10 Things Your Business Website Should Have
In this article, I will discuss several elements that business owners should implement on their websites in order to provide its users optimal experience, increase the website’s trustworthiness, and allow search engines to see the website in the same way your customers do.
The three most important aspects of a website are:
- Design
- Usability
- Content
These three things are very general, so we need to explore them in more detail.
Design That Gets Your Message Across
Design is the heart of the user experience and users' first impression of a website is created by its visual design. If your website is poorly designed, then all your other efforts could be wasted.
Web users are unforgiving. If they’re not impressed by your website in the first couple of seconds, there is a high chance you will lose them no matter how great your usability and content. If you are not a designer, hire a good one. There are many designers in the world, but fewer that are good. This is perhaps the most important part of your website, so don’t abandon it.
Content That Reinforces Your Brand and Business
If your design makes a positive first impression on your users, it is time for content to engage the user even further. Make sure your content reinforces who you are, what you do, and the services or products you sell.
Content should be appropriate for your audience and you shouldn’t over-complicate things. Most people don’t have time to read a lot so you should get your message across as quickly as possible. Make it short and sweet.
Oh and one more thing you haven’t heard before: content is king.
Social Media Links
We’ve heard about social media for a while now and it’s even more important today. Everything we do is social in one way or another, so if you’re not utilizing social media yet, it is time to jump on the bandwagon.
Create Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and LinkedIn pages for your company and add them to your website so that they’re easily accessible, but not overpowering. This allows your happy customers to like your pages and leave positive testimonials that can drive more targeted traffic in the future.
Call to Action
I have seen many websites that are losing customers by making the call to action hard to find or simply non-existent. If you’re selling a product or service, show us! Don’t force your users to look for your call to action button for 5 minutes because it’s not going to happen.
Your call to action should be on the homepage, above the fold, as the primary focal point.
Mobile Support
Web users are very mobile today and we need to ensure that our websites are accessible to them. Your website should be easy to find, browse, and scroll while viewed from a mobile device.
There are several ways to accomplish this, but the more cost-efficient method is to make your website responsive. Responsive design involves CSS3 media queries in which the website elements expand, contract, and stack based on the screen size.
Blog
This seems like a no-brainer to everyone, but you’d be surprised how many businesses do not have a blog. Blogs are search engine friendly and provide an extra channel that generates additional visitors.
Blogs are a great way to increase your website’s popularity. If you’re an expert in your topic, then blog about it! Users and search engines will start seeing you as an authority and that will build a loyal audience that could later be converted into customers. Just make sure your blog is frequently updated with fresh content and the content posted is unique and helpful to your audience.
Newsletter Subscription
Many experts seem to think that email marketing is under-utilized. From my experience, email marketing can be very effective and it doesn’t require a lot of effort.
How do you get into email marketing? You need an email list of your prospective customers. The best way to create this list is to allow your users to manually sign up for your newsletter or a similar service. Keep in mind your users won’t sign up unless it’s valuable to them so your newsletter should provide helpful content just as your blog does.
If you’re running contests or giving out freebies, newsletter subscription is a wonderful way to get started.
Logical Website Structure and SEO-friendly URLs
Ten years ago your website structure was not very important, but today it could be crucial to your success. Website owners have many options when it comes to creating logical website structure that is user- and SEO-friendly.
The best way to start your website is to use a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress. WordPress supports permalinks that are very SEO-friendly and can always be easily modified. This provides a URL such as www.mywebsite.com/about-us instead of www.mywebsite.com/about_us.html or www.mywebsite.com/?id=231. These permalinks are easier to remember for your users and it minimizes the risk of search engines not understanding what your page is about.
Yoast has a great article that explains how to create a smart website structure for your website.
Accreditations, Certifications, Testimonials, and Seals
When a customer shops around and compares different businesses, it could come down to which business appears more trustworthy.
One way to show your prospective customers that you can be trusted is to add accreditations, certifications, testimonials, and seals to your website. Depending on your industry, there could be several ways you could get certified or accredited, which you can then post on your website.
Ask your happy customers to leave testimonials and don’t limit it just your website. Having positive testimonials on BBB, Yellow pages, Google Plus, and Yelp can add so much more trustworthiness to your business.
The follow is an example of all methods we utilize at AdFicient to earn trust from our clients:
- Client testimonials rotating on the homepage
- Google Plus, Yellow pages, and Yelp reviews
- Google AdWords Certified Partner seal
- TEDx GatewayArch Official Sponsor seal
Clear Contact Information
If you have everything mentioned in this article, then make sure you do not miss this step -- clear and easy to find contact information. Whether it’s filling out a form to get a price quote or contacting you to get answers to their questions, you need to provide a quick and easy way to do so.
Contact information can also increase your website’s trustworthiness and you should provide all ways your customers can contact you including phone number, email, web form, live chat (if applicable), and social media. This ensures your users can contact you with whichever method they feel most comfortable.
Conclusion
There you have it! 10 things your business website should have that will provide your users a positive and smooth experience.
Remember, the happier your users, the more likely they are to purchase your products or services.
