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Having a professional WordPress website created
Overview
Written by Finn Ruijter, 22 October 2020

Innovation, trends and developments

The Internet never stands still. New techniques, online trends, changing needs and erratic search engines mean that the worldwide Web is in constant flux. For companies striving for online success, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity at the same time.

Stay one step ahead of your competitors

The dynamics of the Internet are challenging because a Web site is never finished: there is always room for improvement. With that comes marketing knowledge and budget. But companies willing to invest in online trends and developments can count on a competitive advantage. Currently, there are trends in mobile devices, the customer experience, security and privacy.

Rich snippets

Google is increasingly enriching search results with additional information: review stars, a video screenshot or a product price. This
rich snippets
stand out and have a high click-through rate (CTR). Therefore, for you as a company or institution, it is interesting to be at the top of the search results as rich snippets. This requires the necessary SEO effort on your part, but pays off in relevant visitors and conversions.

Mobile visitors

In recent years, the share of mobile visitors has grown rapidly. People are increasingly grabbing their smartphones to search for answers to a question. How mobile-friendly are you? A mobile site is out of date – rather, get a responsive site that has the same look and feel on mobile as it does on desktop. Google rewards you with higher rankings.

Personalization

We are all inundated with information. In this crowded media landscape, it is difficult for a company to stand out. By personalizing your expressions, you will attract the attention of potential customers. Segment contact lists based on behavior, call visitors by name and stop targeting ads to someone who has already purchased the product.

Customer journey

The
customer journey
is the path a visitor takes from challenge to solution. This is as true for buying a product as it is for applying for a job opening. Mapping this customer journey reveals where the obstacles or bottlenecks are. You can then address those to increase conversion.

Marketing automation

Marketing automation is the automated tracking and assessment of leads. When a visitor takes a certain action on your website that matches a trigger you had set, it determines what to do with the visitor. Fully automated. An example is a whitepaper download that is offered when someone reads a particular blog post for more than one minute. Or assign a score to a visitor who reaches a certain level in a funnel.

Remarketing

Remarketing is an online marketing technique you use to re-engage previous visitors to your site with targeted ads. This can be done through Google Ads, as well as in social media. The shock of recognition that such an ad generates makes for surprisingly high click through rates (CTR). With remarketing, you can still convert previous dropouts into customers.

AVG compliance

The General Data Protection Regulation (AVG) requires companies to treat users’ personal data with care. You should be able to justify why you are asking for certain information and should store it securely. A cookie notice, a privacy statement and general terms and conditions are also mandatory. AVG compliance prevents high fines, which the Personal Data Authority can hand out, and reputational damage.

Customer experience

One of the most important online trends is the customer experience. Did you know that customers are willing to pay up to 17% more for a company that provides a pleasant customer experience offers? Indeed: price and quality are far from being the only factors determining a purchase. The customer experience you provide starts with the very first contact moment, and ends with the last interaction, for example, after-sales. There are several things you can do to make this experience as positive as possible.

SSL certificate

An SSL certificate encrypts the data shared between user and website. This is relevant not only to websites with forms or other points where personal data are processed. Google also more or less mandates this. In fact, the Chrome browser issues a warning and blocks a website if it does not have an SSL certificate.

DDoS protection

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) aims to make websites slower or crash. By no means only government agencies or multinationals are victims of DDoS attacks; SMBs are also at risk. Therefore, a decent website should be able to withstand this digital vandalism. Choosing a hosting provider plays an important role of your WordPress security.

Multisite network

With WordPress, you have the ability to create a duplicate of your site in just a few clicks. This scalability is ideal for companies that want a similar site for each branch office. WordPress Multisite allows you to manage all these sites from one WordPress dashboard, assigning different roles to different users.