by Lina Martinez
Whatever industry your business is in, whether it has been running for twenty years or twenty minutes, it needs to have a website. Whether your business is in residential & commercial coatings or wedding floristry, people will expect you to have a website. It is your ‘shop window’ online, your opportunity to pick up more trade and a way for you to share what you do with clients and potential clients. The difficulty can sometimes be in knowing what your website should actually say or do. This is why today we are sharing with you the 3 things that your business website must do.
Image Pixabay - Pixabay License
Be clear about what you do
First and foremost, it should be immediately clear to any visitor what it is that your business does. Your homepage should share your products and services and there should be easy to navigate links and menus available so that people can find all of the information that they require.
Ideally your business name and logo will give people a feel for the industry that you are in. Aim to stick to this branding throughout your website so that the design is clear on every page. For those people that already know your business, this will reassure them that they have come to the right website and for those who do not, it might prompt them to make those associations.
Make it easy to contact you
You want people to be attracted to your business, and then to take the next step and get in touch with you. This is the main purpose of the website so you must make it easy for people to contact you.
Place a ‘Contact Us’ tab within your menus and then add it to your homepage as well. If you only have a few pages on your website, there is no harm in adding it at the bottom of each page, as a call to action.
It is also worth setting up social media channels to use to promote your business, if you have not already done so. People will look for the links to these from your website, so do ensure that they are clear and easy to find. Most websites place them in the header, sidebar or footer, so people are likely to look there first. People will then often contact you directly via social media so do ensure that you are active across your chosen platforms and prompt in your replies.
Set your business apart
Finally, your business website should help you to set your business apart from your competition.
Your website is your opportunity to share your USP and get across to customers all that you can do for them, in a genuine and honest way.
Use your website to tell people your story, let them know what is important to you and share with them your experiences with happy customers. Your website is there to showcase your business so take every opportunity to tell the world how passionate you are about it and how determined you are to give them an excellent experience.