It happens to the best of us.
A website design is absolutely necessary, but the task has been put off, delayed, ignored, swept under the rug, or tucked away in a closet. Out of sight, out of mind, right? For weeks. Or months. But, now, today, it is absolutely essential that your website be redesigned. Like, right now. So, you punt.
Maybe you take a stab at simply updating the Home Page, About Page, and List of Services – the first places people usually head when visiting your site. Maybe, you dabble in updating the overlook of the site – making it more current and modern.
And then, voila, you’re done!
Problem solved!
But is it?
(We’re not judging. We’re just asking.)
If you think those changes will solve the problem of having a site that does the work for you, we’re here to share that your website is actually capable of being more than just the pretty face of your business. Whether you need to increase customer leads or boost online sales, there are some simple plugins and website add-ons that will make your site work smarter and harder – so that rushed changes become a thing of the past! And by adding these tools, you’ll alleviate the overwhelm of hastily updating pages in the future, because these automated additions will be working 24/7.
BLOG
You may not consider yourself a writer, but we’re not talking Hemingway here. Blogs create credibility, increase traffic due to SEO, and provide content for people to share on social media. Who better to talk about your products and services than you? Badda-boom, badda-bing! You just reached even more people with 300-500 words!
Not convinced that a blog is for you? Here are the main reasons you should consider one.
- You can share information about any topic related to your business and quickly become known as an expert in your field.
- Any keywords that you use within your site, help your company rank on Google and other search engines. Creating blogs on specific topics allows you to use those keywords much more easily.
- Blogs allow you to attract viewers to your site, but ultimately turn those visitors into customers.
- You can cultivate a community of users and be able to engage with your audience.
Wanna see examples? Check out EHS Support’s blog, or Quant Solution’s blog, both categorized by topic.
FORMS
IMO, forms are the unsung hero of WordPress websites. There are unlimited uses for forms and almost all of them have the secondary side effect of making the business owner’s life WAY easier. Here are a few highlights you may want to consider.
OPT-IN FORM
How’s that email list lookin’? Let me be gently blunt . . . have we not had a few social media outages this year? We always like to remind those who only have their business eggs in the basket of Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok that you don’t own those platforms. But you DO own your email list. And we can connect a web form directly to your preferred email marketing provider, whether that be Mailchimp, Constant Contact, etc. ensuring that your folks never miss one of those fancy blogs you’re writing!
CONTACT FORM
Hellooooo, lead generation. Have you figured out that most people hate being on the phone nowadays? A Contact Form takes the pressure off you and consumers by giving them the opportunity to share what it is they need and then taking that information and sending automatic replies based on their answers. Ok, maybe this sounds like magic – but we can help you with setup, and then you can sit down and wait for the new contacts to come in!
APPLICATION FORM
Have an event or registration form that you’re currently having customers fill out with pen and paper? Then, internally, it’s someone’s responsibility to type that into a spreadsheet or database of some sort. What if you can get that filled out online and alleviate that extra internal step? AND as a bonus, the form’s contents could be emailed back to the customer for safekeeping on their end as well. Win-win!
Wanna see an example of an amazing form? Check out PGH Fresh’s Catering Inquiry form!
PORTFOLIOS
People want to compare products, so what better way to do this than by showing the breadth and range of your work on a portfolio page? Portfolios provide a look into your experience, increasing credibility (think of it as a visual resume). Plus, they are a great place to add SEO keyword-rich content by naturally providing them in descriptions.
Portfolios can be searchable by category as well, so you can even insert “already-searched-by-category” portfolio items if you want to highlight a specific type of work to appear on one page and another type on another page. This type of added functionality is really able to be stretched and used many times over once the portfolio items are in place on the backend of your website. Pay for it once, use it many times!
Wanna see a few different ways to showcase a product? Check out FPD’s Machining web page!
SITE SEARCH
You’ve been writing blogs, have portfolio work to show off and perhaps you even have an eCommerce site. If so, you need a Site Search. Visitors won’t want to roam the aisle, so to speak, that’s why they are reaching out online. So, help them find what they need easily. The basic WordPress site search feature is fairly limited and tends to miss important information your customer is trying to find on your site.
The search plugin that we often use is called SearchWP. We like it because it scans all of your indexable website content including pages, posts, custom post types (CPTs), all categories, PDFs, text documents, and even comments. Even more, the plugin allows you to have complete control over the search algorithm. You can manually select which content should be searchable and displayed in any search results.
ONLINE SCHEDULER
One tool we find many businesses overlook is the scheduling or booking tool that saves you gobs of time. Think, Acuity or Calendly. Remember that phone no one wants to pick up and use? We guarantee they will book a consult, follow-up, and inquiry session via an online calendar tool BEFORE thinking of picking up the phone to do so. (Hey, it’s a real trend. So work around it with one of these solutions.)
Most online scheduling tools will integrate seamlessly into your WordPress website via shortcode or linking out to their online scheduler. We recommend integration in order to keep your customers on your website and don’t give them any reason to leave and not come back to book!
Wanna see how we use Acuity scheduler embedded into our site? Check out our Free Consult appointment scheduling page!
Have we convinced you? We hope you’ll do a little of your own research and feel more confident in adding to your website. We say this time and time again but your website should work like an extra employee – freeing up your time to be the CEO of your business and not the secretary. We’re happy to help you decide which add-ons will make the most sense for your and your growing business!
Need to chat about it?
Snag an Anytime-You-Need-Us Strategy Session, Mini Website Audit, or even our popular Develop-in-a-Day during which we can help you with a few add-ons that are right for YOUR site!
No more hiding or shooting from the hip – let us help you get it right so you can sit back and ENJOY how effective and hard-working your site can be!
And don’t forget to share the goods with your small business friends!
