It’s important that your small business website sends a clear message to your customer base with a description of the kind of business you are operating and the services you provided. If there is any ambiguity around your business model, customers may not return to your website. There should be also a visual representation of your business on the homepage banner as well as a “Contact Us” and “About Us” section on the main page and in the footer.
If you’d like a list of really important elements to include on your small business website visit: https://contentointeractivegroup.com/2020/12/29/5-essential-elements-your-ppc-site-needs/
Business Websites Should Use High Quality, Professional Images
Because your website reflects the nature and quality of your brand, it’s important to provide clear, high-quality compressed photos and graphics that are also able to load quickly. These images should represent the look and feel of your business.
Stock Photography or Professional Photo Shoot?
A professional photoshoot is always going to be the ideal option for your business. That may be too expensive for many small businesses, however. A great alternative is purchasing high-quality images from istock.com or royalty-free images on Pixabay.com. These are the perfect way to get your business website off the ground.
Compress & Optimize Images & Graphics
The Content Management System you’re using will determine what you need to do to optimize and compress your images and graphics. Managed CMS’s like SquareSpace, Wix or Shopify will automatically compress and optimize the images for you. If you’re using a self-hosted CMS, you’ll want to install an image optimizer like WP SMUSH. I also like to run all final images through the website TinyPNG before uploading to any website to ensure the smallest possible files and fastest load time.
Stay Consistent!
Your customers will want to keep coming back if they were enticed by something on your webpage. To maintain a professional image, when you make updates on your website, you should keep a consistent design or look while putting out fresh, new content at the same time. Customers will appreciate new photos, graphics, and information if they regularly visit your site.
Business Websites Need A Few Basic Pages to Start With
Try and use pages on your website that are the standard go-to for small businesses. List a homepage, an “about us” page with your team or personal bio, a mission or business information page, services or products pages, and a “contact us” page are all very important. You want customers to find information to their questions easily, without a lot of searching around. Try and have features where someone can have a quick question answered. This could be either through email, telephone, live chat, faq page, or a page with commonly asked questions.
Research Your Audience / Customer Base
Look into your business’s target audience and research what your customer is looking for. This could be the product or service itself, or the way they would prefer to navigate the website. It could be explaining the problem your services solve. Check out competitors and similar businesses websites and see what your page is missing or what you can offer that others cannot.
Simple Navigation
Make the site easy to navigate and include important functionality such as call-to-action buttons or forms. Perhaps you add buttons on your site with “Call Us,” “Buy Now,” “Request a Quote,” or “Speak to a Live Customer Service Agent.” This will easily allow your customers to make a purchase or gather the information they need quickly. Since mobile browsing has surpassed desktop website traffic, best sure all phone numbers have ‘tap to call’ functionality.
Put Vital Busines Information Up Front
Add information on each page so the user does not need to look around for any vital details. Your business phone number, address, and hours of operation as all essential. Always have a “Contact Us” button or make your cart available and easy to look through
Put your social media icons in an easily noticeable spot. Always double-check that your social media icons have the correct links because this will sometimes be the very first thing someone will be looking for. Rather than scrolling through your website photos, some users may prefer to check out the company’s Instagram page first before they return to make a purchase or use the services provided. If you are selling a product or service online, confirm that the social media links are easily found from the homepage and other pages listed. You wouldn’t want your product scrolled over by accident.
Consider Readability
Finally, make sure your site can be easily read by a wide demographic. Have clear fonts, with high contrast and working links going from page to page or for social media. Read and reread your content on different platforms to make sure its easy to understand on different devices and different browsers. The content should have a consistent message for your services and/or product. Continue to update, swap out old photos or graphics, and keep your customer excited for more information to come.
Need Help Building a Business Website?
As always, Contento Interactive Group if you have any questions about your business website. We are available to review, update or maintain your existing website. If you’re just starting out and need a new website, we can get your online quickly with a high-performing, professional business website. Contact us today!