Getting your website right: A path to brand loyalty for small businesses

Businesses need to therefore rely on the resources available to ensure the customer experience is unfaltering and, in many cases, the website is at the heart of this.

Driven by the always on, always connected world, consumers want 24/7 access to everything online. Figures from a Capgemini report show that UK online spending reached ?114bn last year ? getting the website right is vitally important.

Even the smallest startup or the most early-stage business understands the importance of an effective website and its role as the primary access point for customers. A website which conveys your business? personality, which clearly communicates your products and services, and which scales and develops with your customers will contribute to creating a loyal following.

But many business owners lack clarity regarding the type of platform which can help them to achieve these goals.

We think you should consider the following four areas:

(1) Scalable business, scalable website

The website needs to be reliable. Consumers want access to a website 24/7 ? they have little time for excuses and won?t tolerate downtime. They?ll simply click to the next competitor site.

For some businesses, such as retailers, there will always be fluctuating traffic levels to their website, depending on the time of day or month. Whether it?s your average Wednesday in April or Christmas Eve, businesses must be able to provide customers with a stable website, or risk losing them forever. 

Along with retailers, all businesses face the challenge that incoming traffic to their website may change dramatically at any point. Maybe an article in a national newspaper becomes highly popular, maybe it?s a seasonal holiday, or maybe discounted products become a hit. The key for SMEs is having a platform which can be scaled immediately depending on demand.

A platform like WordPress provides this and ensures that no matter the increase in traffic, businesses have the capabilities to adapt quickly and meet demand without the risk of downtime.

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(2) Plugins, plugins, plugins

When choosing a website, businesses want it to resemble everything that their company is. It needs to be personalised to portray the brand that they care so deeply about and they want it to be secure and safe.

One of the greatest aspects about choosing a web platform these days is that, thanks to the vast developer communities which now exist, there are a host of plugins available which allow businesses to customise their site and ensure its security. For example, more than 43,000 plugins are available in the WordPress repository alone.

It?s not true that all businesses that operate on a specific platform have the same website structure and no individuality. The number of unique plugins which now exist allows companies build a unique website, and add and change functionalities to suit the business as it grows and develops.

Continue reading on the next page for why WordPress is no longer just a blogging platform and how it?s supporting businesses of all sizes with an online presence.

Image: Shutterstock

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