Here are the essential elements that should be included on every small business website and why they are important.
Clear and Concise Messaging
A clear and concise message on your website is essential because it helps visitors understand what your business does and how it can help them. It is important to use language that your target audience understands and to ensure your message is consistent throughout your website. We encourage you to use any form of media that helps deliver your message in a clear and simple way (written word, pictures, videos, audio) and is accessible for all visitors.
Engaging Headlines
Engaging headlines are not only important for capturing visitors' attention, but they also help organize the messaging on your website. By breaking up your content into sections with clear and engaging headlines, you make it easier for visitors to understand your message and navigate your website. Well-crafted headlines can also help visitors quickly identify the most important information on your website, making it more likely that they will stay on your site and engage with your content.
High-Quality Visuals
High-quality visuals, such as images and videos, are essential for making your website visually appealing and engaging. However, they also present an opportunity to convey authenticity, which is important for building trust with your audience. By using original, high-quality images and videos that showcase your products, services, and team, you can convey the unique personality and authenticity of your business. This can help set you apart from your competitors and build stronger connections with potential customers. Additionally, relevant and authentic visuals can help visitors better understand your products or services, leading to increased engagement and conversion rates.
Easy to use Navigation
Easy-to-use navigation is crucial for ensuring that visitors can find the information they need on your website quickly and easily. When visitors have a difficult time finding what they're looking for, they're likely to leave your website and look elsewhere because people naturally avoid sites and apps that aren't simple to us. Getting this right can have a significant impact on your business. By providing intuitive and easy-to-use navigation on your website, you can create a positive user experience that encourages visitors to stay on your site longer and consider your offerings. This can ultimately lead to higher conversion rates and increased sales for your business. Additionally, easy-to-use navigation can help establish your business as professional and credible, which can lead to more referrals and repeat customers.
Contact Information
Clear and visible contact information, including your phone number, email address, and physical address, is important because it makes it easy for visitors to contact you and ask any questions they may have. This also builds trust and credibility with potential customers because it creates the perception that your business is legitimate and funcitonal.
Testimonials and Reviews
Testimonials and reviews from satisfied customers are important because they build credibility and trust with potential customers. They can also help visitors understand the benefits of your product or service. It's best to use testimonials that are believable and come across as authentic to a reader.
Call to Action
Including a clear and compelling call-to-action (CTA) is essential for guiding visitors towards the actions you want them to take on your website, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or contacting your business. A well-designed CTA will generate more leads because it is designed to be relevant to solving your customers problem, it is placed in a location that makes sense in context of the websites messaging, and it uses action-oriented language that encourages your visitors to take the next step. Be sure to invest in testing and optimizing your CTA so you can identify which language and placement works best for your audience, leading to even higher conversion rates and increased revenue.
Mobile Optimized Design
Ensuring your website's design is optimized for mobile devices is important because most people are using their smartphones to browse the internet. If your website is not mobile-friendly, you risk losing potential customers who are using their smartphones to search for products or services because they simple don't want to deal with the frustration of using your website to achieve their goal.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). It's important because higher rankings lead to increased visibility and traffic to your website. Here are three concrete tasks you can do to make your SEO better:
Conduct keyword research
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to research keywords that are relevant to your business and have high search volume. Incorporate these keywords into your website's content, including headlines, page titles, and meta descriptions, to increase the chances of ranking higher in SERPs
Optimize your website's structure
Ensure that your website's structure is easy for both visitors and search engine crawlers to navigate. Use header tags to structure your content, include descriptive URLs, and create a sitemap to help search engines crawl your website.
Build high-quality backlinks
Backlinks from reputable websites can signal to search engines that your website is authoritative and relevant. Seek out opportunities to earn backlinks, such as guest posting on other websites or getting listed in online directories relevant to your industry. Avoid purchasing backlinks, as this can result in penalties from search engines.
ADA Accessibility
Your website should be designed to accommodate users with visual or hearing impairments, such as by providing alt text for images or closed captions for videos. Ensuring your website is ADA compliant not only helps you reach a wider audience, but it also avoids legal issues and potential fines.