It’s no secret that in today's world, every business is going to need a website, but just having a website is not enough. Your website should drive sales, raise awareness, and build relationships with your visitors.
If your business website does not benefit your business, in terms of either drive sales or raise awareness, it’s time to rethink your website and rebuild. It seems big task, don’t worry we will make it easy, this blog post will help you think step by step before you start.
What is the purpose of your website?
First thing you should do is to ask yourself this question, “What is the purpose of my website?". This question may seem simple, but it requires a lot of thinking. You have to think about what your business needs.
Do you want your website to -
1. Attract people to your physical shop
2. Sale things online
3. Your website to be a source of information
4. Build relationships with your customers
5. or all of them?
Based on your answers, you will need to make a lot of design and content choices. Once your answers are ready, and a purpose of your website is clear, you can start building your site.
Here are 10 Most Essential Characteristics of a Good Business Website:
1. Clear Navigation: Easy navigation is a must-have for any website. Visitors should be able to easily find the information they are looking for. To do this, get into a visitor’s shoes and try to think about what information they would want and where they would look for it on your website. One again think the purpose of your website. Streamlined navigation and well classified web pages makes website navigation pleasant and increases the chances of converting prospect to business.
2. Simplicity: Only attractive design is not enough for any website. It is necessary for a good website to be clean, clear and with only information that is important and matter most to your website visitor. Make sure your site has relevant eye catching header that captures a user’s attention. But don't over do it. Too much is always distracting. Minimalistic approach is best, which we followed while building ShimBi Labs website.
3. Great Contents: The key to a good website is providing relevant content that your readers want. Contents of your website must clearly state, what you offer and what your visitors can expect. Other most important thing is regular updates, no buddy wants to visit frozen website! ShimBi CMS Budo is easy to use contenet management system to keep your site updated.
4. A Call to Action: Depending on purpose of your website call to action. For example, if you want your website to drive sales, encourage people to check out your products, services. Place prominent buttons, banners and links, which will guide them. Or if your goal is to build relationships with your customers? ask them to sign up for a free newsletter or become a member. Get a visitor’s attention to take action according to your purpose.
5. Credibility: Credibility is the key to doing business online. The internet can be a dangerous place full of scams. A visitor will not do business with you if they do not feel that they can trust your site. A good website instills trust from visitors. Make sure you give proper consideration to all such items that help identify that you are a legitimate resource. One way you can do so is by clearly stating your identity and contact information, including your business physical address, and location map.
6. Security: Selling something online? You must put some effort into securing your website with an SSL certificate. The SSL will encrypt all communications to and from your website. This will ensure all information input on your website such as a credit card number is secured. VeriSign, TrustE, Entrust and GeoTrust are good options to explore. ASK4Domain.com provides all types of SSL Certificates.
7 Secrets of a Good Website Design
7. Social Media Integration: Social Media is where people spend a lot of time. It s necessary for you to promote your business on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Foursquare. Integrating these platforms into your website will help boost your SEO, improve your business' footprint on the social web and build your following across social platforms. Keeping presence on social media platforms you'll keep your brand top-of-mind and keep users engaged. ShimBi CMS effortlessly integrate your site to Social Media Sites.
8. Mobile Ready: Mobility is becoming more and more essential. More and more people are using a mobile phones or tablets and other net enabled devices. So it is also important that your website is compatible and easy to access from such handheld devices. Make sure your website is compatible with mobile devices.
Quick note - ShimBi CMS powered websites are Mobile Ready!
9. FAQ Page: People have a lot of questions. As you receive feedback, hear concerns from customers via email or phone, gather all such information, make a list of most frequently asked questions and offer clear, concise answers. Upload this information as FAQ Page.
10. Good Hosting: Don't mess around with hosting. Not having a good hosting for business website can cost your business in many ways. A slow site is frustrating will turn off visitors. But beyond annoying your users and increasing your bounce rate, poor hosting can also affect your rank in search engines since many search engine algorithms detect webpage loading speed. ASk4Host provides affordable and reliable website hosting solution.
Let us know your feedback on this blog post and share your ideas, in the comment section bellow.