7 Things Every Business Website Needs

Is your website set up for success?

Your website has the power to make or break your business in today’s digital age. From attracting customers to building up your reputation, your website can do wonders for your business, but only if it has the right features. So, what elements are needed to maximize your website’s effectiveness?

1. A domain name that’s easy to remember
From over-optimized domain names to long domain names that are tedious to type, many web domains are far from user-friendly. If you want to boost your website’s traffic and build brand recognition, choose a memorable domain name that reflects your company’s image. Your domain name should be concise and easy to type.

If possible, pick a domain name that communicates what your business does. Furthermore, register the domain name for the maximum period possible in order to build trust and convince search engines and users that you’re not running a fly-by-night operation. Domains that end in ‘.com’ are preferable because users are conditioned to type in ‘.com’ when visiting websites.

2. Contact information that’s easy to find
Your business’s address, phone number, operation hours, and email address should be easy for website visitors to find. Not only does your contact information build trust and credibility, it also improves your website’s conversion rates because it enables customers to get in touch with you more easily. Don’t make your customers search long and hard for a way to get in touch with you!

3. Social media integration
Social media has become an important way for businesses to connect with customers and promote their products and services online. If you don’t have a social media presence already, now’s the time to get started! Integrating your social media accounts with your website is an effective way to grow your social media following and further engage prospects who might not be ready to buy from you quite yet.

4. Fast loading times
If your website takes too long to load, it’ll frustrate visitors who have less than a lightning-fast Internet connection and cause them to click away. Google also takes page load speed into account when ranking websites, so it pays off to ensure that your website loads as quickly as possible. Elements that may slow down your website’s loading times include flash, excess code, plug-ins, and multimedia.

5. Calls-to-action
Do you want your website visitors to call you? Fill out your contact form? Buy your products? Whatever your goals are, it’s important to provide calls-to-action that tell website visitors what to do next. Your calls-to-action should be highlighted with prominent buttons or bolded text and be located in the sidebar or at the top of the page.

6. Videos and images
Not all customers are willing to read through mountains of text. Make your website more engaging to all types of visitors by incorporating videos and images. In addition to increasing the amount of time that people spend on your site, videos and images will improve your site’s search engine visibility because video and image search engines are becoming increasingly popular.

7. Content management system
Content management systems, or CMSs, have dramatically altered the traditional client/developer relationship. In the past, businesses had to request a developer to make changes to their sites, paying hundreds of dollars in hourly wages and waiting weeks for the changes to be made. Thanks to easy-to-use CMSs, like FusionCMS, even non-tech savvy clients can update their own websites quickly and easily.

Hire efelle to Create an Effective Website for Your Business

Don’t let your website development project get into the hands of an experienced web designer. With over 400 projects under their belts, our team of web designers, developers, and digital marketers will ensure that your website helps you reach your business goals. To set up a free web design & development consultation, give us a call at 206.384.4909 or fill out our online contact form.