10 Important Things Your Small Business Website Needs

Having a strong online presence is important for any small business. It is not enough to throw together some pretty fonts, colors, and graphics to create your website. A website needs to be designed in a way that is easy for your customers to navigate and is search engine friendly.

Here are ten steps to creating the perfect small business website:

1. Invest in creating a professional, secure website.

Don’t underestimate the power of an easy to navigate website. Your website should display all of your business’ contact information, it should be easy to navigate to the different pages, and it should have a simple website address. Your domain name is reflective of your brand. It should be short, easy to remember, and unique to your brand. For example our domain name is “kapokmarketing.com”. It should be easy for your customers to type it into the address bar, and this will help with search results for your business as well.

2. Keep it simple.

Don’t overwhelm your readers with a lot of text, pictures and call-to-actions. Simple is always better. You want to make sure that you are displaying only the most important information about your business on your website. Include important information about your business, your team members, your products or services, and how a potential customer can get in touch with you.

3. Make it easy for visitors to contact you.

Your contact page should be easily accessible in case a customer needs to get in contact with you. You can create an entire page dedicated to contacting you that includes your businesses address, telephone number, email address, and a contact form. The contact form should ask for basic information such as their name, telephone number, email address, and message. You don’t want to make it hard for your potential customers to contact you or they might move on to your competition.

4. Create a navigation bar that is easy to follow.

The navigation bar should include all of the important pages and they should be clearly labeled. Don’t label your blog as “journal”, or your contact page as “say hello”. Your customers should be able to look at a page name and know where they will be directed to. Also, you don’t want to overwhelm your website visitors with too many pages on your navigation bar. Create a primary navigation at the top with the most common pages, and include a secondary navigation bar in the footer with the rest of the pages.

5. Use easy-to-read colors and fonts.

Your website should be cohesive with your business’ branding, but it shouldn’t have too many difficult to read fonts or colors. Script and handwritten fonts are not easy-to-read and should be used very sparingly on your website, if necessary. Hard to see colors, and different colored text on webpages are not easy on the eyes. Instead, focus on a few colors that match your company logo.

6. Have a minimum of 250 words per page.

You don’t want to have too little copy, or text, on your webpages. You want to make sure that you are giving your potential customers all of the necessary information about your business that they might need. Webpages that have a lot of words will also rank higher on Google. It is important to also include important keywords on your website. Keywords should be placed in the headers and content of the pages. Be careful not to overdo it with keywords in your page content, because then it is harder to read if you are constantly repeating the same keywords. This will help your website appear higher in the search results organically, or unpaid.

7. Use Google AdWords to determine keywords.

When determining what keywords to use throughout your website’s copy, you should consider your client first. You should think about what they are going to be searching for, and base your keywords off of those words and phrases. Determining the right keywords for your website copy and blog posts will help your website rank higher in search results.

8. Create a mobile and tablet friendly version.

Majority of users that are visiting your website are going to be on a mobile or tablet device. It is important that your website is responsive on these devices and works properly. You should always test your website on a mobile device to make sure that it is functioning properly and all of the buttons, links, and contact forms are working before launching it.

9. Add links to your social media accounts and blog.

Your website should display all of your business’ contact information, and this also includes links or buttons to social media accounts. Links to your social media platforms will encourage customers to follow your accounts and connect with you. If your small business has a blog, you should include a link to it as well on your website. Having a blog builds even more credibility for your brand, and sets you apart in your industry as an expert.

10. Add business reviews and testimonials.

If your business collects reviews and testimonials then you should display them on your website for visitors to see. Potential clients want to know what it is like to work with or buy from your business. According to Search Engine Land, 72% of customers trust online recommendations as much as personal recommendations.

A website is necessary for any small business, regardless if they are product or service based. It is not enough to have a basic website that doesn’t meet all of the necessary criteria. If your small business is in need of a website, get in touch with us at info@kapokmarketing.com or (727) 214-5844.