7 Things Your Business Website Should Contain

The Internet is full of terrible websites. Some have ugly design, but many just lack vital elements that make it easy for visitors to get what they need. Business owners must think carefully about this; after all, it’s your website, but it needs to serve potential customers, not you. Forgetting to list your phone number or explain your services can mean losing out on customers.

This list is not all-inclusive and may vary by business, but overall, here are seven things most companies need on their website.

1. Contact information on every page. Your address or phone number or email — or all three — should be on every single page. You might put this information in the footer or the header. You don’t have to include all of those together. For example, your address can go in the footer while your phone number appears in the top right corner of the header — a natural place to find it for those seeking only that detail. Email addresses are tricky; if you don’t list it a certain way, you open yourself to receiving a lot of spam email. Bots can crawl websites looking for the @ symbol, so either talk to your web professional about listing your address differently or use a form for customers to fill out. The “Contact” page of your website should also include a form.
2. Words. Many people are forgoing words in favor of images and videos. While those are both useful in the design and improve visitor retention rates, you will need words on your website explaining what you do and who you are. These words are for both search engine robots and your visitors. However, many business owners go overboard, assuming their potential customers want to read a novella about them. If your web pages have 1,000 words on them, that’s far too many. Each page should contain 300 to 500 words.
3. Images. Yes, you need images, too. Studies show real photos of your team or business, rather than stock photography, increases your conversion rate. Pay for a professional to take a few photos if you can. Otherwise, use stock, because some images are better than none.
4. A blog. Business owners often skip this part because a blog means more work. After all, you can’t let your blog get stale, which means you’ll have to write a post each month (at least). Blogs help your search engine optimization and improve your credibility with potential clients. Your customers may not read many or any of your posts, but just the blog’s existence can make an enormous difference. Create a blog and figure out how to post to it at least monthly.
5. A clear explanation of services or products. Build your website with your visitor in mind. What questions does she have? What does he need answered to hire you? The second he or she lands on the page, your website needs to explain what you do. While that again sounds obvious, many companies questioning their website traffic turn to us only to discover their wording leaves people confused.
6. Branding. People need to know about your products or services, but they also want to know who you are. If you lack a logo, work with a professional graphic designer to create one. Talk to a marketing professional about your brand: what you stand for, what it means to hire you. Create a tagline if you like. The point is that your website needs to show visitors “this is me” and stand out from every other company that offers similar services.
7. Title tags. Title tags are those words that you see at the top of your browser bar inside each tab. They describe what is on the Web page, and offer critical information for search engines. Read our post about title tags to learn more about how to use them.

Most businesses need several more things on their website, but this list should get you started. Create a business website that converts by contacting us today.