In today’s digital age, having a website for your business is essential for success. However, simply having just any website is not enough. To stand out from the competition and effectively reach your target audience, your website must have certain key features to keep up with the times and stand out. In this post, we will explore the top features every small business website needs to be successful online.
A Clear and Concise Message
The purpose of your website is to meet your business goals. Your website should communicate who you are, what you do, and why you do it in a way that is easy to understand for your target audience of potential customers. If you’re interested in getting clients for your roofing business, it wouldn’t make sense to talk about macrame, so keeping your website simple and straightforward is a best practice.
Focus on the benefits of your products or services rather than just the features. What value are you giving to your potential customers? What separates you from the competition?
Your message should address the pain points of your target audience, and demonstrate how your products or services can solve their problems.
Remember, your website is often the first impression that potential customers have of your entire business, so make sure what you what you’re saying is clear.
Responsive Design
Responsive design means that your website automatically accounts for a variety of layouts for the different devices that will access it. Traditionally, this means being able to display both desktop and mobile phone layouts. The majority of search traffic today is mobile, so being able to accommodate mobile users is essential to ensuring a high quality user experience (PageHoot designs mobile first).
In addition to improving the user experience, having a responsive design can also improve your search engine rankings. Google has stated that responsive design is their recommended configuration for mobile-friendly websites generating more traffic.
High-Quality Content
Beyond having a straightforward message that showcases your products and services, the other content you create will need to be informative, engaging, and relevant to your target audience.
When creating content for your website, it’s important to focus on quality over quantity. Your content should be well-written, free of errors, and include visuals such as images or videos to break up the text and make it more engaging.
Google considers content high quality when it is original, relevant, useful to searchers, easy-to-understand, and on a high-quality website with a high reputation. Google rewards good content with higher rankings in search results.
A Clear Call to Action
A call to action is a button or link that encourages your visitors to take a specific action, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or contacting you for more information. Think, “schedule a consultation today!”
Your call to action should be prominently displayed on your homepage and throughout your website. It should be clear and concise, and should use action-oriented language to encourage your visitors to take action.
Remember, the goal of your website is to convert visitors into customers. A clear call to action can help you achieve that goal.
Secure Hosting
Secure hosting is another essential feature for the success of your website. Your website should be hosted on a secure server to protect your visitors’ personal information and prevent hacking (PageHoot’s security is monitored continuously).
When choosing a hosting provider, make sure they offer secure hosting with SSL encryption. SSL encryption ensures that any data exchanged between your website and your visitors is encrypted and secure, and that you can obtain a security certificate for financial transactions.
Secure hosting also builds trust with customers and visitors. This is because customers are more likely to do business with a website that they know is secure. By using secure hosting, a small business can show its customers that it is committed to protecting their privacy and security.
Social Media Integration
Part of building a brand is making sure that your customers can find you outside of your website where you’re sharing more regular updates. A small business website should be integrated with your social media profiles to help you reach a wider audience and build a following.
Make sure to prominently display your social media icons on your website, and include social sharing buttons on your blog posts and other content. This makes it easy for your visitors to share your content with their followers, which can help you reach a wider audience.
Sharing your social media links builds your brand’s story, drives traffic to your accounts and your website, helps to generate sales, and builds brand awareness and validity.
Remember, social media is a powerful marketing tool, and integrating it with your website can help you build your brand and grow your business.
Analytics and Tracking
Analytics and tracking is another important feature that every website needs to be successful online. Your website should be set up with analytics software, such as Google Analytics, to track your visitors’ behavior and measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts (PageHoot does this for all our customers).
Analytics software can provide valuable insights into your visitors’ demographics, behavior, and preferences, allowing you to make data-driven decisions about your website and marketing strategy. These tools allow you to track what sales approaches are working and where your losing customers as well as allowing you to optimize your content for search engines.
Tracking your website’s performance is essential for improving its effectiveness and growing your business.
Customer Testimonials
Customer testimonals and reviews are a great way to build trust and credibility with potential customers. When potential customers see that other people have had a positive experience with your business, they are more likely to trust you and do business with you. Most people would skip a one-star reviewed restaurant as well.
Make sure to prominently display your testimonials on your homepage and throughout your website. You can also include case studies or more detailed examples of how your products or services have helped your customers.
Finally, customer testimonials can help you to improve your business. When you read customer testimonials, you can learn what your customers like and dislike about your products or services. This information can be used to improve your products or services and make them more appealing to potential customers.
Conclusion
Having a website for your small business is essential for success in today’s digital age. However, to effectively reach your target audience, your website must have certain key features. These include a clear and concise message, responsive design, high-quality content, a clear call to action, secure hosting, social media integration, analytics and tracking, and customer testimonials.
Each of these features plays a crucial role in creating a website that attracts and converts visitors into customers. By incorporating these features, small businesses can build trust, grow their brand, and increase their online presence.