A lot of clients prefer to schedule services through a website instead of calling or stopping by in person because it is more convenient and efficient. For these kinds of clients, the best way to reach them is via an online platform. This is the only way you can keep up with the expectations of your growing customers as a professional service provider. Take Rocket Health, for example, it is a service that empowers you to make use of your mobile device to get quality medical attention without leaving your home by simply contacting them.

As a professional service provider, your goal is to minimize cost and maximize your revenue. Having your own website will free you from so many responsibilities such as answering calls, giving directions and explaining what you do to as many potential clients as possible but that is not what this article is about. If you are still wondering why you need a website, read more here: Why You Need a Website

Thinking about having your own website as a professional service provider can be daunting especially if you don’t know where to begin from. Lucky for you, this article is meant to address that issue. You don’t have to be among the top personalities in town to get started, you don’t need to hire well-qualified staff to develop your website and no  need for prior coding skills or knowledge to come up with one although a job advert says, having a knowledge about it is an ‘added advantage.’

If you are a professional service provider looking forward to having your own website, below are decisions to consider on how you can come up with a professional-looking website.

1.         Choose your layout

2.         Choose the right pages

3.         Showcase the Services you offer

4.         Create a mobile-friendly website

5.         Keep your site up to date

Choose Your Layout

There are two main options when it comes to a website layout design; a classic website and a one-page website. These options are both great and the choice of one entirely depends on your specific needs.

The classic website design is a collection of website pages that are separate from each other. For example, you can have the home page to provide a summary of your services, a blog page that contains all your publications and creation of awareness and a contact page which contains a form that clients can fill and submit in case they want to know more about your services to mention but a few.

A one-page website design on the other hand takes a different approach. All the information on your website is put on one page and the rest of the contents on the website are divided into sections within the page. A user can navigate from one section to another using the menu items on the top bar or scroll through the page. This option provides a stronger design and offer more simplicity for the website.

Choose the Right Pages

Think of all the information you want your clients to know and add it to your website. This is the best place to strategize your content. You would want your customers to access certain information first when they visit your website and placing them in the right places makes all the difference. You can decide how many pages or sections to include on your website since it is your business.

The most important pages to consider are;

Home page: This is people’s first impression of your brand. The most important aspect of a home page is attention grabbing and being the most informative page of all. It should clearly explain what you do, display your logo and company name. Since you offer a professional service, it should have a call-to-action button. This call-to-action button can be ‘Book Now’ or ‘Schedule Now’ to portray urgency for clients to access the services you offer.

Bookings or Schedule Page: You will want to consider adding an online booking or scheduling system that lets client’s book and pay for your services online in order to drive more sales and revenue. This form can be displayed everywhere but this approach may make your website pages congested and may provide a bad user experience to clients who are interested in your services. So, the best way to handle it is to have a separate page that includes all the essential details such as name, pricing and availability in an organized way.

About page: This is the place to share the story of who you are and the services you offer. Your mission, vision, values and goals of your business as well as your achievements. If you work with multiple staff members, this is the best place to showcase your team members. Clients should get a sense of the personality behind your brand. This helps you build deeper connections with them. It turns your one-time customers into loyal ones because they get to know who they are dealing with.

Contact page: If finding your contact information is difficult, visitors may not find it worthwhile to reach out to you concerning the services you offer. For this reason, you need a contact page that contains your email address, phone number and a physical address. It is important to add a contact form so the visitors can easily fill it and submit to you.

Blog page: As a professional service provider, building a community is one of the most important aspects of ensuring that you retain loyal customers as well as get new ones. Publishing information about your services and upcoming events or promotions is your best tool. A blog page will aggregate all these communications into one place which is easy to find on your site. The most important part is that you want to have discussions about the services you offer to take place on your platform so that visitors are able to read though other customers experiences.

Showcase The Services You Offer

Now that you about to put all your contents in one place, don’t forget to showcase your services. The services you offer to your clients. Whether you offer consulting services or you are building a website for a salon, it is best to promote those services to your clients. Promotion is not done in a predefined context. This is where you become creative by optimizing your site so that it can easily be found on the internet. Another route to consider is paying for advertisements or Ads so that your site can be placed on search engines such as Google. Having social media engagement is a good place to promote your website too. Whichever method you choose, make sure it is aimed at driving visitors to your website.

Create Mobile-Friendly Website

Mobile phones contribute to more than 50% of all website traffic and it’s true that most of your visitors are likely going to access your website using a mobile device. This means that making a mobile-friendly website should be your primary goal. You should make sure your website is readable and navigable on a small screen.

Keep Your Site Up To Date

Keeping your site fresh and up-to-date will enable you achieve the best possible results. This implies that you should be able to adapt to the latest trends and remember the blog page we discussed earlier? Yes, those blogs will help you build up authority in your field of expertise, putting you ahead of the competition. An important fact to consider is that by incorporating payment for your services online, you take your business to new heights and increase your revenue over time.

After all that hard work of considering the necessities of having your own website, the last final thing to have in mind is that you should publish your website so that we all get to access it. Therefore, launching your website will bring all the hard work you have gone through into life.

These are basic steps to help you get started on building a professional service website, but there are other considerations that are handled by the designers and developers during development.

At Pahappa, we ensure that your website is suitable for all devices. We follow all the industry best practices to design and develop a website for you. We stay in touch with our clients even after the site has been deployed to enable you to focus on the most essential parts of your service as a professional without worrying about your website.