A successful business website is essential for engaging customers and increasing brand awareness. To maximize results, the website should include certain key features. It’s important to consider the features that are most important for your particular business. Also, keep in mind that your website should have a modern, aesthetically pleasing design. Here are the top 6 must-have features for a business website.
1. An Engaging Home Page
The home page is often the first impression potential customers get of your website, so it’s important to make a strong one. This page should be eye-catching, feature relevant images and videos, provide a clear navigation menu, and include compelling content. It should also give visitors an immediate understanding of what your business is about.
For example, when creating a new website for a restaurant, focus on the type of cuisine served and showcase your signature dishes. If you run a digital marketing agency, list the services that you offer. While creating a home page, avoid using too much text and keep the design simple.
2. Clear Call-to-Actions
Throughout your website, you should have visible and stand-out call-to-actions that tell your visitors what step to take next. This may be a prompt to sign up for your newsletter, contact you via email or buy a product or service. The clearer the CTA is, the more likely it is that visitors will take the next step. Additionally, if they are able to see where they are in their journey on the website (e.g. “You’re almost there…”), this can also increase engagement and conversions. Make sure your call-to-action buttons look like clickable buttons – if they blend too much into the background design, people won’t notice them!
3. Responsive Design
A business website must be designed with a mobile-first approach. Responsive design ensures that the site will render correctly regardless of device size, making it easier for customers to view and interact with the website on any platform they choose. Additionally, Google ranks sites higher in its search engine if they are optimized for mobile devices, so investing in responsive design can have an additional SEO benefit as well. Many popular CMSs (content management systems) such as WordPress and Drupal have plugins that enable responsive design quickly and easily.
4. Optimized Content
Content is key for any website, as it’s what will draw in customers and keep them engaged. To ensure that your website content is optimized for search engine visibility and customer engagement, you should make sure to research keywords related to your business, use headings and subheadings, incorporate multimedia elements like photos and videos where appropriate, format the text using bullet points or numbered lists, and include a call-to-action on each page. Additionally, it’s important to update content regularly so that customers are provided with fresh information.
5. Contact Page
A contact page is essential for a business website, as it provides visitors with an easy way to get in touch. This page should include your business’s physical address, email address, and phone number. You may also want to include a form that visitors can fill out to send you a message directly from the website. In addition, you should be sure to display any social media accounts or other online profiles associated with your business so customers can easily follow you on these platforms. Also, consider providing a link to your customer service portal so customers can quickly access any help they may need.
6. Security
Security is paramount when it comes to business websites. It is essential that any website used for business purposes has the latest security protocols in place, such as HTTPS encryption and password protection. This will ensure that customer data and financial information are kept safe from cybercriminals.
Additionally, having an SSL certificate installed on your website will help enhance the credibility of your business by signaling to customers that you take their privacy seriously. The added layer of security that an SSL certificate provides will also help to boost customer confidence when conducting business with you online. Investing in secure web hosting services is also recommended, as this too adds an extra layer of protection against malicious actors attempting to access sensitive data.
Having the right features and functionality is essential for a business website. Without the correct elements in place, you may struggle to attract customers and generate conversions. To ensure your website does its job properly, make sure it has these 6 must-have features: intuitive navigation, an engaging call-to-action, responsive design, optimized content, a contact page, and security protocols. Implementing these features will help your business website stand out from the competition and provide a great experience for customers.
