7 challenges a startup will face when launching a website

7 challenges a startup will face when launching a website

When it comes to launching a website, most of us here are well informed on what to do so we don't see it as much of a challenge.  A startup on the other hand may not be as tech savvy and see launching a website as a daunting task since they are not familiar with all the workings from buying a domain to get a design up and running and even how hosting works.  Startups face these challenges all the time because unlike us, they start with a product or service and eventually come online while we start online and eventually have a product  

A startup will always need a website in order to be seen as professional.  Nowadays a website is a sort of business card that allows you to be validated before someone gets in contact with you.  A person can come to you site and see what you're all about, if they like what they read on your pages they might just contact you.  If a startup doesn't have a website, or they're on a free website host like weebly or blogger, they may not be taken seriously and that's not something you would want.

Most of us know what WordPress and Squarespace are, but even to a newbie business owner, those systems can seem daunting and they might be hesitant to work on them.  The main reason for this is that they don't have the knowledge that is needed when setting up a perfect website

7 challenges a startup will face with their website



1. Staring with the minimum
When you're starting off online and setting a website up, you will want it to have all the bells and whistles on it so you can look much better than your competition.  I'm here to tell you that you can always expand on your website, so start with the basics in the beginning because that's all you need.  Think of your website as never being finished, because that's how it should be.  You will always be adding new pages, products, systems, etc. and each tweak will change your website a little bit giving it a new feel overall

Focus on your core pages first.  You will want to have your home, about us, blog/news, privacy policy, terms and conditions, category pages, product pages, etc. when you start out because those are your core.  After that you can start expanding by adding loads of content to your blog or more products to your categories.  Start slow and make sure everything is working before you start expanding


2. Your overall design choice
When it comes to people viewing your website, you will need to think of it as how they're looking at you.  They will judge you based on a first appearance and that's all.  If they don't like you, they will leave and never come back (usually).  You'll need to have your pages designed in a way that encourages your visitors to click through to multiple pages and read everything because they are pulled in so deep that it's hard for them to leave. 

You're options are going to be very limited with free website builders or free WordPress themes you find online.  You won't be seen as unique or cutting edge when using these, I guarantee it.  The only good websites that are designed through the free website builders are by the programmers who made the builder.

You can work with a WordPress theme and customize it to you liking because that will not only save you money but reduce your investment in the design.


3. Your Content
When it comes to the content on your pages, you will need to follow a bunch of rules so that you're always seen in a good light.
 

1. You'll need to write your content for your users and not for the search engines.  If you're stuffing keywords everywhere in your pages, your users will not know what is going on and will likely leave, as well as Google. 
2. You will need to optimize your titles and descriptions to show Google what each page is about. 
3. You will need to monitor your keyword density on each page so that it stays below 3%.  Going above 3% only puts you at risk of obtaining a penalty from Google and your rankings will drop.  No one wants a penalty because they're difficult to bounce back from.

4. SEO
Search engine optimization is definitely needed for every startup.  It's a difficult thing to do so I would recommend outsourcing this task to a credible company so you don't screw anything up.  Usually SEO isn't as expensive as some say it is, I charge a minimum of $550 a month and that's on the lower end.  Sure you can hire a freelancer to do some backlinks for you, but that's not an overall SEO campaign.

Doing SEO the wrong way can be a killing blow to your startups website.  This is because you may not know what you're doing, and if that's the case, you definitely won't know how to lift a penalty.


5. Getting visitors to sign up
Adding what's called a "call to action" on your website sounds a bit odd.  Basically it means you're putting a "Buy Now" button or a newsletter or contact us form in front of them like a fishing lure and waiting for someone to bite. 

A lot of people will have call to actions on their homepages as well as all their content pages.  This only helps bring in people who may not go directly to your product pages.  If they sign up for your newsletter, but don't purchase anything, it's not a loss.  You can now market to them until they unsubscribe from your newsletter


6. Website Hosting
In the beginning, many startups aren't thinking about how their hosting plan will affect the overall functionality of their websites.  A lot of people will go with GoDaddy or HostGator, which are great for small sites, but they lack a lot of things that smaller companies offer.  If you work with a website hosting company like t35hosting, you can get a dedicated IP address, a crazy high up-time and almost no limitations when it comes to your designs.  The only time I ran into a problem was when I was uploading a theme and it wasn't working because the scripts were stopping my upload because it was taking too long to perform a task.  All I had to do was open a support ticket and they increases my times so that I could upload my theme   I did the same thing on HostGator and they told me I needed to be on a different hosting plan....


7. Start gaining momentum
After you have your website up and you're ready for traffic, you're going to cross one of the biggest hurdles.  This hurdle is your launch and client acquisition.  Now everyone sees a launch as just letting your website be visible to the public, which is sort of true, but not everything.  You will need to bring people into your site and get them to browse around which will hopefully turn into a sale.  You will need to monitor everyone's activity and see where they're coming in from, what pages their entering through, what pages they were on the longest for, what pages they left through, etc.  All of this data can be intimidating, but you'll learn how to read it over time

If your bounce rate is extremely high on your homepage it could be one of two reason.
Your homepage isn't user friendly and people don't like it as soon as they get there.
Your traffic sources are sending less than quality visitors to your site.

You'll be able to fix your homepage easily by asking a few friends and family members what they like and don't like, then tweaking it until it works.  With the traffic sources you're kind of at the mercy of them and can't do much.  If you're running a PPC campaign and having a high bounce rate, you will need to tweak the keywords and where/who you're targeting in order to have more quality traffic coming through.





In Conclusion:
Startups deal with these 7 hurdles almost every time and they are easy to work out.  You simply have to take your time and do everything step by step.  You can't launch and have a "Website Coming Soon!" sign on your homepage because you'll just be wasting money lol.  Focus on how your design is and all the content on your pages, and you'll have a solid foundation to build off of for years to come



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Thanks!

Razzy