Once upon a time the most important things to a retailer were good store design that encouraged customers to shop and high turnover that discouraged the bank manager from leaning on them. Now however things are changing, £133bn was spent online in the UK in 2016, up £18bn on the previous year. A good online presence and website can make or break a business in the modern world.

The Three Most Important Components of Your Website

• Navigation: The main reason someone comes to your website instead of visiting you is convenience. If they then get to your site and it’s a nightmare to navigate, they’ll be inclined to look elsewhere. Simple navigation tools could decrease your bounce rate and increase your profits.
• SEO: Search engine optimization is perhaps the most important factor in deciding the success of your business. If you want shoes in Northampton, you google ‘shoes in Northampton’. What google throws up to you isn’t an accident, it’s the result of shoe-makers in Northampton diligently carrying out their SEO work. Make sure your business comes top-or at least high- in google rankings for all permutations of your business, that’s the way to consistently get new customers.
• Brand Consistency: It doesn’t matter whether you’re in Mexico, Australia, Thailand or the UK every branch of Starbucks looks the exact same, that’s great brand consistency. It harbours trust, familiarity and loyalty in the customer and this is what your website must do. Make it as close to possible as the real thing: if you sell high-performance cars you’ll want a sleek, stylish website for example.

Source: Mexican Business

Getting it right

Online gambling pages face plenty of competition, 888poker have realised this and successfully maintained a strong web design and presence, as mentioned earlier, navigation is a key part of a good website and directly correlates to profits. The navigation for 888Poker is superb, at the top of the site there are drop-down tabs to select and at the bottom of the home page there is even a basic three-step guide to signing up to 888. It’s incredibly easy to use and lends itself to user interaction.

888poker really excel when it comes to maintaining brand consistency, every strand of the 888 brand are all instantly recognisable. The casino, poker and sports sites have similar designs and show the same ‘888’ logo which not only makes them recognisable to customers but fosters a sense of trust and brand loyalty.

Summary

In order to maintain a strong online presence you must pay attention to your website, prioritise it in the same way that you would with any part of your physical business. Remember the importance of navigation, SEO and brand consistency.