Six Things That Every Business Website Needs

No, Virginia, business websites aren’t dead. In fact, small-business owners need them now more than ever before. And here are six things any self-respecting business website needs.

Are business websites obsolete? In the best debating tradition, we’ll counter that with another question: Have you seen how many websites there are? Obviously, the website is alive and well and replicating like crazy.  

You may think that websites are gradually being elbowed out of relevance by Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets. However, this report from the Acquity Group, quoted on Brafton.com, shows that a whopping 84% of people surveyed research businesses using – you guessed it – the company’s website.So then, you understandably want to put your best digital foot forward.

What does your website need to appeal to the modern Internet user? 

Six Things Every Business Website Needs

1. Its Own Domain Name. It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: spend the extra couple of bucks and get your own domain name. Think about it… how much trust would you put in a company whose online address looked like this: webhostme.sites.techspertservices? Very little. But techspertservices.com? It’s much more professional, not to mention much easier to remember.
2. Photos. Text-only websites are so 1999. Now, eye appeal shares the spotlight with punchy, tight content. You must have both. Even if you’re a business that doesn’t seem to be all that visual – an auto repair shop, say, or a cleaning service, you may not have product photos to display, but you can tell a story in pictures. And you should. If you doubt the appeal of images, consider Pinterest. It’s an entire community built on pictures.
3. Contact Form. Having a website without a contact form is about as smart as mailing an invoice with no address. What’s the point? Aside from a simple fill-in form with blank fields – pretty standard website fare – you need to have some standalone info. To inspire confidence, make sure your contact page includes ALL of the following:
   • Physical address or PO Box
   • Phone number
   • Email address
   • Days and hours of operation

   Omit these things and you risk looking like a scam at worst, or a lazy amateur at best. And this way, if your customers can’t or don’t want to fill in the form, they have alternate ways to reach you.

4. Reviews or Testimonials. Preferably, your reviews should come from a known third-party source, such as Yelp, Google, or Facebook. You don’t have to cut and paste the reviews onto your site; a plugin is available on WordPress and other web hosts to do the job for you.
5. Outreach. Ideally, a blog is the best place for fresh information to be. But if you don’t want to commit to a blog, at least have a page or section with all your latest news. If you have social media accounts, by all means link them to your webpage.
6. A Webmaster. This doesn’t have to be a technical wizard. Your web hosting service will usually handle IT issues for you. In this sense, a Webmaster is your go-to person for all information coming and going on your site. Without this, valuable leads could fall through the cracks.