A website should represent your brand. Don’t select an off-the-rack solution that was built before its developer ever heard of your business. The look and feel of the site and the way your audience interacts with it should be appropriate to your brand message. More importantly, the functionality should be intuitive for your customers, not just any users.

To keep your customers engaged, consider a design rebuild every 18 to 24 months, with regular layout and content design updates seasonally or even monthly. Leverage social media with targeted marketing to drive traffic to your site and increase conversions. Utilize that traffic to build lists and create customer engagement strategies that provide great UX (user experience) and boost repeat business. Partner with related sites to help link back relevant content to increase page ranking and reduce your cost of sale. B2B distributors can limit areas of their sites to clients only, providing quick, well branded, access to sales collateral, scheduling, case studies and product details to reduce cost of sale and streamline the sales process. Some presentations and touchpoints can be supported or even handled by your website, linked with your in-house PLM platform, to provide up to date answers about availability and ETA.

A strong web presence is more than just a beautiful, well maintained website. You should consider ongoing SEO and inbound marketing programs to help turn your digital marketing cost into profit, even if you don’t use ecommerce. And if you do want to sell online, strategies in these areas are essential. You’ll also want social media management or management support, content marketing and paid advertising. All of these concepts should be considered alongside your website or website redesign. A comprehensive digital strategy will represent your brand to your potential customers, yield greater conversions, increase brand awareness and develop brand loyalty. A modern, well made and regularly updated website is still the core of a strong digital strategy and should serve as the centerpiece of your online marketing.

In a recent survey of more than 6,000 companies, 57% of respondents said they planned to redesign their website within the next year. More and more companies are making their websites a priority budget item, hoping to generate more business from their digital marketing efforts.

A redesign isn’t an easy process. It takes time, planning, and more specifically, answers to the right questions. Don’t let the overwhelming nature of a complete digital strategy delay the planning of your new website. Download our free Website Redesign Planner to help you get started on the path to a better web presence.