Essential Elements for Your Small Business Website
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our business website is your online storefront, and the first impression you offer visiting and prospective clients. Obviously, it’s of utmost importance that your site is one that invites clients to visit and one they enjoy returning to. Here are my essential elements to include in your small business website.
Functional and Easy to Use
Your website MUST be easy to navigate and use and, of course, needs to be fully functional. Your shopping carts need to work and be free of bugs, links need to work, and your contact forms must send messages to the right place. Additionally, if it’s unclear to clients how to navigate your site and get to where they need to go, they’ll hop onto another business’ site instead. If you need help setting up or maintaining your site, partner with an experienced virtual assistant.
[Tweet “If your website looks dated, visitors will question whether you care about your professional image.”]
Recently Updated
The “look” of websites has changed a lot over the past 5-10 years. If yours looks outdated, visitors will question whether you care about your professional image, whether your website is fully functional, and whether your business has enough time and money to maintain and update its website (and if they determine the answer is no, they’ll make a lot of other assumptions about the quality of your services and whether you are “behind the times”, too). Additionally, dated content and code will not help your website populate Google searches. If you’re unsure how to improve your site, check out the websites of competitors and bigger businesses in your industry. If you’re unsure whether they’re really drawing traffic or just hyped, type in the web address in question at Alexa.com.
Mobile Optimized
If you have ever used Google Analytics to monitor traffic to and within your site, or to create and track online ads, you’ve probably been astounded at the number of mobile visitors. Many companies have found that their number of mobile visitors far outweighs desktop users. For this reason alone, it is essential that your website be optimized for mobile devices. Most website builders like WordPress and GoDaddy’s site builder will automatically “create” a version of your site for iPhone, Android, and tablets, but it’s still important to check and make sure your site is readable and navigable on mobile devices by visiting it from multiple devices.
[Tweet “Many companies have found that their number of mobile visitors far outweighs desktop users.”]
Includes All the Necessary Pages and Information
In addition to the above, you must of course ensure that your website contains all of the content clients seek. This means keeping up with current trends and putting your best professional face forward. Here’s a list of must-have pages:
- Blog – If you’re not regularly writing for your business’ blog, it’s time!
- Social Media Buttons – These should ideally pop up at the top, bottom, or sidebar of each page to make it super easy for clients to connect with you via social networking sites.
- Compelling About Page – Your About page should be short and sweet but also engaging and relevant. Include or link to your mission and/or vision statement and offer insight into why what you and/or your company offers is a cut above the rest.
- Contact Information – At the bottom of each page, your local phone number and your email address should appear. This seems like a no-brainer but proves a big issue if clients have trouble figuring out how to contact you.
- Functioning Contact Page – A contact page makes it easy for clients to submit inquiries, feedback, and positive reviews—make sure you have one and make sure it works!
- Call to Action – Offer incentives for clients, ideally on each page, to subscribe to your newsletter, set up a free consultation, or download a report.
What other essential elements can you add to this list?
Getting a website audit can be a smart move for a small business owner.
This free workbook will bring you one step closer in the right direction! If there is any part of your site that isn’t offering an optimal experience to your audience, you need to know about it. And then, of course, you need to fix it. I provide both services!
If you’d like to find out how much a facelift your website needs, contact me for a free consultation! Can’t wait to make your website shine!
