In today’s digital world, having a good company website isn’t just an added bonus to your business- it’s is absolutely crucial to its success. This is true even if you’re a local business who doesn’t sell their products online, after all, people are still going to be searching for businesses like yours. Without a company website, you’re simply handing over customers to your competitors. When you have a website, you’re far more likely to be discovered by potentials customers, and it means that your information is accessible twenty four seven. You don’t need to be open and answering the phone or questions to give people the answers they need. Plus, research has shown time and time again that properly built websites generates more sales and better customer traffic, which of course will all help to make a your business a success. But what exactly is it that makes a great website?
Good Navigation
One of the most important things about any website is how easy it is to navigate. Your website should be full of important information, meaning not everything is going to fit on the first page. It needs to be organised onto different pages, with clear links to everything the customer needs. Nicely organised menu bars, sub menus that make sense, a website that flows well and has a visible search bar will all help with this.
Clear Contact Details
One of the most important pages on your site (the link should be clearly visible from the home page is your contact details. These will show that your company is legitimate, and show to potential customers that you’re easy to get hold of if they have a problem with their transaction. Links to social media accounts (which should be properly run) a telephone number, support email and your business address should all be present. If you’re a smaller company who runs their business from home, one thing you can do is pay for a ‘physical address’. This is essentially a mail forwarding address, on Google maps it will show a professional looking office block but in reality all of your mail is sent here then re-routed to you. A business phone number will also give a professional impression.
A Live Chat Feature
Customers love live chat because it’s quick, easy and convenient. Some people dislike talking on the phone, and just about all of us hate sitting on hold. Instead, having a feature where they can simply chat to an operator via messaging is a great additional option. You can employ people freelance to work this job, and get the best employees from all over the world.
An Easy Verification System
Lots of businesses will require documents from customers, maybe you hire equipment out or perhaps you sell financial products such as loans. Either way, you may well need customers to prove who they are. If so, using identity verification software can be useful and this can integrate right into your site. Other verification could include anonymous visitor identification. This software can help identify customers with just an IP address and allow you to target the right kind of marketing towards them.
A Blog
A company blog can benefit your website and business in general in lots of different ways. First it can help to drive more traffic to your website since every time you write a blog post, this means another indexed page on your site. This gives you more opportunity to show up in search engines, which is helpful as in general websites can be quite static. It can help you to gain you traffic to your website in organic search. Blog posts are also very share-friendly, and it can be a cheap and fast way to get your name out there to lots of potential customers. A blog shows you know your stuff too, and makes your business look more reliable and professional.
Fast to Load
According to research, almost half of all people will click off a website if it doesn’t load within a few seconds. In most cases, a slow or badly designed website is enough to put people off so badly that they’d never return. We live in an age of instant gratification, so your site needs to be fast, intuitive with easy to find information within the click of your fingers. If yours seems slow, speak to a professional who will be able to fix errors and know what to do to get everything running quickly and smoothly.
