Your business is fresh-faced, and of course, you built a website to go alongside your new product or service. Having a website is an absolute necessity in 2019, on par with having business cards to give out about twenty years ago.
If you have a startup website, there are certain things you must make sure to find their way onto it. Not just plugins or specific messages about your product, but considerations like content and layout, too.
In this article, we’ll look at everything your startup website needs to be successful from the get-go.
1. A Good (and Mobile-Responsive) Layout
It’s absolutely essential that your startup web design looks pristine and organized. If people click over to your site and see that things are a mess, that will not bode well for you or your business.
Did you know that about 60% of the people who access your new startup’s website are going to do so on a mobile device? This makes it equally imperative that your website be mobile-responsive.
If you’re using WordPress or Squarespace to design your site, you shouldn’t have any problems with this. Just be sure in the case of WordPress that the theme you purchase for your site has mobile-response built in.
2. A Killer Homepage or Landing Page
Every industry has a different “bounce rate” that they consider acceptable. Bounce rate means the number of people that click over to your site and then immediately leave. Some industries, a “good” bounce rate is as high as 80%—meaning only 1 in 5 people don’t immediately leave your site.
You want to engage people the minute they click on your content, so ensure that whatever the first thing you are showing is giving value. Look into the above-the-fold design, which means that all your important stuff (clickable links, videos, etc.) are sitting above the “fold”, or point where you’d have to scroll down to see more.
3. Sell Something Right Away
Hey, you’re a startup company. You’re a business first, so make sure people know it.
Even if your primary goal is just to create awareness or drive traffic to your site at the beginning, your business website should be set up to make actual sales. Gurus like Seth Godin will say it’s okay to have a “half-baked” idea on your page for a few days, but after that, you need to make sure it’s something people can buy.
The reason for this is simple: people get used to free stuff. If you start pampering them or giving handouts, they will get used to it. Then when you come back later asking them to buy things, they won’t want to and may even be offended at the suggestion.
Because you’re a startup business, sell like a startup.
4. Quick Loading Speed
An easy way to get people disinterested in your website is to have it take a long time to load. Especially if you are selling something virtual, one of the most overlooked website tips for startup companies is how their on-page performance is.
Google will actually dock you in terms of search engine rankings (more on this in the next step) if your page loads slowly, too. So not only is a slow load time affecting you now, but in the future, too. analytics.google.com
5. SEO Is King
We know you’re just getting started with your business, but for long-term growth, SEO is absolutely crucial to selling products on your website. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the ongoing process of making sure your content ranks high on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
SEO is a true wormhole—once you go down it, you’ll learn how much you truly need to do to make sure your site does well on search engines. However, there are certain things that will help you apply the “80/20” principle to your SEO strategy (meaning the few major SEO principles that will help most).
Things like focus keywords, readability, and page performance all will go a long way. If you’re using WordPress, use a plugin like Yoast SEO right off the bat.
6. Analytics Seem Boring, But Track Them
Speaking of wormholes: Google Analytics is something you should have on your site. Even if you don’t consider yourself a “techie”—or don’t know what half the analytics mean—you should install it on your business website before you launch.
As you become more adept at reading stats (which you naturally will with your online business or platform), you can use Analytics to see why people are leaving your site, how it’s performing, and even get updates saying why (and how) your SEO needs to be fixed.
7. Make Sure They Can Get In Touch
A contact page is essential for anyone starting a new business online. A huge component of selling successfully online is making people who have never met you trust you. If it’s not painfully simple for them to get in touch with you, that will be tough.
8. Minimal Viable Product
If you’re in business you know that not all the bells and whistles have to be together on day one. For your website (and possibly your service or product), just consider your MVP, or minimal viable product. What do you need in place to launch on day 1?
Good, get those things done. Don’t worry about everything else. The first 7 tips are a good place to start.
Startup Website Necessities: Wrapping Up
For your startup website, there are a number of essential things one must do to really shine and start selling products online. These eight tips will bolster your chances of a successful product or brand launch in the near future.
Check out this startup checklist guide for more tips on what you need to get going.
