Most business owners don’t build their own building, they go and lease a space for their office, and they go to Staples for example and buy office furniture, they don’t try to build furniture. It always surprises me that business owners try to build their own website, especially when it’s the first most important and most used marketing tool for most businesses in this day and age.

A website has four to nine seconds to capture someone’s attention. The three main criteria website designers should follow: overall design, structure of content and the functionality of the website.

Do I need a website?

This shouldn’t even be a question. It’s 2016, you need to be where your customers are, and that is online – mobile, tablet and desktop. Majority of consumers expect all businesses to have a website, regardless of size.

What happens if you don’t have a website? Customers turn to a competitor’s website and you lose out on their business.

Having a website is a crucial marketing tool for small businesses for numerous reasons. It’s a great opportunity to connect with the online customers. It helps to build an email list of possible returning customers, to control and create your web presence. Creating a web presence is a good opportunity to stand out from your competitors, to differentiate yourself and develop your brand identity.

FUN: Visit Internet Live Stats

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Here’s a quick look at a few things your website should have:

Clear Description:  Make it clear what you’re website is about so who ever stumbles upon your site knows who you are.

Simple URL:  Stay away from numbers and dashes, try to aim for a .com, and make it easy to remember.

User Friendly:  No one wants to fight through a messy and complicated site to get simple information. Make it clear where to find what people are looking for and what you are offering.

Contact:  Simple. If you want future customers or even past customers to get in touch with you, make it clear and obvious how to do it!  As an extra measure to make your users experience as easy as possible, place contact info at the bottom of every page.

Testimonials:  Showing honest testimonials from real people builds trust and boosts your business’ reputation.

Call to Action:  It should be obvious to your user what they should do to contact, purchase or learn in your website. Have a link to contact, purchase, or learn more.

Fresh Quality Content:  Update your website content regularly with concise, informative, and relevant information. Keep your content updated, current and unique, try maybe blogging, or adding new products, as appropriate.

 

Online consumers have very little patience for complicated and messy websites. Make sure your design is simple and easy to skim over for the information they need.