If you’re starting a new business from scratch, there are certain things that are essential for success.  
 
First and foremost, you need a product or service that fills a gap in the market or meets some kind of demand. You need at least some start-up capital to rent premises, buy equipment, and potentially pay some staff. And you also need a well-designed website. 
Depending on the nature of your business, you might not think that last point is as integral as the others. But it is. Even if you’re starting a business that doesn’t revolve around anything to do with tech or online selling, there are a number of good reasons why you still need a website. 
 
In today’s increasingly digitalised world, your business needs a website more than ever before. Even if you are starting a new window cleaning or decorating business, and have a client list lined up that will keep you busy, there are still many good reasons why you need a website. Here are just a few. 
 

Improve your branding and awareness 

All businesses need a brand. This is your identity and helps you to develop those all-important relationships with your customers. Whether you are Apple or just a local retailer, the way you are perceived is all about your branding. And these days your branding is all anchored in your website. 
 
Sure, you might have a logo on your uniform, or a shiny new van with your name and contact details on the side, but the best place to create your visual branding is on your website. 
 

Visibility 

When you are looking for a new product or service, what is the first thing you do? Go onto Google and type in a search, right? You’re not alone, this is how most of us find what we are looking for these days.  
 
Say someone was looking for a gardener to do some work in their area of Gravesend. There is a good chance they would log on and type in a Google search looking for that — which is where your website can help to create greater visibility.  
 
But how do you go about making sure that the search engine finds you? See the next point for more… 
 

SEO 

Search engine optimisation, or SEO, is the technique of making sure that your website is more visible to the search engines like Google that carry out these searches. The more effective your SEO is, the higher up the list of results that search engines bring up on your screen you will be.  
 
By maximising your SEO, through the use of keywords and relevant, up-to-date content, you can give your site a rankings boost to make it more visible when people search for your area of expertise. All of which drives customers to your site and profit into your bottom line. 
 

Providing a platform 

We talked above about creating relationships with your customers, and we can’t overstress how important this is. A loyal customer will keep coming back and will bring repeat business, which is how most businesses survive — especially in the early start-up phase. In order to build these relationships, you have to establish yourself as an authority and you can do that in a number of ways. One is by providing an excellent and professional service, but equally important is to provide the kind of content your customers want online. 
 
By keeping a blog to engage with your audience, as well as video content or other relevant media, you can start to build the idea that you are a trusted authority that your customers can rely on. As an added bonus, this kind of fresh and relevant content has great advantages in terms of SEO. So, there is really no excuse not to do it. 
 
If you want to get off on the right foot and establish your start-up as a credible business that can be trusted, one that builds good relationships and has effective branding that speaks to people, then you need a website. But… and this is a big ‘but’… it needs to be a well-designed and professional site. It’s not enough to knock one up in a few hours on a free template site and assume this will work. 
 

Why design matters 

In the early days of the internet you would have got away with this. But these days people are much more design savvy – even if they don’t realise it. Websites that are poorly designed and laid out, where colour schemes and imagery are wrong or cheesy, are immediately off-putting. Users will make value judgements about websites in around two seconds. If it doesn’t look right, they are off to find one that does. 
 
That’s why website design is so important. You need a site that is easy to use and navigate, with the right fonts, colours, and layout. You need content that engages and can be updated quickly and easily so that you maintain control. Your site needs to be optimised for SEO, making use of all the tools and tricks that boost your rankings. And all of this needs to be responsive and work across a range of devices and platforms. 
 
All of this design should incorporate your branding strategy and provide a visual clue as to your identity, while making it easy to get in touch and reach out. If you can do all of that by yourself, and run your start-up, then great. If not, then you need some help. That’s where we come in here at it’seeze Web Design Gravesend. 
 
We will work with you to find out your aims and objectives. We will then create an easy-to-use but stylish and professional site that gives your business the boost it needs. We will ensure it is SEO optimised and fully tested so that there are no glitches. And we do all of this at a reasonable and affordable price. 
 
If your new business needs a website — and as you can see above, it really does — then get in touch with our team. We can work with you to create a website that gives your start-up the best possible chance of success. 
 
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