9 Must-Have Features for Website Building Software

Did you know that only 50 percent of small businesses have a website? That means roughly half of your competition out there has no digital presence whatsoever. Take advantage of this opportunity to dominate the online world and make a name for your small business with a great website building software.

It takes about 50 milliseconds for users to form an opinion about your website that determines whether they like your site or not, whether they’ll stay or leave. Clearly, you aren’t given much time to win over customers, so in the little time that you do have, you have to make it count.

With the right website building software, you can create an exceptional website that will not only impress prospective customers but attract more customers and grow your bottom line like never before.

Essential Features for Your Website Building Software

Behind every good business is a great website. Any successful business you try to search online has an optimized web page that will surely impress you. But having a great website isn't just designated for big businesses. 

Small businesses also need to establish a digital presence as well. But how can you build such an impressive site? It starts with choosing the right website building software for your business.

Website Building Software Feature #1: Intuitive Drag-and-Drop Builder

If your website builder is hard to use, it’s time to switch to new software. Building your website should be an effortless endeavor -- even if you are not the most tech-savvy person out there. 

With the right software, creating a website shouldn’t give you a headache. The software should take care of all the hard parts so you can focus on building an impressive design, beautiful images, and adding quality content to attract prospective customers.

Website Building Software Feature #2: Templates and Themes

Every good website building software provides ample templates and themes that are suited for your specific kind of business. This also includes pre-formatted web page layouts. And that’s because design matters -- a lot. 

About 38 percent of people will stop engaging with a site if it doesn’t have an appealing layout or design. Are you willing to give up over a third of your customers over a design flaw? Probably not.

Website Building Software Feature #3: Responsive Website Design

Nearly 8 in 10 customers would stop engaging with content that doesn’t display well on their device. Your business needs a website with a responsive design -- on all devices. 

Having a website designed for a desktop is no longer enough, it needs to be mobile-first. Fifty-seven percent of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile.

Not only does the page need to reformat to whatever device it’s being accessed on, but it also needs to have quick loading speeds and have content that's suitable for that specific device. The good news is that some website building software providers do that for you so you never have to worry. 

Website Building Software Feature #4: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If you build a website that you're proud of and love, you probably want to show it off right? The easiest way to do that is to find you a website building software that does both. Your website building software should ideally be able to deliver the features and look you want while also improving your local SEO with a schema checker.

A schema checker works behind the scenes to improve your online presence so you can focus on what matters -- running your business.

Website Building Software Feature #5 Images

Your website should include a variety of eye-catching photographs to showcase your work, which means your website building software has to make uploading, editing, and updating pictures effortless.

Your images also need to reformat to fit the device it's being accessed and have fast loading speeds. Thirty-nine percent of people will stop engaging with a website if images won’t load or take too long to load.

In most cases, your website building software will take care of this for you so all you have to worry about is finding the best images the to upload.

Website Building Software Feature #6: Payment Capabilities

With so many consumers looking online to make purchases, your website building software must allow you to have eCommerce capabilities. Accepting payments online is no longer a luxury, but an essential part of running your business.

But before you can accept payments, you need to make sure that you have a secure website. About 84 percent of people will not make purchases through an unsecured website. This is something that you should check with the provider on prior to purchasing a website building software.

Website Building Software Feature #7: Messenger 

Encourage engagement with messenger features directly on your website. This can be in the form of website live chat, SMS text messaging, a chatbot, or whatever method works for your business. 

Regardless of what you choose, your website building software should be able to deliver an adequate messaging service for you to effectively communicate with current and prospective customers in real-time.

Website Building Software Feature #8: Booking Tool

Take your business to the next level by allowing customers to book your services directly on your website. With the right website building software, you can offer customers the convenience of scheduling a booking without ever having to pick up the phone. 

Although it is becoming increasing popular, not all website building software providers offer a booking tool. If it's something you're interested in, make sure the software has the ability to implement a booking feature on your website.

Website Building Software Feature #9: Customization

You want to be able to make your website your own. After all, it’s the first touchpoint a user has with your brand so having the ability to customize the content is essential. Your software should offer website design template customization options that's on brand and works for your business.

Grow Your Business with Website Building Software

Your website is the pillar of your digital marketing efforts ― essentially all channels lead back to it. You need to put in the time and effort to choose the right website building software for your business to ensure your website is optimized to attract new customers.

GoSite’s Sites tool is the easiest website building on the market that converts more customers by building your online image with a customizable, mobile-friendly, cloud-based site. GoSite also has web specialists to help ensure a smooth and successful website building process every step of the way.