Necessary elements for effective small business website homepage
Starting a small business and making it grow is a tough job, but a website describing your company always helps in promotion and to bring new clients. Besides, it is compulsory to have a website to market your business on a limited budget. However, it should be top-notch to ensnare visitors and new customers. But what are the main features of such a site? What does it mean to build the website for small business perfectly?
So read this article till the end to know about the essential factors to create the ideal small business website homepage.
A noteworthy URL
First and foremost, a successful website starts with a proper URL. Since this will be a URL that will be circulated and promoted to ensure a high view count, it should be short and straightforward. The website name should be easy to remember and should justify the nature of the business it involves. Also, it should cover an excellent Top Level Domain or TLD. And the website name should be unique to reduce the chances of plagiarism and can be quickly registered.
You can hire digital marketers, who provide professional services. But it is an expensive for a small business. So, it might be cheaper to seek the advice of the on-page SEO specialist. It is a digital marketer, who specializes in search engine optimization.
Easily Understandable
In succession to a proper URL name, the each page of a site should be easy to understand for the customers and visitors. Often bulking up the homepage immensely may lead to confusion for a visitor. According to recent researches, it is found that websites with low visual complexity are greatly favored over the ones with high visual complexity. So it is better to make the homepage less crowded to create a lasting first impression.
If you want to business success it is worth to invest money in professional UI/UX design. Specialists will provide research, collect the information about your target audience and create right webdesign of your site.
A strong promise
Whenever a person visits a website, the first thing that should attract his or her attention helps to create an impression or idea about the situation they are going to witness. Hence, a business should always aim at displaying the motto or promises of the company at the top of the screen. This makes a first-time visitor secure about the reliability and workings of the company and may encourage that person to return to the website regularly.
Try to understand how others feel. Identify your client’s pains, needs, questions, doubts. Get to know your company, product or service. How could you help your customer? So, it will help you to identify selling points. A selling point is a characteristic of a product that will persuade people to buy it. You should avoid to look for unique selling proposition (USP). It doesn’t work for many cases, because the buyer decision process is more complex. Just to select more valuable selling point for the promise. Of course you need a creativety. See one example below. It is F5 Studio’s web design project for a company.
See the full presentation Sense Effects on Behance
Straight-forward propositions
The next most important thing after a promise is to make a clear-cut proposition. This can be short and crisp or an elaborate one with moderate length. This statement clearly tells the visitors about the schemes and functions of the business. The plans should be to the point and must aim at making the customers realize the potential of the company. If visitors are not sure about what they are getting into, they may leave the site.
In some cases this proposition can be a selling point. For example, you can offer to buy a product “in two clicks”.
A distinguished Call-To-Action button
Adding one or two Call-To-Action (CTA) leaves a visitor less confused. The web design must provide customers with options in the form of large buttons that the company wants them to click on. These are usually placed at the top part of the website and can be accessed without scrolling down. Most of the popular sites generally provide a CTA button stating ‘Let’s Start’ or ‘Get Started,’ but it is upon the owner’s decision to decide. But you can create a perfect CTA button.
You can read more about basic practices of buttons UI/UX design.
Adding photos and videos
Although the website should not be overcrowded with lots of options or media files, web development incorporating a limited number of images or an introductory video always helps in building viewer count. The pictures and videos should be original and related to the workings of the business. Also, the image quality should be moderate or low because high resolution guarantees a longer loading time that may result in impatient visitors leaving.
A detailed description of the services
Once a visitor enters the website and has looked at the promises and have understood the propositions, the company must now provide details about their works. The site should, therefore, prove a link to describe the core services and solutions the parent company offers.
This will help the customers make up their minds about whether they want to avail of the services or not.
You can visit our client’s website Bodyshoptotal
A prominent navigation menu
Another feature that often irritates the visitors is the absence of a navigation menu. Thus to make a successful website, dropdown or static menus must always be provided. These types of menus solve the problem of overcrowding within the page and at the same time, provide all the necessary options to the visitors. Thus a visitor can easily navigate the website without the hassle of finding the desired options or links.
But you should avoid to hide a menu of your website because it can reduce your revenue. Well, fortunately, many small business websites have a simple architecture, so it is possible to use simple menu. If you own an ecommerce website, you should seek an advice of experts in UI/UX design and webdevelopment. The professional advice can save a lot of your money.
Demonstrating reviews and testimonials
Displaying the reviews and testimonials from your previous clients and collaborators is always great for impressions. According to recent researches, it has been found that online reviews help in gaining the trust of potential consumers and adds a reliability factor to the business. A couple of favorable reviews highlighted in the main page acts as social proof of the accomplishments and potential of the company.
If you add the structured data to your site, it may help to drive more traffic from the Google SERP. First, you will help Google to understand a content of your website, including reviews better. Second, when Google finds valid reviews or ratings markup, it may show a rich snippet that includes stars and other summary info from reviews or ratings. So, searchers will see reviews in the Google SERP.
Sometimes, it is a difficult to add the structured data to your site. If you order a professional website development services, it will save you time and money. Because it is easy for experienced website developer. If you use WordPress to create your site, professional WordPress developers can help you.
See the full presentation Bellissimo
Showcasing Awards and acknowledgments
Awards, acknowledgments or certificates are always a positive side for any small business. But instead of just keeping them in the corner of the office room, they should be displayed on the digital forefront. This will surely help in boosting the credibility of the company and will make the visitors realize the quality of work done here. Also, they add to the trust factor and acts as evidence of your success.
An easy payment feature
In case the website is used for selling purposes, a secure payment mechanism is a necessity. The products that are to be sold must be displayed prominently with the price tags and payment options available through trusted links. The web development must ensure regular updates to provide visitors with the best user interface. Any slight issue in this department can lead to adverse effects and create a dent in the company’s hard-earned reputation.
We recommend you use the best payment integrations.
Adding detailed contact information
A business’s most important aspect is its customers and investors. So the company must act friendly to make them feel comfortable. Therefore detailed contact info should always be incorporated on a website. Adding Phone numbers, Fax, Address, E-mail, and all social media accounts always give out the friendly vibes to the visitors. Interacting with potential customers or answering to their queries through phone calls or live chats helps in bringing new clients.
See the full presentation Surface Form on Behance
A mobile-friendly website
In this modern world of scientific advancements, mobile phones or Smartphones are a necessity for everyone. The majority of the population owns a personal mobile phone nowadays which they use for internet surfing. So a company must always aim to build a website that will be mobile-friendly. The essential features of such sites are quick loading time and easy navigation. This will help in making the website view count move faster and adds to its popularity.
Generate interest with weird elements on a site
If you want generate more interest, warming your leads up, you should use some weird elements on your site. Do you want to get several lessons? Read 7 Pointless Websites And What We Can Learn From Them
Conclusion
Hence, these are some essential elements and features that are essential to create and improve the website for small business flawlessly.
To get a professional website for your business you need to contact the professional team of corporate website development. It makes sense to encourage investment for sustainable development of your business.
Even, if you own a small business, you can seek an advice of F5 Studio’s professionals. Contact us
