In a day and age where food can be delivered to your door with the click of a button, it’s imperative for small businesses to have a good looking, easy-to-follow, and functional website.
In fact, 75% of consumers will make a fast judgement about a business’s overall credibility based on their website’s design. It’s important to give a good first impression to attract customers and create a seamless user experience to encourage repeat business.
If you’re stressed about the look of your site, not ranking on Google, or having little to no traffic, then you know it’s time for an update.
You can start by downloading our ultimate guide for 2021 website and social media trends.
Let us also give you the inside scoop as to how we build successful sites. These are 12 must-have website features for your small business.
A domain name is the URL address that users click or type to get to your site. This website feature is required in order to have a site at all.
Now here’s the important part—your domain name should be aligned with your business name. Although this may be obvious, many business owners often neglect this best practice and unknowingly create a disconnect between their business name and their website.
Having a clear and relevant domain name can help with:
Make your company’s domain name easy to spell, remember, and associate with your business.
When a user lands on your website you want them to be intrigued, not confused. It should be clear whose site they’re looking at, what your products or services are, and how they can get a hold of you.
This means making your business name and contact information easy to spot when they land on your site. In fact, 64% of users prefer to find a business’s contact information on the homepage.
What’s the first thing you want a user to do after visiting your website? Whatever it is, there should be a clear call to action on your homepage to lead them in the right direction.
Some other calls to action for your site include:
Providing a button or clear course of action for your customers makes for a better user experience and a higher probability of conversion.
Another crucial website feature for your small business is imagery. After all, pictures speak a thousand words.
Authenticity attracts customers, so don’t be shy about posting photos of your store, team, products, and more. If you’re in a service-based industry, you may consider providing before and after photos to demonstrate your work.
If you don't have quality photos of your work, opt for natural-looking stock images—there are plenty of sites that offer free or affordable images.
Pictures are also more enticing for a viewer than big blocks of text. Spruce up your site by making a picture clickable or incorporating a whole gallery.
People buy from people—so let your customers get to know you as such.
Your “About Us” page is your opportunity to tell your potential customers:
Customers appreciate knowing who they’re working with. An “About Us” page is also a great place to include photos of your team, special events, opening day, and more.
For small businesses especially, testimonials are an absolute must-have website feature.
Why? Because 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses before seeking their products or services.
For this reason, consider putting positive customer testimonials on at least one page of your website to demonstrate your happy and satisfied clientele. Testimonials can be shown as quotes, videos, or get reviews. If you choose to use a quote, consider adding a photo of your customer next to it, as to help build trust. .
Menus are just as important for your business’s site as they are for restaurants. Without one, your customers may be at a loss when scoping out your company online.
Your site menu should be hosted at the very top of your web page and include navigable links to pages, such as:
Menus ramp up the professionalism of your site while creating a solid user experience for visitors.
If you’re not already promoting your social media pages on your business website, then you’re doing yourself a disservice. It’s all too easy to include some social icons, leading your customers to your business Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, or even LinkedIn.
Pro-Tip: Read about these 10 Top 2021 social media trends for small businesses to learn how to best optimize your accounts.
A simple, yet necessary feature for your small business’s website is a search bar. It’s an easy component to activate within most basic website builders.
A search bar is typically hosted at the top of a page or somewhere visible in the sidebar. Having one makes it easy for customers to quickly find what they’re looking for. After all, internet users are all about speed and efficiency.
As the adage goes, content is kind. And the adage is right.
Having a blog as one of your website features is a tried and true way to pull in new leads and rank well on search engines. Just remember that your blog must be hosted under your domain to receive the appropriate SEO credit.
We understand how knowing what to write about can be a challenge in itself. Start by searching online for blogs of other companies in your industry. This will give you an idea of what content is trending and what people are searching for online as it pertains to your field.
If you find yourself struggling to keep up with content or post regularly, it may be of value to your business to hire a part-time contributor or to work with a freelance content writer.
You’ll gain more customers and credibility when you actively contribute to your blog.
While it’s great to host your contact information on your homepage, it’s also worthwhile to have a more detailed “Contact Us” page as one of your business’s website features.
This page is dedicated to getting your customers in contact with you. Some key elements you should be sure to include here are:
This page should be an easy-to-follow resource for customers who want to come straight to you for questions, quotes, and requests.
Located at the bottom, they’re still a top priority!
The purpose of a footer is to link to other pertinent pages your users may want to land on. Think of a footer as a sort of all-inclusive sub-menu. A footer can include links that your main header might not, such as for a:
Ultimately, this is a great place to host additional content and resources for potential clients. Try including your business location and store hours here as well.
Your website is often the face of your company. It’s important to put your best foot forward and take pride in the online resource that you’re providing to your customers.
To help you out, we've created an informative guide to teach you all about the most important website (and social media) best practices. Download it below to ramp up your online presence.