Developing a functional business website is an uphill task that feels like putting a puzzle together. This is because advancements in technology have provided thousands of innovative solutions and third-party applications that can be used to solve different business problems.
However, the options available for businesses to choose from can pose a challenge, especially when looking for the right applications to integrate with. They have to make sure that they are using the right tools for them to supercharge their websites.
A functional website needs to achieve many objectives. Some of them might include integrating live chat options, automating emails, leveraging content, getting new customers, and measuring customer engagement and satisfaction.
How Small Businesses can Supercharge Their Websites
The first thing that small businesses need to do is to figure out the kind of functionalities that their websites need for them to meet their objectives. They do not have to build these functionalities from scratch. Instead, they can integrate APIs into their websites.
An integration allows businesses to connect their websites with APIs for them to communicate and share information. They (businesses) can use an API platform to supercharge their small business websites without having to write the entire code on their own.
This means that these businesses rely on the expertise of more experienced developers or organizations for their solutions. Here are several ways you can use APIs to supercharge your small business website;
User Data and Analytics
Small businesses need to collect website usage data and analyze it to measure different customer metrics. This is important since if you cannot measure it, then you cannot improve it. Small businesses need these metrics to improve their performance and meet their customers’ expectations.
Instead of building these functionalities, small businesses can paste a piece of code on the pages whose user data they want to collect. This is made possible through the use of APIs such as the Google Analytics API.
Through this API, they can collect data related to the behavior of their websites’ visitors and demographics. Small businesses can also use the Segments API to collect user data. This API collects every single event that takes place on your website for analysis.
Analyzing this data is important in supercharging your website and helping you improve your services, sales and marketing capabilities, and products.
eCommerce and Online Payments
Most small businesses lack enough capital to invest in the manufacturing, storing, and distribution of their products. This makes eCommerce the most viable business model they can invest in. However, they do not have to worry about building a complete eCommerce store from scratch.
Instead, they can integrate an API into their existing website to get all the functionalities of an online store. For instance, Shopify comes with several APIs that allow small businesses to extend the features of their online stores.
With these APIs, businesses can interoperate with different platforms and systems, read and write data, and include different functionalities in their online stores. An online store needs to have an online payment system for it to be complete.
Again, you do not have to build one because of what APIs offer. Using APIs such as the ones provided by Stripe, small businesses can handle complex tasks such as invoicing, customer details, and all transactions that take place on their websites.
Lead Generation
Small businesses need to find ways of generating leads from all the platforms that they use, including their websites. Developing a website is vital in ensuring that a business has a strong online presence.
However, businesses need to follow the right lead generation tips and ensure that potential customers are tapped from their websites.
But how do they do that? They do not have to build new functionalities for lead generation. They can simply implement APIs such as the Mailchimp Marketing API that allows them to power relevant and timely marketing campaigns with data pulled directly from their websites.
In addition, they can integrate their websites with the SharpSpring API. This API allows businesses to implement several features, among them sales management, customer service, and lead generation.
It also allows them to connect their websites with CRM functionalities. This way, they can collect customer data for their CRM and deploy different measures to enhance lead generation.
Weather Forecast
Some businesses’ operations are dictated by the type of weather in a particular region. For instance, a small transportation company might have its operations affected by weather conditions.
However, building a transportation website might not be a challenge, but adding a weather forecast functionality might be. Instead of doing this, small businesses can integrate a weather forecast API such as the Tomorrow’s Weather API.
This API informs your website visitors about the latest weather forecast. By simply adding an icon to your website, your visitors can determine whether it will be cloudy, rainy, or sunny. This will help them determine the right time for them to work with your business.
Live Chat
Depending on the kind of business and operations of a small business, a live chat might be necessary to engage with customers. Adding this functionality might take a lot of time and resources, something that small businesses do not have.
Fortunately, there are multiple live chat APIs that businesses can integrate into their websites to supercharge them and engage with their customers easily. For instance, Facebook provides multiple APIs, among them a live chat API that integrates the Facebook Messenger interface into websites.
This API comes with a host of functionalities, among them the ability to automate responses. This means that even when all business representatives are busy, your customers can still engage with your website.
Small businesses can also use the Intercom API for the communication needs of their websites. Apart from providing everything when it comes to live chatting, it also offers features such as customer data collection and management. These APIs are vital when it comes to supercharging small business websites.
Conclusion
Small businesses need to ensure that their websites have all the features they need for their operations. These features should also address the requirements of their customers. Instead of building these functionalities, they can integrate APIs to supercharge the websites.
