Websites are the cornerstone of your stores online presence. Think about your website the same way your think about your store. You’re goal is to build the best looking, easiest to navigate store and then drive as much traffic as possible. That is the essence of a great website. A website should be clean, easy to navigate and well representative of your business.
Yet, this is strikingly hard to achieve. Even though web technology has improved drastically in the last ten years, it is still quite difficult to understand all the ins and outs of a what makes a website great. When you start the process of building a new website for your business, you may find yourself with more questions and than solutions. Question such as – what’s in a website that makes it valuable? How do you decide if your website should be purely informational or if you need an ecommerce website for your business? Why are there so many different website platforms? Why are there so many different agencies and apps? As we explore the first pillar of a digital presence, we’ll provide the tools so you can answer these questions directly.
The goal of this section is to break websites down into some simple, understandable categories. At the end of this chapter you’ll find a website checklist. This checklist can be used to evaluate your own website or determine if the services a web developer is offering your business is a good fit for you.
Section 1 – Technical Basics
To understand the first pillar of digital presence we’ll begin with exploring the technical basis that you need to understand to make a good decision. The topics will include discussion of domain hosting and the value of domains in the strength of your overall website. Then we’ll discuss web hosting, including the difference between an open source and closed source system. This chapter will also discuss security.
Section 2 – Popular Website Platforms for Independent Retailers
After we cover the technical basics of websites we’ll go into more depth regarding the types of popular website hosting platforms available. We’ll cover the range of costs and some of the major differences between each platform.
Website Platforms
WordPress
Wix
1&1 my website
Square space
Shopify
Woocommerce
Magento
Section 3 – Anatomy of a Quality Website
After we’ve explored the types of platforms available and the differences between each platform. We’ll turn our attention to the anatomy of a quality website for a brick and mortar store. Well answer questions such as, What pages should be included in your website? What is a good load time to shoot for? Do I need a secure certificate?
Anatomy of a Website
Responsive Design
Speedy load times
Landing pages & Links