How many times have you come across a website that has a home page video that takes forever to load or Flash content that doesn’t even show up on your mobile device? Can’t begin to count how often I abandon a search because I couldn’t find the information I was looking for straight away. A website is the virtual face of a business and it never ceases to amaze me how many business owners completely neglect this element. Would you go to a potential client meeting without taking extra care about your appearance? So why don’t you spruce up your website?
5 ‘Must Haves’ for your Small Business Website
These essential elements will help to make sure your website is successful and gets you to where you want to be!
Less is More in Website Design
The goal today is to create a clean and professional website that is visually appealing AND helps the visitor find what they are looking for without getting over whelmed. Try to keep everything simplistic, or even minimal with only your most crucial content highlighted. Sometimes less really is more.
Put yourself in the shoes of who’s coming to your site! What are they looking for? What is the ultimate goal of your potential customer? Confusing navigation layouts will result in people quitting a page rather than trying to figure it out. Sprinkle your website with action items which will help your customer easily do what you want them to do.
Call to Action
Every website should have a call to action!
The call to action is a way to give the visitor a clear route to achieving their objective. When developing call to action buttons, consider what you want the visitor to do: what your primary aim is, and how this fits in with their objectives. Is it to complete a sale? Or do you want them to call you or subscribe to your newsletter? In which case you need to have your phone number and contact form easily visible to them.
Whatever it is, you will probably want to drive a sale in some way. Why don’t you let us help you come up with some innovative ideas to drive your business
Thou shall not neglect thy Blog
It would be nice if you could just take the time to build your website and wait for the traffic and sales to come your way. But sadly it does not happen that way anymore. Ask me…I know it from personal experience. Regular fresh content is what helps to rank your website and pull in the traffic. A blog gives your website and your business credibility and tells visitors that you know what you’re talking about.
Get Friendly
Your website is not your own private island! You want it create a buzz and get visitors swarming to your website. Social Media is a great way to share information with your target customers and enable them to promote your business for you. The success of small business is built on relationships, and social media is the ultimate relationship-building tool.
Get Responsive
What good is a professional-looking website if it doesn’t look great on mobile devices? Andy Chu, of Bing Mobile says 70% of task completion happens within one hour on mobile sites, and on PC’s it takes a month. Implication is that people are often browsing on the web with intent to buy — they’re looking to do something, buy something or go somewhere. Want to see how else a responsive website can help your small business, check out this blog post.
Are you a small business owner looking to have a website designed and built? We at 77th Floor Online can help you figure out what needs to be on your website for you to reach your goals. We then can help you design and build your vision. Contact us today and we talk about it over coffee!!