If you want to run a successful business, creating a well-designed and functional website should be one of the first things you do.
Through your website, your customers will know more about you and your products and services. They will be able to order it from there, or tell other people about what you are offering. A business website is definitely invaluable especially for those running a small business.
When creating your website, keep in mind these five most important aspects of a business website.
1. Represent Your Brand Effectively
When designing a website, the first thing you have to make sure of is that it is visually appealing. It’s what people expect to see nowadays, and if your site is not well-designed, don’t expect return visitors (hence, less sales).
One thing that makes a website attractive is a theme that goes well with your brand. It should not clash with your message; rather, it should fit well to give your customers a good browsing experience.
True, not every small business owner has the designing skills needed, but there’s no need to worry. There are plenty of online tools such as Adobe Color CC that can help you with designing your website.
Just make sure that you don’t fill the entire webpage with images and videos. It will make the site look cluttered and busy, aside from slowing down its loading speed. Having some white space in your web pages ensures a better browsing experience for your visitors as well as faster loading times.
2. Choose Your Call to Action Buttons
There must be a clear purpose behind your website, which, of course, will vary from brand to brand.
Your website could be trying to sell a product or a service, or maybe you are trying to get more subscribers for a future activity.
Whatever your goal may be, it will only be fulfilled if you strategically place the Call to Action buttons in your web pages. These CTA buttons should be very clear; for example, “Click Here To Learn More” is very vague and most people won’t click it. It should be something like “Buy Now” Or “Download Our App.”
The location of the CTA button is also very important. It should ideally be in the white space of your website. That way, people will be easily able to spot it. If it’s just a link in a paragraph, there is a high chance that people will overlook it.
3. Make Your Homepage Informative
Whenever anyone visits your website, he or she will land straight to the homepage unless they have clicked a specific link. This is why you should make sure that your homepage must have the answers to all the questions that can be potentially asked by a visitor.
Your homepage is the perfect place to tell people about your brand and your products. Don’t expect your visitor to navigate through the entire website to look for the information all by himself.
The information which should be there on your homepage depends on the nature of your business. However, here are some basic things which must be there:
- Information about you (the company)
- How to contact you
- What you are selling, and
- How they can buy (i.e., through Call-to-Action buttons).
Make sure that you don’t stuff the homepage with too much information, though. It should have a clean and uncluttered look.
4. Have a Contact Us Page
After going through your website, a user may have some questions about your products before making a decision to buy. For this reason, it is very important that you have a “Contact Us” option on your website, whether it’s email or social media.
You need to make sure that it is easily accessible, too. If you have a small “Contact Us” link at the bottom of your page, no one will be able to see it. It should ideally be in the white space of your website so that it can be easily spotted.
You can also have a separate “Contact Us” page so that it can be easily accessed. For best results, make sure you have your contact information on every page of your site.
5. Make Your Website Mobile-Optimized
In this era of tablets and smartphones, most people will access your website through their mobile gadgets. This is why it is very important to make sure that your website is responsive and loads quickly on such devices.
You can use various platforms like Bookmark.com to make a mobile-optimized website. As an AI-run website builder, it’s a quick and easy — not to mention very affordable — way to create a website.
Creating a website is no longer a very difficult task nowadays, given such website builders like Bookmark to help you out. You just have to keep these five important aspects of a business website in mind, and you’re good to go!