Your Ultimate Goal: Build a Million Dollar Website
So, you have an interesting business idea but don’t exactly have the funds to start a brick and mortar store. You’re tired of working for someone else and want to leave the corporate world or maybe just want to explore your passions.
You may have thought about starting your own website before but were never sure where or how to start. Luckily, there are multiple free or low-cost resources available and we have compiled a number of them.
We’re going to help guide you through the best tools to help you meet your goal of building a million-dollar website – or at least becoming extremely successful in your field. Keep reading to find out the tips all of the major players know!
Choosing a Proper Domain Name
Think long and hard about what it is you want your business to offer. This could be a service, a product, or information (like a blog.)
Once you know exactly what your product is, consider possible business names. Chances are, you already have this figured out but you’re still in need of a domain name. This domain name should describe what it is your company does (or have your company name,) avoid strange spellings & weird punctuations or hyphens, and preferably end in .com.
Often, the seemingly perfect domain name can come with a hefty price tag. However, with a little searching and tweaking, you can find some of the cheapest domain names that still fit your needs.
Sometimes, a startup will buy up multiple variations of the same domain name and have each one redirect to their main page. This is helpful in the event of misspellings or misunderstandings about how to get to your website as well as protecting against cybersquatters.
The Design Process
Regardless of what it is you are offering, your website will have to be visually appealing and easy to use. You will have to find a design that makes sense for your business model and can convert users into customers or subscribers.
Part of your design process should include a landing page to capture new users’ information. The idea behind a landing page is to make a valuable offer that customers desire in exchange for their contact information (usually in the form of their name, email address, and cell phone number.)
Once you have this information, you can choose to use personalized emails and AI software to enhance their experience and direct them to the parts of your site they want to see. This helps to create repeat customers who want to share their experiences with their friends.
Drive Traffic With SEO Content
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Most people aren’t exactly aware of how this works as it involves a number of complicated algorithms. The thing you need to know is that SEO content includes the keywords that people are searching for to help your website rank better on search results.
Valuable, SEO-friendly content is easy to find but also provides information to your users. This content may range from “how-to’s” to “complete guides” but will be helpful enough that people want to share and subscribe.
Additionally, well-written content will have a strong call to action that helps customers move further through the conversion funnel, creating a strong desire for your product. This can help boost sales and word-of-mouth advertising.
Focus on Your Consumers’ Needs
Wouldn’t it be great if you could get into your customers’ heads, find out what they’re thinking, or learn the reason they didn’t purchase or subscribe from you?
There are multiple ways of going about this. One of which is offering a live chat feature on your website. These features allow users to talk to a customer representative at a time that is convenient for them and doesn’t require multiple people to answer phones.
With live chat options, you can choose an ever-evolving AI format that uses keywords and phrases to help customers or you can set hours in which a customer can actually chat with a representative. You can also choose to implement both of these functions, allowing for a real person to pick up where a bot leaves off.
Another way of communicating with your customers is by using customer satisfaction metrics. These metrics can help you keep a pulse on your company, how your website might be of better service, and where you are excelling.
Happy customers will return for future purchases, keep up with your blog posts, and potentially even promote your business. This goes back to that word-of-mouth advertising mentioned earlier!
Utilize Social Media
If you’ve come this far with your business, you already have social media accounts that promote it. However, you may not be using social media effectively which could mean missed opportunities!
When you create a new blog post, share it on your social media platforms but this shouldn’t be the only content available. Consider posting funny, industry-related memes, news, or simply asking for opinions. This creates engagement which means you’re more likely to be seen.
Believe it or not, when it comes to social media, less is more. You don’t necessarily need 5 new posts per day, but this depends on the platform you’re using.
The goal here is consistency. If you post to your Facebook 3 times per week, stick to those 3 times per week on set days. For Instagram, you may need up to 3 posts per day during peak times your users are active.
Creating all of this content and posting at the best times can be difficult. You could hire a social media manager but if you’re a new company, that might not yet be in your budget.
Instead, you could opt for social media automation. These apps and services allow you to create content and schedule your posts at optimal times. They will also help you keep track of the hashtags that you’ve used and seen success with, taking a lot of the guesswork out.
A Different Approach
If you feel as though you don’t have the time to do all of the research and work involved in creating your own website, there is another option. You could potentially buy an already successful website and simply continue running it as an investment.
There are many prosperous websites for sale that come with an existing customer base. You might decide to buy one and see how you can use their platform design to create your own site or decide to rebrand the existing one if it’s similar to your desired business model.
Buying an existing website isn’t necessarily the easy way out but more of a jump-start to your business if you happen to have the funds to do so.
The one thing that you will have to remember with whatever approach you take is that you will have to put in the time and effort to make your website succeed. There isn’t a true “shortcut,” other than trial, error, time, and patience.
We hope you enjoyed this promoted piece as much as we did!
