Having a website certainly opens your business up to a wider audience. As long as you are not geographically restricted in what you offer, you can more easily sell products and services nationally or internationally. Even in this potential upside it’s still important to differentiate your website to avoid getting lost in the crowd.
Where the competition may have been limited to a small geographic handful, now you’re one in a sea of hundreds, if not thousands of businesses offering something similar in the eyes of the customer. Remember, your audience is only spending a few short moments determining if you are right for them. It’s crucial to create that all-powerful first impression.
5 Ways You Can Differentiate Your Website
Create Engaging Content
Your message needs to stand out with your audience. If you’re saying the same things as everyone else in the same ways they say them, you risk boring people away from your site. If you want to create a unique experience, you’ll need engaging content. This can mean a few different things.
- Content that educates your customers and helps them through the buying cycle in a meaningful way. Make sure you’re answering common questions in the form of FAQs or blog posts, etc.
- Using an informal yet still professional tone of voice that makes your website easier to read.
- Clearly explaining the action you want your audience to take.
When you can do these things well, you’ll have content that your audience loves to read and is easier to take action on.
Unique Design
To put it simply, your website should be prettier than the others that your audience might be looking at. It should be crisp and clean and help you to deliver a strong first impression. When your audience is only taking a few quick moments to decide, website design will be one of the first things they consider. There’s a few different elements at play here.
- Your color choices, logo, and graphics should make sense and be inviting.
- Your website should be laid out in a way that makes it easy for your customers to take action. This means multiple, easy-to-find calls to action as well as your phone number and email on display.
- The photos you use should be engaging and add to your message.
A unique and professional website design can help you to capture your audience’s attention immediately and lets them focus on the message.
Develop Your Brand Voice
Maybe you’re a company that still requires employees to adhere to a dress code. Maybe you carry an air of formality in everything you do. But if that’s not you, then trying to keep your content in a formal and stodgy voice because that’s what everyone else does will lead you down the path of anonymity.
Your other option is of course to let your freak flag fly. Ok, so maybe it’s not that dramatic, but you can learn how to communicate with your customers and give them the same feel on your website that they’d have from coming to visit your office, or a brick and mortar location. Here are a few tips to consider as you develop your brand voice:
- Consider your target audience and how they’ll want to be addressed. For instance, if your audience is mostly seniors, an edgy and sarcastic tone might not work so well.
- Define your values and culture and understand who you want to be. Make sure the tone of voice you’re putting out into the world is authentic.
- Imagine your brand as a person. How would that person communicate about the topic at hand?
A distinct brand voice is an effective way to differentiate your website and your business from the competition and create a memorable experience for your audience.
Tell a Compelling Story
People can’t resist a good story, and your website should give them what they’re looking for. It should tell the story of your business in a compelling manner. Your audience should be able to quickly tell who you are, what you do, and who you do it for. They should have the information they need to form a decision in a memorable format.
- Know your business and understand what got you to this point. You should be able to effectively communicate your history, values, and why your business is best-suited to solve the customer’s problem.
- The singular narrative of the brand and/or smaller mini-narratives offer the opportunity to engage customers and build trust.
- Consider what types of emotion that you want to evoke, and how you can make your brand more human.
Telling a compelling story is an excellent way to keep your audience engaged and earn trust.
Search Engine Optimization
One of the best ways to differentiate your website from your competitors’ sites is to make sure it’s visible in the search engines. This puts you in the company of a small handful of businesses rather than the hundreds or thousands that are competing for the same spot. When your customers find you here it helps you to establish more trust by improving your brand’s image. Here are a few ways to improve your organic search results:
- Researching keywords and phrases for an understanding of what your customers are searching for, and how to use them in your website content and blogs.
- Using your website pages and blogs to create a powerful web of linked content that can keep customers engaged on your site for longer. (Make sure that you’re using relevant search phrases for links, and checking and fixing broken links.)
- Filling out meta descriptions for pages and images using relevant keywords and phrases.
When you can optimize your website for the search engines, you create a powerful long-term strategy for added visibility.
You Have to Differentiate Your Website to Be Found
The reality is that most businesses are in a vast sea of competition and need to do something to stand out. By taking the time to differentiate your website you can stand out in that crowded field and attract the customers you’re looking for. Improving the user experience in these ways is the best way to succeed online. Are you looking from help from our team of marketing experts? Contact us today!
