On the evening of Friday 27th January, dozens of members of
Tanzania’s business community gathered at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dar es
Salaam for the Tanzania Leadership Awards 2016. The awards honour the best
businesses and businesspeople in the country, ranging from small start-ups to
large companies with over 500 employees.
At the ceremony, ZoomTanzania, the leading online
classifieds (buy and sell) site and business directory in the country, was
named the 'best website of the year'. This is the second time the Tanzanian
brand has been honoured for its online expertise, as it also won the 'best
e-commerce and Internet business' award in 2015.
Not having an online presence is bad
for business
With over 17 million internet users in Tanzania, more and
more businesses have realised the importance of having an online presence, and
created websites, in order to keep up with the fast growing market of online
consumers.
However, many business websites don’t effectively convert
online users into returning customers.
Luckily, ZoomTanzania understands how to create a good
business website that Tanzanians love, and will share 5 tips on how to improve
your business website this year.
1.
Your website has to be
mobile-friendly (responsive)
Over 67% of Tanzanians
have mobile phones,
and almost 50% of internet users use their mobile devices to search the web.
Therefore, having a website that loads fast, and is easily readable and functional
on mobile devices is vital if you want to capture potential customers who are
searching for your business on their phones.
Remember, the easier you make it for users to access and use
your website, the more likely they will convert into customers.
2. Product pages should offer
solutions
Whether you are a restaurant or security company, people
come to your website because they are looking for solutions. This means that,
your website should clearly communicate to its visitors how your business will
help them solve their problems.
So, rather than simply praising your business, your sales
and product pages should focus on identifying your customer’s challenges and
explaining how you can help.
For instance, if your company
offers advertising solutions for businesses than your main sales page shouldn't just tell your
customers that your products are the ‘best’ or ‘greatest’, instead, it should communicate the benefits
you bring to their business, like, the average number of users that will see
their ads.
3. Make room for content marketing
Another way to solve your users’ problems and demonstrate
your value and credibility as a business is to show that you are an expert in
your industry.
One great way to do
this is to have a business blog on your site that provides valuable
information on topics that are relevant to your customers.
Moreover, search engines like Google also consider content
marketing as an authority builder and will rank your site higher in search
results relevant to your industry if you frequently and consistently produce
high-quality informative content that’s useful to your target audience.
So, for instance, a construction material company that has a
blog with articles like ‘How to Build Your Own House’, ‘10 Questions to Ask a
Contractor before Hiring Them’, and ‘Pros and Cons of Ordering Building Material
Abroad’ will most
likely push ranking higher on search engines (especially where keywords are
optimized). When users search for construction industry - related information,
your content will be among the top search results they get.
Still not convinced? Well, a study by Hubspot showed that businesses that
prioritize blogging enjoy 13 times more ROI than businesses that don’t!
4. Speak your user’s language (s)
Swahili is the most popular language in both formal and
informal environments in Tanzania, however, for some professional industries,
it is standard to communicate in English.
A solution to this is to have a bilingual website ( English
and Swahili). This allows you to both gain the search engine benefits of having
a website in English, while also appealing to some of your Tanzanian clientele
who are looking for solutions tailored to their particular needs and in their
language.
5. Create pages that convert
At the end of the day, the main purpose of your website is
to gain customers. So, whether it is to call your business, book an
appointment, or subscribe to your business blog, each page should be built to
support a call-to-action. This include:
●
Sign
up and subscribe forms
●
Call
and email buttons to easily contact business
●
Social
media buttons for sharing
●
Actionable
buttons with verbs like ‘Download sales material’ and ‘Advertise with Us’
Moreover, if a user has to play detective to find a piece of
information on your site, you are increasing the probability that they will
exit and you will lose a potential sale. So make sure your calls-to-action are
easily accessible and visible.
Get the results you want
As the number of internet users continues to rise in
Tanzania, more and more people will be
looking for your products and/or services online. Luckily, these 5
website tips will make it easier for them to find your business, and give you an upperhand over your competitors.
If you want to make your business
even more visible online, learn more about ZoomTanzania’s advertising solutions
here.
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