When was the last time you had a memorable experience visiting a business website? It’s instantly clear what they’re trying to convey, what their values are, how they operate – it’s like you were there. A business website is the most important aspect of marketing in today’s digital landscape, and you need one that can convert visitors into engaged customers and brand ambassadors.
If you want separate yourself from your competitors, you’ll want to consider incorporating the following qualities on your business website:
- Responsiveness
A responsive website is the key to creating a great user experience. It needs to function just as well across desktop, tablets and mobile devices. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see if your website is properly designed for mobile devices. to To learn more about nuances of responsive design and who you might want to look at working with if your site needs some improvement, check out this guide comparing the differences between web design vs. web development.
You should be mindful of the overall purpose of your business as you begin to build your website. If you run a law firm, you’ll want to guide potential clients to legal resources, case studies, and legal advice, whereas an e-commerce website would be focused on driving customers to purchase their products.
- A Great Domain Name
Your domain name is a defining aspect of your website and brand. You’ll want to be sure you choose a unique domain that’s relevant to your business. The competition for domain names is high, there’s a decent chance that some of the top domains relevant to your business or niche are taken. Be strategic, creative, and flexible, and consider these tips when choosing your domain name:
- Keep it short
- Avoid hyphens
- Aim for something unique and brandable
- Avoid double letters
- Incorporating keywords (naturally) is a bonus
- User Experience
The demand online users have for instant convenience is more prominent than ever, you don’t want to make your visitors work to get the information they need from your website. Optimizing your site’s navigation will allow visitors to easily use, understand and navigate your website. Follow these website navigation best practices to ensure happy, returning visitors:
- Streamline and declutter the primary navigation.
- Avoid crowded or cluttered design.
- Have a clear call to action on each page with the next steps you want your visitors to take.
- Web Performance and Page Speed
If your website takes longer than a few seconds, there’s a decent chance that your visitors will lose patience and browse elsewhere. A fast loading site can improve your bounce rate, conversion rate, and time on page. Performance is also an important ranking factor for Google’s algorithm. Here are a few ways to improve your site performance:
- Reduce image size
- Use a content delivery network (CDN)
- Choose a reputable website host
- Reduce the number of CSS and Javascript files where possible
- Leverage caching
- Minimize the number of HTTP requests
- Reduce the use of web fonts or consider using a system font
- Reduce server response time
- SEO Strategy
You need to have a solid SEO strategy to get to the top of the Google search result pages (SERPs), as about 75% of internet users don’t go past the first page. Use these tips to optimize your website for Google indexing:
- Do keyword research and leverage on-page SEO
- Utilize topic clustering with your content strategy
- Ensure your site structure is logical and easy to navigate
- Create shareable content
- Add engaging creative media (Videos, images, animation)
- Be mindful of image SEO (Alt tags, progressive format)
- Leverage internal linking
- Track your results
- Security
The security level of your business website is crucial, especially if you run an eCommerce site. Security is a major concern for most internet users these days, and you want to guarantee your visitors that their information is secure. You can add an SSL certificate to secure data transfers, credit card transactions, and accounts maintained by clients/customers. You should also consider reviewing server level security features provided by your web host.
- A Clear CTA
Most effective business websites have a clear call to action (CTA) that directs users to take a specific action. It can be used to build an email list, complete a purchase, follow your company on social media or sign up for a membership. A CTA should be clear, with noticeable and legible text. You may also want to consider using words that build trust, trigger enthusiasm and positive emotions. For example, offering a good return policy or using terminology like “Get Your Deal Now”, “Sign Up Before It’s Too Late” or offering a discount/coupon are commonly included in CTA jargon as they are easy to understand, encourage the customer to take action and create FOMO.
Conclusion
There are over 1.8 billion websites on the internet, and over 500,000 websites are created daily. For your site to attract meaningful traffic, you should do your best to make sure it’s been optimized to the fullest.