14 Ways Tech Startups can Optimize Their Website to Attract Investors

Whether you dream of being a startup founder or already one, you will need funding for your business. Thus, you will need to find ways to catch the attention of potential investors.

Some examples include joining an incubator, joining a startup competition, and scheduling a pitch straight to a VC.

Here’s the thing: Investors do these events because they are always looking for the next great startup idea. That said, it is likely that they are scouring the World Wide Web for startups worth investing in. The question is, will your website be included in the search result?

If you are doubtful about it, now is the right time to optimize your startup website. Here are 14 web optimization tips that can help you get started:

1. Add an investment opportunity page

It’s essential to add a page on your site that explains your company’s need for funding, especially if you’re a new business or startup.

According to Michelle Dipp, a female leader in venture capital funding, you should state why people need your product or service. From there, explain how you will use these investment funds to accomplish your goals. 

You can also show your investors why your company deserves financial backing. Note that some investors will be turned off at the idea of asking them explicitly for help. Therefore, the language that you use should play a key role. Show your investors why their support will benefit your company and their investment portfolio.

2. Give it an impressive design

Creating an attractive design for your site isn’t easy. You might want to consider hiring a freelance web designer who has experience designing startup websites. That way, your designer has an insight into what you want to achieve through your website.

Whether you want something sleek and minimalist or youthful and vibrant, the look of your site can make or break your next round of funding.

An attractive web page makes a massive difference in the success of your business. A high-quality design will show potential investors that your company is credible. So, it would be best to be careful in your design as it primarily affects how your company is perceived online. 

So, focus on building a great page. Ideally, it should be respectable enough to attract potential investors. It should also be well-designed, clutter-free, and as direct as possible.

You can focus on producing quality content, stating why your business needs investment and how investors can benefit from it. However, you should not get used to reinventing the wheel.

You might have spent a lot of your time adding the slickest designs and other bells and whistles to your site. But before that, make sure that you look at your competitors’ sites first and compare, then look for ways to improve your site. That way, you’re off to a promising start. 

3. Be keyword-friendly

Remember that your site is specifically made for people and not robots. Fortunately, these days, it’s easy to satisfy that. The key is to use the language that potential investors will use when searching for information related to your industry. 

If you don’t specifically know who you’re going to target, take a look at the analytics suite of your site. There you’ll see search terms that users use on your site. If you can, you might also want to look up other keyword ideas on Google’s Keyword Planner.

4. Create quality content

Now that you have a high-quality design with highly engaging pages, the next that you need to do is to place some optimized content. As they say, “content is king,” and this is particularly true if you’re planning to increase your funding. 

Although creating quality content might be challenging, the reward when receiving content is well worth it. Hence, develop quality content that’s useful for your target audience, as this will help perform target market research. 

This will allow you to understand better who’s visiting your site and who your prospective customers are. By establishing your startup as a thought leader in your industry, you can attract the right investors.

As a result, this can help you catch the attention of your investors.

5. Make it is mobile-friendly

Investors are more likely to use their desktops when looking for investment opportunities. Nonetheless, this should not stop you from building a mobile-friendly startup website. That’s because you will never know when an investor will discover your startup through a social media post.

Again, so much internet browsing occurs on mobile devices these days. Like many of us, investors are busy people and consume information while they’re on the go. So, if they can only see about 50% of your site on their small screens, they’ll likely tap away. 

Meaning, to attract investors, you need to have a site that’s accessible and works on cross-platform from smartphones to desktops. To know how your site shows up on various devices, you need to ensure that you pass Google’s mobile test.

6. Include your value proposition

Investors need to know why they should give you money. Meaning, what can your startup bring in your niche that makes it unique and different? This can be one of the critical aspects of your pitch.

Don’t let them dig on your site to find it. Place your value proposition on your homepage. Try to think of at least 1-2 sentences without having a person scroll through it.

Make sure that you develop a clear heading, subheading, or headline and call to action that will make users want to click. 

You can discuss your value proposition in detail on your “About” page. What’s important is that investors can navigate to the page with ease. Your elevator pitch will be condensed down and presented in an ideal placement. 

7. Step up your design layout and messaging

Colors can affect how people perceive your startup. It can also impact how you structure your content, affecting readability.

So, if you have a couple of colors in mind but you have no idea how to put these together, you can use Adobe’s color wheel to see how these colors work well together. 

You should treat every page on your site as a landing page. This includes using a similar color scheme, typography, and imagery.

Your site’s aesthetics should also be conveying a particular emotion or idea that enforces your page’s content. Your graphics should be consistent with your photos and other elements on your site. 

The same thing goes for the tone and voice of your content.

Don’t forget to take into account the user flow as well. An aesthetically looking site won’t do any good if your customers aren’t used to finding one area and it isn’t available. The standards include putting logos on the top right, horizontal navigation on the top, or vertical on the left side. 

Place the search box on the top-right corner of the website, while your contact information should be visible on the footer. That way, these design elements will appear on every page of your startup website.

8. Add social proof

Your site needs to show investors that you’re already getting market traction. There are several ways you can achieve this: 

• Your logo should be prominent 
• Highlight partnerships with top companies
• Include case studies that will show your product or service’s success in action
• Reference press coverage with notable news outlets
• Display your user base, market share, and revenue statistics

9. Make your content specific

Prospective investors want to know what your company does, the key players, and other specific contact details. 

That’s why you need to clearly define your company’s mission, your future outlook, as well as a growth map. Investors don’t have the time to stick around long enough to know what your company is all about. 

10. Feature client testimonials

Investors want to know and even learn from customers who have first-hand experience with your products and services. Usually, these customers bring a unique perspective to your company. These perspectives cannot be gained just by meeting with you or reading your company’s website and marketing materials. 

Investors want to know what kind of value your business brings to them. They also want to see the process your customers often go through before they decide to purchase your products or services. This includes user experience and a unique selling proposition. 

So, make sure that you feature customer reviews and preferences on your site. 

11. Fix your marketing strategy

There is no one perfect marketing strategy. A tactic that works on one startup may not necessarily work for you. More so if you are in a different niche.

What you have might be outdated, and one of your main goals is to boost site traffic. We all know how crucial a good marketing strategy is to the success of your startup. This includes attracting potential investors. 

To set your startup apart from your competitors, you can consider experimenting with different marketing strategies. See what type of marketing tools and resources you can use to optimize your site while winning over the trust of potential investors. 

It would help if you also marketed to the right target audience. It means that your site should be circulated to a circle of investors known to invest in fledgling companies. You might also want to seek help from firms that will assist you in attracting investors for your tech business. 

12. Embed informative videos

Startups are often deemed as impersonal businesses. It is so tech-driven that only those who are technology savvy can understand it. This is where informative videos can come in handy. 

Investors would want to see the people behind the startup. They wanted to list ideas and plans, and if done well, you can leave a positive impression. However, make sure that you avoid auto-playing the video.

Moreover, it would help to include a 30-second elevator speech. Make sure that you make this easy as possible for clients and prospective investors to discover, as well as delighted in what you do. 

13. Feature your team

Investors are interested in both the CEO and the management team. They need to feel confident that they’re putting their trust in a team that can lead the company to growth, making a return on their investment. 

Investors want to know the people working behind a startup. They also want to gauge whether the business has strong leadership. Hence, it would be ideal to feature your management team.

Better yet, allow them to publish content on your blog. It can also help to feature their appearances and citations on other media.

14. Link your profiles

While information can be excellent, you want prospective investors to contact you. That’s why you need to look for easy ways for them to do that. You can put your phone numbers, email addresses, and links to contact forms on every web page. 

Ensure that you include the link to our profiles from CrunchBase, AngelList, and LinkedIn. Also, ensure that your contact information stays up to date. You can also have a specific email that potential investors can use to contact you directly.

If you’ve moved the location of your business just recently, then your site should contain the new address and the correct map. See that the search engines will be displaying this most recent information. 

Over to You

Looking for investors can be tricky. For one, you need to build awareness around your startup. Second, you want to make your business look attractive to potential investors.

However, do not let these challenges prevent you from raising funds for your startup. Otherwise, it will be challenging to turn your startup idea into fruition.

You can start by optimizing your startup website. That’s because your goal is to grab the attention of your prospective investors. More than that, though, you need to convince them to invest in your startup.

It would help if you remembered that digital marketing is as ever-changing as the startup industry. Hence, you should also keep abreast of the latest digital marketing tactics. More so if this has something to do with how investors find startups that are worth investing in.