Ethical AI

January 23, 2024

10 Things Every Business Website Needs in 2023

Grow Sales & Lead Generation with 10 Things Every Business Website Needs

10 things every business website needs

10 Things Every Business Website Needs

Search anywhere online and you will find awful web design is all over the internet. And we’re not just talking visuals. There are many other elements besides how your website looks that go into making it customer-friendly – not to mention something that inspires them to actually do business with you. User Experience (or UX) and other factors are paramount to achieve sales and retain customers. So, let’s dive into 10 Things Every Business Website Needs to effectively help you grow in 2023 and beyond.

10 things every business website needs in 2023 momentum digital marketing blog banner 1

1. Choose a Simple & Easy to Search Domain Name or Address

Don’t complicate things. Your domain name is like your brand, so make it easy for users to type or search online. I recommend using a .com domain name, as users are conditioned to type that extension. Avoid dashes and numbers, as they can cause confusion for customers.  Make it easy for users to find your website by not only including relevant names, but also avoiding confusing terms or hard-to-spell words.

There are plenty of domain hosting providers available, and some are very popular. Make sure you pick the right domain and renew hosting at least yearly. Another option is to have the domain hosting service packaged together with an SaaS platform like Shopify, Wix, or Squarespace. Make the process of hosting & renewing easier by packaging together the domain hosting and web design on the same platform.

easy simple domain name web address 10 things every business website needs in 2023 momentum digital marketing
2. Essential for SEO: Optimized Core Pages & Branded Content

Visitors to your website shouldn’t have to try and figure out what you do. State your name and give a concise summary of your products or services right on the homepage. Make it crystal clear. This will grab the visitor’s attention within seconds and encourage them to stay on your website longer. Each of these pages should be optimized for search engines, meaning not only optimizing metadata, but also maximizing keyword use and images, so not only its help with SEO, it improves UX (User Experience).

Here is a list of Core Pages among the Things Every Business Website Needs

  • Home
    • Keep a Well-Organized Welcome Page with easy to find business information, details, images, featured products or services.
    • Make sure main menu is visible and simple for user to navigate.
    • Include clear Call to Actions on header and other sections.
    • Have a clear brand story and what it sells
    • Have a Service List or Product Collection on The Homepage.
    • Include social icons that include social linked (read more below).
    • Add Customer Reviews & Testimonials to gain instant trust.
    • Have a footer with logo, contact info, quicklins to core pages & seach.
  • Services and Products
    • Make it Easy for User to Find What You Sell.
    • Include Individual Pages for Each and Every Service & Products Offered by Your Business for Improved UX & SEO.
    • Have Professional Product Photos and Original Images on all Content Pages.
  • Service Area or Store Location(s) Pages
    • Always include a page where user can easily find either your single rock & mortar store, your multiple locations, a local shop or service are. If you have many location, a plugin may be necessary, but most web design platforms offer Google Map integrations for easy navigation.
    • If you have a list of multiple service areas or business locations, we recommend adding service area pages with SEO so you can rank locally for the products and services your business provides.
  • About Us Page
    • This is pretty simple and straightforward. Create a pges with text information where you share with old and new users alike your business’ story, mission, vision, brand details with precise tone and/or personality.
    • Make sure to include images and information about founders whenever possible. Showing original content photography here is key in allowing new user to get acquainted with your business and brand.
  • Contact Page
    • Make sure your contact information is prominently displayed, preferably at the top left or top right corner of the homepage. Include contact details on every page, such as in the footer or sidebar.
    • Offer multiple ways for visitors to contact you, including phone, email, and address.
    • Have a contact form.
3. Easy-to-Navigate Site Map, Main Menu & Footer

Ensure your navigation is well-organized and easy to find. Use dropdown menus so visitors can see the content under each heading from any page. Make it effortlessly easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for. Keep pages on the main menu easy to find, and add subcategories or drop downs to further expand navigation from the main menu without having a lot of elements. The limit number of elements on the main menu should be kept at a maximum of 6. 

Make sure the main site menu is compatible with mobile devices. Mostly, the menu should be expandable on mobile, so that websites on small screens do not overwhelm visitors.

Additionally, having a footer menu is important to easily navigate your site and improve UX. Keep the following elements on the footer for better web design and navigation:

  • Logo
  • Business Name
  • Address
  • Phone Number with Link to Call
  • Email with Link to Address
  • Quicklinks Including Main Core Pages
  • Small Contact Form
simple main menu
4. A Newsletter Subscription Pop Up Is Among The Things Every Business Website Needs

Don’t lose potential customers because they can’t complete a form, purchase a product, or book a service. Instead, take advantage of their visit by having a pop-up plugin so new users can provide you simply with their email address to stay updated on sales and updates. 

Having an email sign-up pop-up also can help you create customized audiences for Facebook Ads & Google Ads. Just export the email list and upload it to advertising platforms! Customized audiences are one of the best tools when either re-marketing or using lookalike audiences to grow sales online.

pop up window email newsletter

5. Include Customer Testimonials and/or Reviews

Honest testimonials from others make your products or services more tangible and trustworthy to potential customers. They help build trust and allow shoppers to confirm whether your offerings meet their needs. People love hearing stories from real people, so let others do the talking for you. Most web design platforms include Google Business Profile integrations so that you can show off those well-earned 5-star reviews on your business website as a carousel.

include reviews & testimonials

6. Clear And Repeated Call To Actions

Tell your online visitors exactly what you want them to do, whether it’s calling for a free quote, signing up for online coupons, online booking, or adding products to their cart. Make your call to action clear and use special buttons or highlighted text to draw attention to it. Repeat this on every page and multiple sections whenever possible. This is a list of simple Call To Action samples to use when looking for the things every business website needs:

  • Shop
  • View Products
  • Explore Services
  • Book Service
  • Book Online
  • Call Now
  • Get Free Quote
  • Learn More

7. Apply SEO Basics to All Pages & Metadata

Make sure your website is accessible to search engines, including mapping your pages so bots can crawl them. You can learn to create a sitemap here. Then submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and other search engines. Mapping is an important part of SEO.

Optimize Metadata on all pages so that search engines rank your content and it is displayed correctly on search results. This includes using the right keywords, including links, naming page titles and URLs correctly, have headline tags (H tags), include short page description, and incorporating images and videos with alt text.

Learn the basics of search engine optimization (SEO) to improve your website’s visibility and how to Map Websites here. SEO is one of the top things every business website needs. Contact our experienced SEO experts here.

8. Add Fresh, Quality Blog Content

Your website is often the first impression customers have of your business, so give them what they’re looking for. Make sure your content is original, well-written, and valuable. Regularly update your content through a blog or by connecting your social media feeds to keep it fresh and interesting. Good blog content is amog the things every business website needs to improve UX & SEO.

9. Updated & Secure SSL Certificate

Ensure your user’s online information is secure. This improves customer trust and improves chances of conversion. Choose a reliable hosting company or SaaS Provider to keep your content safe from hackers and payment information encrypted. Regularly update your content management system to stay one step ahead of potential threats. Learn more about SSL certificates and how to get them here.

10. Always Keep Good UX Design & Style

Online visitors tend to scan through web pages before deciding if they’re worth reading fully. The longer a visit stays on your website, better the chances of that user completing a conversion event. For longer page view times, improved web design & better UX, your business website should include:

  • Dynamic Elements & Animations, 
  • Have an Updated & Modern Template
  • Clear Call To Action and Buttons
  • Include Embedded Videos 
  • Make Shopping Simple
  • Keep Payment Proces Safe
  • Have Social Links
  • Update Content & Images Seasonally
  • Offer Sales, Promos, News or Current Events
  • Include Original Lifestyle Photo Content

Improve User Experience and therefore sales & leads by designing a website easy to navigate. Organize your content on a concise main menu and optimize your content for scanning by using headings, bullet points, and concise paragraphs. Grab their attention and make it easy for them to skim through your content. UX is most definitely a priority between the things every business website needs.

Conclusion: Why Apply Things Every Business Website Needs?

By incorporating these essential elements into your business website, you’ll create a customer-friendly online presence that not only attracts visitors but also encourages them to engage and do business with you. If you want to grow sales, increase leads & conversion learn more about the things every business website needs by following this simple 10-step guide.

Call or contact us if you want Momentum to Design and optimize Your Business Website to increase sales or generate leads.

By Mac
July 27, 2023

A Simple Guide to Ethical Content Writing Using AI

Simple Guide to Ethical Content Writing Using AI --- Get the most our of ChatGPT and other AI Generators with this article!

Ethical Content Writing Using AI

A Simple Guide to Ethical Content Writing Using AI

OpenAI launched its newest product on a lineup of Artificial Intelligence bots in November 2022: Chat GPT. Because of the human-like interaction of Chat GPT, and its multi-professional use across industries and platforms, it is important to learn how to use the tool ethically. Accurate and humane use of new tools like Chat GPT requires a Simple Guide to Ethical Content Writing Using AI in order to keep proving these tools are beneficial. 

Chat GPT was launched to provide accessible & advanced tools for all users, Chat GPT was trained by OpenAI. to provide human-like answers to prompts from users, ranging from simple questions to creating essays, charts, tables, and even content, including scripts, captions, blogs and much more. 

This has made the tool widely popular, with over 1 million users within the first five days after the tool was launched last year. “Its rapid adoption since then by some 100 million users in just its first two months is already changing how the internet will look and feel to users.”- Business Insider

how to log in or sign up for chatgpt

What Data Feeds Artificial Intelligence Generators like Chat GPT

When prompted, this is the response provided by Chat GPT when asked about it’s sources:

“As an AI language model, my responses are generated based on a mixture of licensed data, data created by human trainers, and publicly available data. I have not been directly trained on specific publishers or have access to proprietary publishers. 

Therefore, I am unable to access subscription sites, the content behind paywalls, or any other type of proprietary information pertaining to third-party companies. I should note that while I strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, my responses may not always reflect the most current news events or developments. News is constantly evolving, and new information can emerge that may change the context or understanding of a given topic.”

This is why it’s so important to request sources from Chat GPT and other generators, otherwise, the risk of copying original content or plagiarism is very high.

asking chatgpt where it get info
Why Use a Simple Guide to Ethical Content Writing Using AI

AI bots, including ChatGPT and other generators, use huge amounts of Internet data and sources for knowledge-based references. The internet provides for a vast source of information, ranging from programing language to specific writing tones inspired by real writers and current content. 

Thanks to the immense data available online today, Artificial Intelligence has a wealth of knowledge, but the conversational outputs which it uses to provide answers to uses make it a useful tool for almost everyone. A.i. has proven its worth when it comes to facilitating data and content to a wide range of industries, specially technology, and art.

However, the ease with which generators like Chat GPT repeat and provide users with answers inspired by previous data & content created by other users has put the new technology in the crosshairs of a lot of lawsuits. 

Many professional individuals like artists, creators, and other professionals feel that the platform promotes a form of “permitted” plagiarism. There is a palpable worry that AI generators will prove detrimental to a number of industries, and even humanity in some extreme cases.

The Risks for AI Generators: Plagiarism, Lawsuits from Artists, Creators, and Celebrities

While celebrities like Sarah Silverman, Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz sue OpenAI and other platforms for copying their artwork, it doesn’t help that Chat GPT and other A.i. can produce full works of art, and provide answers & jokes during conversations using these artists as “inspiration.”

Artists and creators are not the only ones with beef against AI generators, educational institutions and professors have been at the center of the debate, constantly battling students’ efforts to fool the educational systems by using AI to write papers and process information for them. This issue arises from the reality that students today use AI generators for most of their assignments and therefore lose a huge chunk of learning required for a successful career. 

Professors and educational institutions have tried to mitigate the use of Artificial Intelligence with software that helps catch generated written content, but the tools have failed to accurately identify all AI generated papers. The software can also backfire and identify as AI an original piece of work submitted by a student. This opens institutions to the risk of lawsuits from those wrongly accused.    

These bots are designed to evolve, using machine learning, to recognize patterns, verify tone, and identify objects by using data fed in multiple formats including text, number, image, and video formats, to predict learning patterns.

We know now internet data is not always true or trustworthy. It is seldom original, either. For this reason, when using the internet to research a topic, humans usually verify data with other sources. 

Citing original sources and reviewing AI generated responses allows for original content interpreted in our voice.

A.i. generators can learn faster than the human mind, but their resources for capturing truth and human behavior are limited by the data fed, in this case, a vast set of unreliable internet results.

What are the Issues with Chat GPT and other AI Generated Content

AI Generators like Chat GPT are trained to gather online data available in order to provide users with human-like responses to conversations and questions. These bots are designed to evolve, using machine learning, in order to recognize patterns, verify tone, and identify objects by using data fed in multiple formats including text, number, image, and video formats, to predict learning patterns.

As intelligent and advanced humans, we know internet data is not always true or trustworthy. It is seldomly original too. For this reason, when using the internet to research a topic, humans usually verify data with other sources. This allows for mostly original human-created content, verified by various sources and interpreted in our personal voice. A.i. generators are able to learn faster than the human mind, but their resources for capturing truth and human behavior are limited by the data fed, in this case, a vast set of unreliable internet results.

How to: A Simple Guide to Ethical Content Writing Using AI

  • Read and Verify AI Generated Responses

Since internet data is the main source of knowledge in A.i., it is hard for the bot to identify false information. Many users have been provided false responses or inaccurate information from A.i. generators like Chat GPT. A.i. completely depends on the internet.

  • List Sources

Another issue with Chat GPT and A.i. Generators are the trend to use sources in their responses without citing authors, artists, creators, or media. The risk of copying other creators is very high when using A.i. to generate content. That is why asking for sources in the original prompt and verifying the response is so important as a Guide to Ethical Content Writing Using A.I.

  • Provide the AI Generator with Plenty of Details

The more information you provide in the prompt to AI Generators like Chat GPT, the better and more original responses it will provide. Including desired keywords, specifying audiences, product details, and other information will result in accurate and useful responses.

  • Provide Writing Samples for Tone

Uploading past writing examples is a great way to improve the tone used in A.i. content. It is easy to sound robotic with content provided by machine learning and A.i. generators. Specifying tone or providing written examples can greatly help in getting a human-like response. It can even help A.i. content to imitate your voice.

  • Change Sentences and Add a Personal Tone

Even though all of these suggestions will help AI-generated responses to be more human-like, it does not provide enough originality. Not to mention, that when working with clients, putting effort into content creation is key to success. This is why it is important to rewrite A.i. generated responses and content.

Changing words can help provide the content with a personal touch, add a specific call to action, and even include a brand’s voice within A.i. generated content. In the same manner, adding, editing, or eliminating whole sentences can help the tone and use for responses. For example, captions are not usually long, not by industry standards, so it always helps to read and rewrite A.i. generated captions.

  • Provide Keywords in Prompt

Another great way to get ethical content writing using A.i. is adding keywords when creating new web pages, blogs, and other SEO content. Keywords can even help write better Social Media captions that result in better engagement and increased reach

providing detailed prompts to chatgpt

New Chat GPT Updates and A.i. Integrations

In the months since its original launch in November last year, Chat GPT is on version 4.0 now. With most of the 2023 market trends leaning towards automation, algorithms, and machine learning, Open AI has rolled various updates including GPT-3 & GPT-4 improving responses and learning processes to stop the spread of false information, providing more accurate responses, improving voice and other problem-solving features. 

Other tech companies like Windows, Google, Grammarly, and other tools like Later already use A.i. integrations to improve their user experience. You can now create spreadsheets, presentations, write documents, perfect your grammar, and generate new captions using these integrations.

Chat GPT and other AI generators have become useful tools for professions like marketing, advertising, tech development, programming code, travel, writing, movie production, web design, cybersecurity, and more. The utility of machine learning has crossed industry lines, benefiting not only companies but professionals looking to improve their work too.

Ethical Content Writing Using AI has now becoming a content production necessity!

later integration for ai content
social media ai content

Follow a Simple Guide to Ethical Content Writing Using AI to Improve the Technology.

As with any new technology, AI generators have also proved a challenge for more classical versions of online tools used for writing and creation. But, with the proven benefits and time-saving ways in which AI can help improve our jobs and the future of countless industries, there is a convincing argument about the greater good. Individuals like creators and small business owners searching for a way to grow without the need to sacrifice valuable time & money.

Artificial Intelligence was created by humans as a way to expand our knowledge beyond our capability. Machine learning has the capability of solving complex problems faster than ever imagined. For that reason, it is important to remember that Chat GPT and AI are tools, and following a simple guide to ethical content writing using AI is sure to help us use these generators for good.

We are still the biggest element in AI learning. But no human brain can try to learn faster and contain more information than a computer, so shared data across the web has pushed humans into the next big step for humanity: AI.

Call or contact us if you want Momentum to Manage and Create Content on Social Media and increase sales.

By Mac
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