In today’s digital era, a website can make or break your small business. Around 97% of customers search for a product or service online before they go out to purchase it physically. And if you can tempt the customer to buy the same product or service from your website, what else do you need?
However, in order to create a small business website that can sell, you’ll need to make sure the website is power-packed with all the necessary features and elements, just like a well-reputed, professional website.
To help you, we’ve listed 21 essential features and elements that your small business website needs to look like a pro.
Recognizable Domain Name
The very first element your business website needs is a strong domain name. Think of it – do you remember any website name from the soccer industry? Yes, Fifa.com comes right away to your mind. This is because of their strong domain name which is very difficult to forget.
Having an easy-to-spell and strong domain name not only ensures high traffic to your website but leaves a long-lasting impression on your visitors as well, contributing to your overall marketing efforts.
A Comprehensive Tagline
A tagline represents your business in just a few words. It is a very powerful marketing tool as visitors, who do not have time to go through your ‘about us’ section, can simply get an idea of your products and services from your tagline itself. Keeping a crisp and concise tagline can leave a significant impression on your visitors.
A Tempting call-to-actions (CTA)
A call-to-action (CTA) is a word or phrase used in a website to make the readers take a specific action that benefits your business. For instance, suppose a visitor lands on your home page and is attracted to your offers. What now? Where should he go? How should he buy that product or service from you?
With a CTA, you can guide this visitor to take appropriate actions that will fulfill their requirements, profiting your business ultimately.
Having a clear and appealing CTA on your website is a must-have feature your SMB business website needs.
Your Business Contact Number
If you are a small business, especially targeting local customers, adding your business contact number to your website can be a great idea. It will allow the customers to reach out to you with inquiries, offers, and even sales. At the same time, adding your contact number to your website directly boosts your credibility. And who doesn’t want to do business with credible people, right?
An Active Email Address
Another key business website essential is an active email address. Adding an option for your visitors to contact you via email is a great marketing strategy and increases your sales chances. However, avoid using free email addresses for your business. Get a dedicated business email domain to look and sound more professional.
Email Newsletter
A lot of people say that email marketing is dead. Well, we don’t think so, and nor do stats. According to a report by Hubspot, 40% of B2B marketers see email marketing as the key to their content marketing success. Moreover, 99% of customers check their email every single day to receive updates from brands and companies.
If you also want to maintain constant interaction with your customers and increase your retention rate, email marketing can be a really good way. Try adding it to your website and ask your visitors to sign up.
A contact Page
Embedding a contact page to your SMB business website helps your customers reach out to you more easily. This boosts your customer engagement as well as credibility if done right.
Social Media Channel Links
In today’s era, people don’t just make purchases from your website as soon as they hop onto it. They like to understand your business more clearly. To help them, you can embed your social media channel links to your website, spreading brand awareness.
A Brief ‘About Us’ Page
Small businesses often overlook the importance of the ‘about us’ page on their business website. However, this is often the second most visited page on a website. Make sure to use this page creatively by sharing your business journey with your readers. The more relatable they feel, the higher your chances of sales are. It is a key feature your small business website needs.
Service Pages
If your business offers multiple services to your customers, creating dedicated service pages can be a great idea. For instance, Rollout Technologies offers services like website development, managed IT services, cloud backup services, and security camera installations. We have dedicated service pages for each of these services that help our customers interact with us with more clarity, making the consultation call seamless.
Testimonials and Reviews
Displaying past projects and client reviews on your website is something every business website needs. Testimonials and client reviews show your credibility as a business before the audience. This will attract more customers, helping your business grow sustainably.
You can embed testimonials and reviews in your landing pages, service pages, and the ‘about page’ as well.
High-quality Web Content
While doing online business, how you present yourself and your product/services directly impacts your sales. Without well-written, clear, and targeted web content, growing in the online market is very difficult.
Create high-quality and clear web content for your business website that talks about how your product and services can help the readers with their problems. Hiring a web content writer can also be a very good idea to do this.
Informative Blog Posts
Along with high-quality web content, creating engaging and informative blog posts (like this one) is another business website requirement you must fill in. Regularly posting crisp and interesting blog posts helps your readers constantly engage with your business and stay updated. High-quality blogs that align with search engine ranking algorithms can also help your business website rank higher in the SERPs, increasing your sales chances.
High-quality Visuals
Inserting appealing and relatable visuals into your website is another key feature your business website needs. While well-written content works as the base of your website, visuals are the cherry on top that attracts the readers. They also help you share complex information in a short and crisp way.
You can use these visuals to enhance the readability of your website:
- Infographics
- Images
- Charts
- Videos (people prefer short ones)
- Memes (current industry trend)
On-site Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO plays a very crucial role in determining your business website’s future and rankings in the SERPs. Using high-quality phrases, targeted keywords, and external and internal links to your content can help you rank higher and drive more traffic to your site. If you’re a local business, like a pet care clinic, you can use local SEO features to boost your site’s rankings.
Effective Content Management
Having a robust content management system (CMS) is another crucial feature that your SMB business website needs desperately. It can help you update your website content and blog information regularly, ensuring your readers stay ahead in the game. This not only saves you a lot of time but places you as a business leader as well.
Our expert website developers make sure your business has an efficient CMS. Wanna give us a try?
Mobile Compatibility
Your SMB business website needs to be compatible with mobile devices if you want to grow. More than 60% of website traffic comes from mobile devices. So, if you want to leverage the numbers, creating a website that works flawlessly with mobile devices is an industry norm.
A search Bar
You may not realize the importance of that ‘little’ search bar until you come across a website that has dozens of service pages. Having a search bar in your website allows your customers to look for what they want, enhancing customer experience.
Website Cookies Policy
Cookies are a valuable and legitimate way to collect data from your website visitors. Having a website cookie policy allows you to gather valuable customer data and use it for your marketing purposes.
A Robust Feedback / Tracking System
It is a small yet very crucial small business website feature you need to focus on. By having a robust system that helps you receive and track customer feedback, you can find your mistakes much more easily and improve them, growing much faster than usual.
This also includes website visitor tracking tools like Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity. It helps you make meaningful decisions from data collected and improve your website.
Customer Incentives / Discounts
Last but not least, offering discounts and customer incentives on your website can be an amazing way to attract more visitors and retain your customers. Offers and discounts tempt your customers to make a purchase. You just need to be smart.
Conclusion
The aforementioned 21 features might not be all that your business website needs in order to be top of the game. However, implementing these 21 features in your website means your SMB business website is ready for the market.
FAQs
Yes, indeed. A website plays a very crucial role in the growth of a small business as it extends customer reach, spreads brand awareness, and helps build a strong online presence.
A business website should focus on making online shopping or information gathering smooth and easy for visitors. To achieve that, it should at least have the 21 features aforementioned in the article.
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