The Ultimate Checklist: What Every Small Business Website Needs to Succeed
Published on 14th November 2024
You’re a small business that has invested in creating a website. It ticks all your design boxes, looks great and represents the business image you want to project to your customers. Now you just sit back and watch the sales roll in, right? Well, not exactly. Design is without a doubt an important part of a successful website, but it needs to do more than sit there looking pretty. Your website also needs to be working hard to drive traffic and sales; it must be responsive and fast to load and designed in a way that drives conversion.
With this in mind, we have created this handy checklist to help small businesses ensure that their website is doing everything to help build the business. Even if you’re proud of how it looks, making the below tweaks and adjustments can help it perform better. Here’s what you need to know.
1. User experience
Your website might look great, but does the user experience match the aesthetic qualities? Remember that your website may be the first impression you make on a potential new customer. If they like what they see, then great, but if it’s hard for them to navigate their way to the page or product they are looking for, this can drive them away. As well as looking great, make sure your site is clear, easy to use, intuitive and simple.
2. Fast and secure
Google has discovered that if a website does not load within three seconds more than half of all users will simply go elsewhere. Just think about it. That’s not a lot of time, but in an age when consumers expect everything to happen immediately, you don’t have long to hook them in. If your site is slow, it can be very frustrating for users, with web speed being a major factor in any site’s success.
However, as well as fast hosting, your site must be secure. That will protect your business, its data and your customers. An SQL injection attack could easily cost you all of your site’s data, meaning your site would then require a substantial overhaul. And if a breach affects your customers, this can do a lot of damage to trust and reputation. An SSL certificate is an important sign to customers that you take their safety and security seriously.
3. Optimisation
Your website might look great, but if nobody sees it then it won’t make much difference. That’s because search engines like Google rank and grade sites according to how relevant the content is. And the lower down the rankings you are, the less likely potential customers will ever find you. The first page of a Google search captures 71% of all web traffic. That’s why it is so important your text is optimised to attract traffic to your site.
Search engine optimisation, therefore, relies on you understanding what search terms your customers may use and then building your content to reflect this. Effective SEO will make your site more visible to search engines and give your beautiful website much more chance of being seen.
4. E-commerce enabled
Your website is one of your main selling tools. Of course, you always want to try and drive clients to engage with you personally, which is why contact details are so important on any site. But if you can make a sale online without doing any of the hard selling yards, why not do it? That’s why you need to ensure your site is e-commerce enabled with a choice of payment options. Or you may want to integrate a booking system into your site. However you do it, ensure it is user-friendly, simple and safe to make payments.
5. Social media syncing
Social media is a great way to interact with customers and clients. However, it can be time-consuming to keep on top of all the platforms. By linking your social media channels to your website and utilising social media feeds and widgets you can help streamline your online presence, making it easier to manage updates and engage with your audience from a central hub. This integration not only saves time but also boosts visibility by keeping your website content fresh with real-time social media posts.
6. Use third-party tools
There are many little tools and add-ons available to use to make your website better. They can include features such as chat options, email automation or live chat functionality. By incorporating these into your design, you can make it easier for customers to get in touch or find the information they are looking for.
7. CTAs and contact info
Once you have a potential customer to your site, you must encourage them to make the next step. Using a call to action, you can make it clear how they take the next step. All your contact information must be clearly visible and up to date in case they want to reach out.
8. Compelling content
Above all, you must ensure your website offers customers something they want. Keep all your content current, interesting, engaging and relevant to their needs. That could be with a regular blog, video content, detailed product info or reviews. If people feel informed and in the picture, they are more likely to trust your business with their custom.
A website can be a powerful tool but is often underused or not optimised to work hard for the business. Ensure that your website has all the above boxes ticked, and you will stand the best chance of growing your business through an effective digital strategy. If you would like to know more about how to create compelling and cohesive websites, then get in touch with our team today.
Tagged as: search engine optimisation (SEO), web design
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