As a small business owner, your website is often at the centre of your online marketing, but is your website really doing all it can to help attract and convert prospects into customers? You could be losing visitors, and leads, if your website is missing any of these 10 elements of a successful small business site.
1. Clearly Visible Contact Information
What is the primary purpose of your website? Do you want visitors to call, request more information or visit your location? If so it’s critical to list accurate and up to date contact information in a highly visible location on your site. Ensure your visitors aren’t sent on a wild goose chase looking for contact information and include at least a phone number on every page of your site. If that isn’t feasible, make sure you add a “Contact” page to your site that contains your phone number, email address, location with a map and business hours. You could also include a “Contact Us” button as a feature of your site template, perhaps in the header or footer, so it’s included on every page. Always have your contact information on the landing page consumers are directed to from your search or display ads.
2. Contact Forms
Contact forms serve as a lead generation tool by capturing prospect information and emailing it to you. According to the 2013 Sensis eBusiness Report 71% of Australian SMEs have an email enquiry form on their site, leaving 29% of businesses potentially missing out on leads. Website forms are a great way to collect lead-qualifying data. Plus, they provide your prospects with a place to ask questions about the information they’re seeking about your business.
3. Live Chat
A live chat service is a great way to convert a site visitor into a customer. This lead-generation tool can answer prospect’s questions and help them learn more about your business during their visit to the site. Live chat builds rapport with prospects at an all important touch point in the buying cycle. Once your prospect has the information they need and positive rapport has been established, you’re one step closer to converting that lead.
4. Social Media Icons
In today’s connected world consumers expect to be able to communicate with businesses through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Why not use social media, when 48% of SMEs say that social media has had a positive impact on their business? Adding social media icons to your site gives prospects and customers alike an excellent way to learn more about you, connect with other fans and gather information required to decide whether to do business with you. If you’re one of the 65% of Australian SMEs not currently on social media, it’s important to consider adding it to your marketing plan.
5. Engaging Video
Visitors to your site don’t always want to read through large amounts of information about your products or services and a good way to get around this is to include videos on your website. Videos can build credibility and prospects are sure to appreciate the convenience they offer. Plus videos are a great way to communicate the personality of you and your business.
6. Balanced & Accurate Content
Avoid information overload, because cramming too much information onto one page is not helping anyone, particularly when visitors are looking for a quick and easy solution. If you’re unsure how to best arrange your website information, a professional Web designer can help you. It’s also vital to keep your website information up to date so consumers don’t gather inaccurate information about your business. Remove information about products you no longer offer and profiles of ex-employees.
7. Modern, Simple Design
Leave that bad website design in the ‘90s! Say no to garish colour combinations, bolded type in all caps, underlining multiple words, tacky text animations and other outdated design elements. Make sure you portray your business as keeping up with the times and employ a modern, fresh and simple designed site. You don’t need to be an expert in design or web development, there are a range of services available to help you create a pleasant and effective website.
8. Professional, Polished Logo
Your logo is a key part of your branding, so ensure it’s located prominently on your site. Always use a high-resolution image on your webpage and consider featuring it in the upper left corner of every site page. A good rule of thumb is to link your logo back to your home page so visitors can easily navigate your site.
9. User-Friendly Functionality
The functionality of your website needs to be an easy experience for the user. How long does your home page take to load? Are all links working? Is the site formatting up to date? Flash sites for example may create an interesting experience, but using Flash can detract from a site’s effectiveness. It isn’t a SEO-friendly format due to the way it treats content. Flash can also slow a website’s load time, which may cause visitors to abandon your site altogether. Plus it doesn’t display on some smart phones, meaning some of your mobile visitors may miss out.
10. Mobile Friendly Experience
Consumers are searching and surfing the Web with mobile devices more than ever before, with 86% of Aussie consumers now searching for local businesses on their smart phones. As mobile technology continues to rise in popularity among consumers, the need for mobile-compatible websites also increases. Have you ever checked how your website looks on different tablets and smart phones? Was it easy to find your contact details or other important information? If not, consider creating a mobile site that features 5-10 essential pages from your website to help visitors find you online and contact you.
So how does your website compare when it comes to these features? Take some time to audit your current site and use this post as a checklist so you can see the areas that may need improvement. Aim to build a more effective website which increases your rate of consumer conversion, by equipping your website with the essential features your prospects need to make an informed decision about your business.
Which features of your website currently turn visitors into customers? Let us know in the comments.