First impressions count. That is why it is vitally important to have a professional looking website especially as a small business. We live in an internet-based world. People want to see a strong, interactive and informative website that is easy to navigate. Web presence is a great way to grab attention in a constantly distracted world. Give your business a competitive advantage.
Website Features
Creating a professional website is important. You want customers to have a great experience on your site so that they want to make a purchase, come visit or decide to hire you. Clean design, easy-to-read fonts, easy to find contact information, top and footer navigation are basic must-haves, but there are several other features to consider.
- Domain name: This is the name of your website. You want it to be easy to remember and reflect your brand, product or service. Hard to spell or lengthy names should be avoided. You want customers to find your site with ease. Your business name followed by a dot com’ suffix is usually standard.
- Navigation: You want your visitors to have a positive experience, that is why having intuitive navigation design and placement is important. You want customers to engage with your site. Although footer and breadcrumb navigation should be included, your main navigation should be at the top of the page.
- Business information: Don’t make people hunt for information about your business. Crucial information should exist in the top half of the page. This includes information such as direct contact, location and info central to your business practice (menus, business hours, etc.).
- Content: Your content should be clear and concise. Don’t leave room for interpretation. Consider hiring a quality writer if your skills are lacking. Make sure all content is completely original and targeted at your specific audience.
- Mobile friendly: Almost everyone has a smartphone these days. That means your site should be mobile friendly. It can be frustrating to try to peruse a site on your phone or tablet that doesn’t have responsive design.
Benefits
The benefits of a small business website cannot be overstated. Websites speak to creditability. Consumers use the internet to locate and evaluate local shops and goods. Window shopping is done through a phone or computer screen. Branded and professional websites are a great way to inform, engage and convert visits into sales. Furthermore, they function as a great analytics tool. You can discover what pages are visited most often, demographics of visitors, time spent on each page and much more.
Web design is more affordable than it has ever been. With the importance of web presence being what it is, you can’t afford not to invest. Give your website that simplistic edge. Let the professionals take care of content placement, page design, branding and navigation. That way you can focus on more important things while customers come to you.
Don’t lose out on great opportunities for your small business. Just because you are small doesn’t mean your web presence has to be. Reap the benefits of a well-designed, easy to navigate site and watch your business rise to new heights.