but a template is nothing more than the look that the site will have, that is , where the access menu will be displayed, the information, how the services and products will be displayed and how the customer will see it.
It will also be a sample of the image of your company, so it is important to have special care and a team or specialized professional for the development of this project.
Conclusion
Your company website is the digital brand of your business, you need to pay the same attention to it that you give, for example, your physical store or office. You’re not going to get a customer with a dirty floor and dust on the furniture, are you? On the website, it can’t be different: offering a quality structure, with an appropriate design for your audience and easily accessible, will certainly leave a good impression on your customers. In addition, ensuring that they have access to the site every day, whenever they want, is critical, so choosing a website hosting company is very important.
