9 Essential Items for Your Business Website

There is no question that you must have a website set up for your business. With roughly 75 million people (in the US alone) shopping online, it is easy to understand why. If you do not have a website set up, then you are losing business. Yet, for some reason, over 40% of small business owners still did not have websites in 2014. Their excuses for not having a business website ranged from too costly and too complex to a lack of time to create one. However, the payout is worth it. Of the businesses that made over $2,500,000, 67% of them had websites. As you can see, you need a business website.

However, you cannot just create any old website for your company. At one time or another, we have all come across a terrible one. Whether they have a garish color scheme, several broken links, or navigation that is anything but user friendly, they are just bad. Consumers do not like these types of websites and are likely to leave or worse, go to a competitor’s page.

Because we do not want that to happen to you, we have created a list of the top 9 “website requirements” for successful websites. Follow these and your website will resonate much better with your customers.

1. Company Description

When potential customers stumble across your business website, you want them to know who you are and what you do. The longer they have to search for that information, the more likely they will bounce.

In addition to having a clear, succinct description, your contact information must be easy to find. Include phone numbers, locations, email information, and you could even link to your social media pages. You would not want to lose a customer simply because you made it difficult for them to contact you.

2. Simple Web Address

Ron Wright, founder of Accentix, said “Your domain name is like your brand. It should be easy for a user to type it into a Web browser or an e-mail address.” In other words, keep it simple and whenever possible, do not add hyphens and numbers to your URL. Not only will it cause your customers headaches, but can also cause SEO problems.

3.User Friendly Navigation

This is arguably the most important “website requirement.” Having a user friendly layout is absolutely critical for the success of your business website. You may have plenty of content but it will not do you any good if your customers cannot find it. This is especially important for your contact information. Most customers do not have the time or the patience to sift through every page to find that information.

4. Customer Testimonials

Ah the testimonial. You do not want to forget to add these to your website. John Zhuang, of Winning Interactive, said “They {customer testimonials} help your potential customers to build trust in you, especially if you are new, and they help to confirm whether the product or services meet their needs.” Displaying honest testimonials prominently on your website is a fantastic way to add credibility to your business.

5. Call-To-Action

Too many business websites do not have obvious calls-to-action and are losing business because of it. You have to ask your customers to do something instead of just expecting them to do it on their own. Some will, but most will not. Most calls-to-action are relatively simple such as “request a free quote”, “subscribe”, or even simply “get started.” The call-to-action you use for your website will be determined by what your company offers.

6. SEO

SEO is a big, complicated jumble of algorithms that determine where you rank on a search engine. However, just because it is complicated does not mean that you can not do anything about it. Become familiar with the basics of SEO so that your website will be seen by potential new customers. This is important because what is the point of creating a great website if no one will ever see it?

7. Content

Another critical “website requirement” is creating good, quality content. Because your website is often a first impression for many customers, you want to give them a reason to return. Creating a blog and posting often is one way to do that. When you write content, make sure that it will solve a problem for the customer. Answering their questions will make them much more likely to return. While content is generally thought of as written content, it also includes videos and images. Customers like to see those as well. In addition, written content, videos, and images are great ways to improve your SEO.

8. Secure Hosting

When you create a business website, you must do so on a secure platform. If you do not, you run the risk of your online information being hijacked. If you are hacked and your customers find out about it, chances are high that they will not trust you with their information in the future. Overall, being hacked could cost you customers, so make sure you are hosted on a secure platform.

9. User-Friendly Design

We’ve already talked about having a user friendly navigation layout set up, but the design of your site also needs to be user friendly. Because the content is the focus, you do not want your design to take away from that. Choose harmonious colors that do not scare customers away and break down your content by using short paragraphs and bullet points. Remember, simplicity is the best when designing a website.

If you already have a site set up, go through this list of “website requirements” and see how your business website is doing. If you are creating a new site, use this list as a place to start. When evaluating your website, experience it as if you were the customer. Keeping the customer in mind when going through this list will help you improve your site and resonate better with customers.