As a business owner, COVID-19 has probably affected your life in more ways than you could’ve ever been predicted. From restrictions on customer interactions, hours, and travel to changing profit margins and timelines, small businesses are being hit hard. While it may be more pressing to attend to other matters, don’t overlook the impact a strong website presence can make during this time.
To understand how to best make your website work for you during this pandemic, let’s examine three business trends that have happened in the past month:
- “COVID-19” and related searches are dominating internet traffic
- Internet use is up 50%, but mobile traffic is down by 24%
- Business visits by customers have dropped more than 90%
How can you react to these trends in a way that not only protects you now but prepares you for post-pandemic business success? We suggest updating your website in ways that support the trends now. While this pandemic will end, some of its implications will long outlive its course. Changing how you approach and advertise to customers and patients now can help you in the long run.
Website Strategy 1: Add a COVID-19 page to your website.
Adding a COVID-19 page to your website should be the first step to help your online presence. This page should have important keywords (you can see what’s trending here) so that it’s easily recognized as valuable by both search engines and your visitors.
It also allows you to regularly update a page as circumstances continue to change. More than ever, your customers and patients want to know that their providers are at the forefront of what’s happening to keep them safe. Regularly updating your COVID-19 strategy pages with changes in care, business, or even just checking in is a way to respectfully be there for your site visitors during this time.
Consider adding a video of yourself explaining how your business has changed in the past couple of weeks and how you came to that decision. Be honest, calm, and optimistic. If you’re open to it, let people know how to contact you or your business during this time. Speak to any resources that are available.
Website Strategy 2: Update contact information.
This one is straightforward: Make sure all of the information on your website is up-to-date and accurate. It is likely that your hours and maybe even your contact phone number have changed during this time. Be sure that your website reflects those changes. Perhaps you’ve started doing emergency services or added an emergency phone line? Those should be front and center on your site.
While you’re doing a brief audit of your website, make sure that all of your other information is accurate. Click to your team page to ensure that your current personnel is reflected on the site. Check the services or products you list and remove or change any that need to be updated. In this period of staying at home, more people are on their laptops “shopping around.” They have the time to spend looking at the details of your website. This is a great time to update your website to reflect your current business strategy.
Website Strategy 3: Consider advertising virtual services.
Many business owners have started implementing virtual services during this time. From virtual medical consultations and care to video tours of available real estate to offering digital mock-ups of new bathroom designs – businesses are going virtual. If you’re offering video calls or text chats to new and/or current customers, be sure it is well-advertised on your website.
As time goes on, users will begin actively searching for businesses that offer these services and you will want to make sure that you’re showing up in search engines for the work you’re doing. Teledentistry is a big business and one that will likely continue to grow after the self-isolation and quarantine periods end. Adding these services to the main page of your website, as well as providing instructions on how to schedule can be very valuable.
If you’d like help exploring your options for adding and advertising virtual services to your website, contact Whiteboard Marketing today. We’re here for you now more than ever.