6 Things Your Website Needs – Part 1
I get asked all the time, “What do I need on my website?”
Recently, a friend of mine and his wife have opened two small businesses. Both businesses needed a website and both friends are good at using the web for personal use, but kept getting stuck on what they needed to have on their business websites.
Below is a quick list of things every business should have on their site.
Pictures that show what you do:
Visitors to your site should instantly have a clear understanding of who you are and what you do. If you are a yoga studio, you should show people doing yoga. If you are a kids play house you should have pictures of kids playing (http://thechildrensplaygallery.com/). This sounds like a no brainer, however take a look at any random collection of websites and see how many images companies have that have nothing to do with their business.
Easy to Understand website navigation menu and working links:
Being able to find information in as few clicks as possible is what you want your customers to be able to do. Have this menu across the top or along the side. The links or buttons should have easy to understand words that describe that page. “Pricing,” “Products,” and “Customer Testimonials” are three examples of words that describe that that section is.Most importantly make sure the links from the navigation buttons work! How many times have you gone to a website only to not get the information you want because the page you want doesn’t appear because of an error. Your visitors will most likely leave if they see a 404 error code.
Social media links:
The world evolves around social media these days. Make sure you have links to all of the sites you use. People will post reviews, questions, comments, discussions about your business on their social media pages. Help customers stay in touch with you by providing your social media account links right on your front page. Also, make sure you stay in touch with your social media. Responding to a customer via social media is the fastest way to facilitate communication. Your customers will appreciate your timely response.
These are the first three items you want to make sure are on your site.
Next time we’ll cover the second three items I told my friends to make sure are on their websites.
