It still surprises us that almost half of small businesses still don’t have a website considering the necessity they are for businesses of all sizes in today’s market. With so many design options and themes it can be difficult to know how to stand out. Looking beyond layout and colour schemes there are 50 things that small business websites must have in order to be successful.
Header
- Domain name – one that is easy to remember and spell
- Logo – clear and which represents your business
- Tagline – a statement that explains what you do
- Call to action (CTA) button so readers know the next step to take
- Phone number – consider a click-to-call option
- Top navigation
- Bread crumb navigation on all pages eg. Home>Services
Above the Fold
- Slider or Image
- Business information such as address
- Testimonials / Reviews – consider the power of the video review
Below the Fold
- Main features of your business
- Quality content – write for the reader first, and search engines second
- Internal links – to guide readers through the site
Footer
- Contact information
- Business hours
- Social Media buttons
- Online chat feature – to provide real time customer service
- Newsletter sign up
- Footer navigation
Inner Pages
- Contact form
- Captcha / Anti-spam feature
- About us page
- Inner pages in F format
- Privacy policy page
- FAQs
- Blog
Blog
- Search function
- Social media share buttons
- Comment feature
- Sidebar – to highlight other popular blogs
Other considerations
- Hyperlinks – that are easy to see
- Clean font – easy to read
- Mobile responsive
- Hamburger menu on mobile sites
SEO
- Automatic sitemap creation
- Ability to easily update meta data – keywords, page titles, meta descriptions
- Easy to url structure
Server/Hosting
- Reliable and fast hosting
- Security
- Automatic website backup feature
Technical Requirements/Backend
- Use a Content Management System (CMS) in the backend – to easily update the content
- Cross browser compatibility – ensure it displays/works correctly on all popular browsers
- Google Analytics integration
- Google Webmaster tools integration
- Fast loading and optimised code
- Use browser cache to increase speed
- Use Schema.org- to provide snippets of important business information
Things to avoid
- Don’t use Flash elements
- Don’t upload videos on your website server – utilise YouTube and/or Vimeo
- Avoid background music
For help with creating or implementing any of this important aspects of your small business website contact the team at Website Design Centre.
