If you were browsing the internet looking for a site that offers you information on equipment leasing or business loans, you might immediately notice just how different each site looks. From there, you might justify contacting one company with these services over another due to how confident you were in the information provided. This demonstrates just how powerful and important a small business website is to creating web traffic and generating business leads.
As a business owner yourself, you should keep your small business website in tip-top shape at all times and ensure your products or services are being featured in the best light possible. Even if you have a small budget or little experience optimizing websites, there are several things you can do now to make your site more streamlined.
In the process, you might see more site visits and interest in your company. Here are six items you should work on right away:
- Make it user-friendly – The biggest thing to keep in mind with your small business website is that viewers should be able to interact with it easily. If there are dead links or a ton of pop-ups, then people could be turned away immediately. Use bright, solid colors and create a layout that simplifies everything on the screen. Provide a help page or FAQ list to inform and educate potential customers on your products or services.
- Highlight main points – Feature your services more prominently and make it clear what your business offers and how customers can obtain them. For instance, a call to action should be included on the homepage and stand out from the rest of the text. In addition, you should have a few tabs at the top of your homepage that help users navigate through your site and locate the information they need.
- Create a logical flow – There’s nothing worse than visiting a website and having no idea where to go after you visit the homepage. That’s why each page should serve a purpose and connect to a greater story-line. Each time a viewer clicks, they should be directed to the next logical page, and so on. As an example, if a customer finds your website in search of landscaping work, then they should be able to click on a specific service like mowing, then a price range, then your contact info. Or, even better, all of this info could be located conveniently on one page.
- Limit clutter – Too much information is never a good thing. Though including advertisements and flashy graphics may seem like a good idea, for the most part, they actually distract from your website’s purpose. Simplify every paragraph or phrase to its most significant message. Use logos and pictures only when necessary and try to keep viewers’ eyes on single topics.
- Help others discover you – Your website is only effective if customers or business partners are able to find it. One of the tougher tasks of crafting a streamlined website is standing out in the crowd from the horde of other businesses that offer similar services. However, by having fresh updates on a regular basis and interacting with viewers through social media, you can increase your presence online. This process will also help you discover which design points work best and which can be improved. The more traffic your website receives, the higher your site will appear in search engines, making it easier for customers to find your business.
- Emphasize contact info – If your website is successful enough to garner interest and potentially convert people into customers, then they’ll need an avenue for which to contact you. Many sites make it difficult to contact businesses, sometimes forcing users to fill out contact forms or creating an account first. Instead, your company’s phone, email, hours of operation and the name of an applicable representative should be clearly listed. You should have buttons or links on every page that will immediately direct users toward contact information or provide them with a click-to-call option on their mobile device.
Growing your small business organically from the ground up is no easy task. But taking your business to the next level could mean having a much larger online presence, which comes down to putting in time to make your small business website better.
