A business website is often the first place a potential customer will look to find information about your company. A good business website can help customers answer the following questions: What do you sell? Where is your business? Is your business near me? Do you have what I want? Can your business provide what I need?
A good, well-planned business website can be one of the best marketing tools for your company. In addition, having an online presence can help build trust with your customer base. Customers are more likely to trust a business with a professional website. Customers see a business website as an endorsement of your business and can give your business a competitive advantage.
1. Create An Immediately Apparent Value Proposition
A business website should make it immediately apparent what the business is and who the business serves. If customers don't know the answer to either question, there is no reason for them to be on your website.
A business can overwhelm its website with superfluous information and decorations that detract from the business proposition and focus of the website.
2. Have Simple, Obvious, Labeled Page Structure
A good business website should be broken into obvious, logical pages that help answer the most common questions. A page structure can help answer the questions like what do you sell? how much do your products cost? where can I buy your products? can I buy your products online? A good page structure will increase the likelihood a customer will buy your product.
When a customer is looking to buy your product, each page should make the journey as simple as possible. Mobile page structures should be as simple as possible, due to the size constraints of a mobile website.
3. Prioritize Mobile-Friendly Design
Nearly everyone can access the Internet via a mobile device. Creating a site that is functional only on a traditional computer can alienate a potential customer base.
One approach to mobile functionality is to use a technique called responsive web design, where the layout of a site adapts to the device displaying it. In practice, this means that text must be readable, buttons large enough to be tapped, and graphics must adapt to the available space.
When site issues arise, it's best to identify and fix them before they impact the customer.
4. Improve Website Speed and Usability
Websites should be easy to use and allow the customer to quickly access the information they want to see. If a site's content or functionality is broken, this access can be challenging.
Site maintenance can be scheduled to remove broken links or unneeded site scripts and to update the site's content and functionality.
Ultimately, a site should be designed so that visitors can obtain the information they require, and perform the actions they need to do, with as little hassle as possible.
5. Organize Content Around Customer Needs
Websites should be developed to provide answers to the questions a potential customer would be most likely to need answered. Possible questions vary from business to business, and may include service or product details, prices, delivery methods, etc.
Creating descriptive headings, and providing concise information is helpful. Each main page should be developed to provide answers to a single question to best assist the visitor in their decision making process.
It is important to keep site content accurate and up to date, especially if site policy or contact information has changed.
6. Build a Website that Supports SEO
Search engine optimization helps businesses get found. Structuring a website helps visitors and search engines understand the content on each web page.
Some practices to enhance SEO include the use of descriptive titles, headings, and content, and use of links to connect related content.
Design and SEO should be in harmony. A visually appealing website is helpful if visitors can also find the right pages through searches.
7. Choose the Correct Approach to Website Design
The best website solution is informed by a business’s goals, available means, and technical considerations. A small service business may need a website to describe the services and provide a contact form. An online retail business may need a website to describe, display, and sell the products online.
Think through the features a business needs, and consider the website’s future needs, before deciding on a platform or approach to design.
To learn more about professional website design, see Pickzon's web design services. This may help business owners assess the types of website solutions for their business.
8. Keep Your Website Current
The work doesn’t end with a website launch. Check that information on the site is current and features still work as intended.
Businesses should review their contact information, service descriptions, and website links on a regular basis. They should also review their website’s usability and security. Reviewing website analytics helps businesses to see which areas of their site are most helpful to visitors, and provide insight on what areas may require additional help.
The business and the needs of the client change over time. Continuous improvement of a business website helps ensure the site remains relevant.
A business website that adequately reflects a business and incorporates clear design, simple navigation, mobile usability, useful content and performance helps visitors understand a business and find the information they require.
All small businesses should begin improving their most important pages. As the needs of the business changes, the website can gradually introduce additional features to help ensure the site continues to align with and support the business’ marketing and growth goals.
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