One of the first things to do when starting a new small business is to create its online presence. You should start your online footprint with a professional website that complements your physical operations. Once you’ve secured your company’s domain name, then you can start working on creating your site. Here are the essential features you want to include as part of your site.
1. Details About Location and Contact Information
The first thing to start with on your website is your contact information. Even if your business is centered around an online service, it’s still important to give details about your company’s address, phone number, and email. Having all of this information together in one place is a good way to offer customers a resource if they need to get in touch. You can additionally place links on your website that allow visitors to see your social media pages, like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
2. Simple and Intuitive Navigation
Next, as your website is being put together, it’s important to make sure the navigation makes sense. The website’s navigation refers to the way users can go through all of the pages that are part of the main site. If a potential customer visits your website looking for something specific, you want them to be able to easily click on what they need. If they have trouble getting through your site’s links, they may get frustrated and give up. It’s best to keep things simple and stick with categories or a drop down main menu.
3. Clean and Unique Look
The look of your company’s website is also an essential piece of a successful site. Users prefer sites that have a clean look, with minimal complicated graphics or animation. Text and background colors should be visually appealing and not appear too small or too large. Music and sound aren’t really great additions to a professional website as well. Essentially, your website’s look shouldn’t get in the way of the site’s focus. Some website building companies, like web.com, allow you to make your own website while providing all of the design basics for you.
4. Informative and Original Content
Another important part of a great website is the content placed on it. The content is the information about your business or industry that you provide for your site. Some companies choose to write their own content, which can be challenging. Writing for the web is a very specific type of communication, and it’s important to get it right. Your content should provide helpful information to your potential clients. Whatever you do, make sure you have original content, not something that has been copied from another similar website.
5. Call to Action
Finally, the last important feature to have as part of your website is a call to action. The call to action is the invitation to the users to contact your company for a specific product or service. Many companies use a call to action, and then they provide an easy link or online form to fill out for faster communication.
Creating a successful website for a new small business is more than just securing the right domain name. Your content, design, navigation and more are all equally important to helping your company build more business.
