Business website: the foundation of online visibility

Today, almost every business needs a business website. If you don't make your mark in the online space, you could easily be relegated to the back of the queue by your competitors, not to mention the fact that it's becoming increasingly difficult to reach your target audience. Building a business website is a complex process that is difficult to understand as a layperson. That's why we've put together a summary of what you need to know about business websites! Let's get started!

Why do you need a business website?

For modern businesses, an effective business website is an essential marketing tool. Here's why you need a business website and how it contributes to the success of your business.

This is how consumers find you

A well-designed website makes it easy for potential customers to find your business online. From choosing a domain name to website structure and maintenance, every stage of the process should aim to maximise the target audience, giving them exactly the interface and content they want. A webshop gives you the opportunity to sell online, while multilingual and responsive design ensures that you can reach as wide an audience as possible.

Getting ahead of the competition with a good website

A website gives us the opportunity to provide interactive and fresh content to our visitors. This can put us ahead of our competitors in terms of user experience.

Supports the business

A business website is not just an information platform, it is also a tool to support the overall running of the business. It can be used to communicate your business profile, products or services. When creating content, it is important to have the right copywriting and quality of the content. It is no coincidence that the business website often appears at some point in the business plan, as every element of it, on every page, must serve the objectives set out in the plan.

This can serve as a base for the rest of your online presence

Today, no company can afford to do without a corporate website if they want to choose from a wide range of online marketing tools. SEO, PPC various online advertising can be less effective without a website. Imagine a social media ad that does not point to a landing page or a website!

What's more, it's not enough to have a website, it has to meet the most important requirements. From a technical point of view, for example, it is important that the website is well structured, the sitemap is relevant and the page loads quickly, the UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) is transparent and logical, and the design elements are thoughtful and consistent. But content is not everything. Text and images should be useful to the visitor and search engine optimised. If the basic conditions are not met, users will simply navigate away from the site.

Why not do the web development ourselves?

Whether it's a static website or a dynamic website in neither case is it a good idea to do it yourself. A company website is really important, so the quality of the website, not to mention the time and money spent on it, is not the same.

Most people opt for in-house solutions and out-of-the-box software because they think they can save money. Building a business website is a complicated and skilled process, with many mistakes that can occur. We've put together some reasons why you should hire professionals to build your business website!

Lack of professionalism

If you take the plunge yourself, the look and feel of your website or webshop may not be as professional and attractive as you would like. This can negatively affect the credibility of the business.

It will not be capable of all the things you might need

A business website should have a number of functions, such as a webshop, contact form, content management system. If not developed by professionals, it is by no means certain that all the functions can be integrated. So you end up with a site that only partially answers the situation you want to address.

Security and updates

The security of your website system and the management of updates requires considerable expertise. A faulty system can leave your website vulnerable to hackers and malicious attacks. Professional developers can prepare the site for such events.

Time and energy

Building a business website takes a lot of time and effort, which can distract you from other important areas of your business. While we concentrate on website development, which can be very time-consuming without experience, we don't focus enough on business development

How is a good business website built?

Business websites can serve a variety of purposes, for example, there are those that provide information and present the company's services, but there are also those where the website plays a central role, for example in the case of an online shop.

Let's look at the elements of a good business website!

• Home: This is the "main entrance" to the website, where the visitor gets his first impression. This is a critical point where, if you don't perform well, you could lose visitors.
• About us: where visitors can learn about the history of the business, its values and its people. This page tells the story of the company, which goes a long way to building trust.
• Services: detailing and describing our services will help visitors understand the problems we solve. This section should be particularly thoughtful and well-developed. It is important that it is not too long, but contains the most important information.
• Products page: this is a detailed description of our products. This is where you can give the most important information, place pictures and videos.
• FAQ: Here we answer frequently asked questions to help visitors. 
• Reviews: Positive feedback and testimonials build visitor confidence.
• Contact: Contact details and a contact form help visitors to communicate.
• Blog: Used to post fresh content, news and tips. In addition to web content, this section is particularly important from an SEO perspective.
• Imprint: business details and legal information can be found here.
• Data management: this section contains information on data protection rules and principles.
• Terms of use: the terms and conditions of use of this website, the Terms and Conditions, are set out on this subpage.
• Site Map: shows the details and structure of the site. There are XML and HTML versions, the former for search engines and the latter for visitors.

Business website development with Meraki

Good marketing is based on a sense of purpose. At Meraki, we believe that strategy-driven website design can create a website that truly serves your business.

Every company is different, each with different needs and expectations when it comes to web development. Meraki is up for the challenge, from a simple landing page to complex, more sophisticated solutions, we have the ideas, the tools, the people. Whether it's revamping an existing site or building a completely new one, our staff will use state-of-the-art technologies to create a site you can be truly proud of!