8 Must-Have Tips for an Effective Business Website

Your business website is an opportunity to attract and convert customers resulting in business revenue. If that’s what you want, then it is most important to ensure that your website addresses these 8 must-have tips.

1. Your website MUST be a positive reflection of your business

Create the right first impression. Your website has to look professional and it has to present your brand well.

Statistics show you have just 10-15 seconds or less to create an impression. So make sure your opening line and images get the attention of your visitor.

Address the core needs of your customers and how your business is able to help them. Build your brand image so that your visitor wants to work with your business, and no other.

2. Your website MUST provide relevant, quality and timely content

Most visitors to your website want answers quickly. So make sure they can find what they are looking for by making your content easy to navigate and read.

Writing compelling content for a website is a skill. So if your website does not read well, consider investing in a copywriter to improve the performance of your website.

Always remember that a business website provides you with an opportunity to build a relationship with your visitor, so they want to give you their business. Use the opportunity wisely and also consider including articles, case studies, videos or how-to guides to create interest and build credibility.

3. Your website MUST get your visitor to trust you

Make it easy for visitors to learn more about your business and about the people behind it. Did you know that for many websites, the About page is one of the most visited pages? Time to review your website’s About page and see if it can be improved. And if you don’t have one already then it’s time for that to create one.

Most visitors want to know some more about the business before they choose to hand over their money. Include case studies, testimonials and other samples of your work on your business website. These are all things visitors want to know about and that have an impact on whether they’ll become a client or not.

4. Your website MUST be easy to navigate

Ensure visitors can easily find their way around your website, with a clear path between pages. This is also very helpful for search engine optimisation (SEO), as search engines also need a clear and easy path around your website.

Have lots of relevant internal links so people can navigate with ease. And make sure there are no unfinished pages or broken links on your website. You don’t want your visitors heading off to nowhere land.

Also make it easy for visitors to navigate and connect with you elsewhere on social media. This can also play a role in building trust. But only do this if your social media presence is up to scratch.

5. Your website MUST load fast

All images and content should be optimised for speed on the web so that your pages load quickly and easily. That means images are already at the correct size and in the correct format when they are placed on your website. They should not be resized from within your website editor.

6. Your website MUST be optimised for search engines

It’s important to be found easily on the search engines by your target market and prospective new clients. Search engine optimisation is very important.

Research relevant keywords that your customers and prospects would use to find you and implement a plan to ensure your website is found for your chosen keywords. So make sure that you include those keywords in your website content.

7. Your website MUST have a Call-to-Action

Do you want results from your business website? Then make sure you are clear on how you will know if your website is working for you.

Do you want phone calls, web form enquiries, newsletter subscribers, sales? Once you are clear on the results you desire, you must ensure your website drives people to take the appropriate action. Tell your visitors what you want them to do. Make it super clear and super easy for them.

8. Your website MUST be mobile friendly

People are spending so much time connecting to the internet from smartphones and tablets that you need to keep this in mind.

Open up your business website on your smartphone and take a look and see how it looks. Make sure your website displays correctly, without layout issues or details cut off.