This blog is all about how to setup your website. We are going to cover a lot of details as they relate to SEO, Google Maps Optimization, Pay-Per-Click Marketing, etc.

However, without a properly designed and functioning website, those efforts will be put to waste. Before you can or even should begin exploring those options, you must have your website up and running.

Formats

Let's talk about website formats and the different options available to you when you are ready to start.

• HTML Site – There are basic HTML pages and/or individual pages that can be incorporated into a website. This is how almost all websites were built several years ago. They had multiple pages hyper‑linked together.
• Template Based Site Builders - Site builders, that you can obtain through providers such as Go Daddy, Website Tonight, and 1&1 are turnkey. You buy your domain and set up your website. I have found this type to be quite a bit less than ideal because you don't have a lot of controller flexibility. But, there are still a lot of sites in this format.
• CMS Systems - Content Management Systems, like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal. I'm sure there are many others but these are the big ones.

What Should Your Website Include?

So, what pages should your website have? What navigation structure should you create? Depending on your business, you will need to showcase different things. For most businesses, though, the basics should be:

These are the core pages. Within "About Us," you might incorporate a drop- down menu for subcategories including "Why Choose Our Company," etc. I think that's very powerful.

• You want to be able to drive people back to a "Why Choose Us" section, and, in some cases, if you are having issues recruiting and retaining good quality talent, you might want to have a “Careers” page under the “About Us” navigation, where a visitor can go and fill out an application and learn more about your organization.
• Within "Services," you want to have the ability to list a drop-down listing the types of services that you offer. You want to have landing pages for each one of your services because they are going to be optimized with different keyword combinations.
• If you have a business where you make service calls to homes or businesses, a “Service Area” section will give you the ability to show a heat map of all of the locations that your team goes to, as well as a drop down menu that lists the sub-cities in which you operate within your market.
• A "Reviews and Testimonials" page will provide a section to showcase what your customers are saying about you in text or video form.
• You can also pull in reviews from sites such as Google Maps and Yelp. Finally, of course, you will need a "Contact Us" page where web visitors have your general contact information.

These are the core things you should have on your website.

A Clear Description of Who You Are

A visitor who stumbles upon your website shouldn’t have to do a thorough investigation to figure out who you are and what exactly you do.

This means it’s important to clearly mention your business name and sum up your services above the fold section of your website. A clear and specific description will attract the visitor’s attention immediately - within two to three seconds - and encourage them to spend time on your website.

Your Primary Contact Details

Outside of your navigational structure, what else should your website have? What other elements are going to help with conversion?

Well, you should always provide a primary phone number on every page of your website, in the upper right-hand corner. When somebody visits a page, their eyes are naturally drawn to the top section of the website where they can see the logo and the phone number.

People tend to expect that phone number will be somewhere in this location. It is ideal to have a prominent phone number, telling them to “call you now” for service in that section.

An Obvious Call to Action

I believe business websites should always make a web form available from which a customer can easily request a quote.

Bear in mind that every visitor to your website is in a different situation and frame of mind. You may have someone that's on their phone or just leisurely looking to contact you for your business services and is able to simply pick up the phone and call you.

On the other hand, somebody who's in a work environment may not have the ability to stop what they are doing and make a phone call without drawing attention from his or her coworkers. However, they may be able to browse around online to find out what options are available.

Your potential customers may reach your website and be torn between making a call right at that moment, just scheduling the appointment, or wanting to have someone from your team contact them.

Make it easy for them to enter their information into a web form where they can provide their name, phone number, email address, and a note detailing their requests that they can send through online. It makes it easier and doesn’t create any pressure.

Social Media Links

You also want to provide links to your social media profiles. Link to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn so customers can easily jump off, engage with you on social media, see what you're doing and be able to press that important "like,""follow" or "subscribe" button. It helps create a sense of authenticity when your customers get to see your social media content.

Customer Testimonials

Have a direct link which drives visitors to your online reviews and testimonials that we discussed previously.

You should also post your credentials either in the sidebar or in the header graphic, proving, for example, that you're BBB-accredited or a member of hospice care association.

This allows potential customers to rest assured that you are a credible organization, you're involved in the community and that you're less apt to provide them with poor service. They’ll feel more comfortable doing business with you.

You definitely need to have your company name, address and phone number on every page of your website.

It is not critical that you list your address on each page because it will not be a determining factor in whether or not customers call you. Having name, address and phone number consistency is critical for ranking on Google Maps.

It is a great strategy to have your name, address and phone number referenced on your website, ideally in the footer section. You need to have that contact information on all of your pages including the Contact Us page, of course.

Authentic Images

It’s extremely important that you infuse personality into your website. By personality, I'm referring to authentic photos and videos.

• Showcase your company, feature yourself, the business owner, and the people who work in the business: the office team, the care givers, etc.
• Showcase the office itself. Don’t use stock photography, but authentic imagery. This gives the visitor the chance to get to know, like and trust you, before they even pick up the phone. I've seen this tactic prove itself time and time again.

Say a potential customer visited two different sites for a similar business offering. One of them is generic; here's the same image he or she has seen before of the same hospice providers with the client and the weird smile.

The other website highlights a genuine picture of the actual hospice providers and the team. This authentic page converts 10 to 1. You must let your real personality reflect on the website.

• You must also craft messaging that explains why they should choose your company. Why should someone choose you over the competition?
• Pull them down a path where they can start to learn more about why you are their best option. Where they can see your online reviews, and if they're kind of on the fence, where they can quickly locate some special offers that will drive action.

This will get them to contact you right away, as opposed to continuing to browse the web for someone else.

Mobile Website

The other major thing you want to think about, from the conversion perspective, is having a mobile-ready version of your website.

More and more people are accessing the Internet via smart phones such as iPhones and Android phones. Make sure the mobile version of your site isn't the same as your regular site.

It should be condensed, fitting their screen and giving them just the information that they need. It should integrate with their phone so all they have to do is press a button to call you.

People who are searching or accessing your website from a mobile device are in a different state of mind than the people that are browsing and finding you on a computer. Make it easy for them to get the information they need and to get in touch with you.