Click here to get this post in PDF form!
Your business website is often the first impression that your audience will have into your business.
That’s why it’s so important to include certain information that everyone will be looking for on your website. After all, a website exists to give information about your business to your audience in very specific detail. You want to ensure that it’s laser directed to your audience in such a way as to make the audience feel understood and safe at the same time. With that in mind, it’s essential to include these elements on your business website.
Unique Content
Content consists of all information you put on your website, from blog posts to the about page. Images, forms, contextual information, the words on a submit button and more are all content, and all opportunities to appeal to your ideal client. The more you can direct everything toward that client, the more results you’re going to have. Get creative and don’t shy away from outsourcing your copywriting tasks. Copywriters specialize in making your content express your unique tone of voice and easy to read.
Overview of Benefits
A list of benefits of your offerings someplace or in several places on your website is another great thing to include. Your audience should leave your site totally understanding the benefits of your offerings, without having to question anything. Spend some time on creating a FAQ page for any questions that may arise that aren’t immediately understood from other pages. Enlist the help of colleagues, family, and friends when compiling your list. The more questions you can answer for your website visitors, the better.
Contact Information
Some people seem to want to hide their contact information. Make it easy. Use your contact me page to offer multiple ways that your audience can contact you, including a phone number, email form, social media pages, a map if you’re a local brick and mortar business, and more. People will be more likely to trust you if they know how to get in touch with you. Building rapport is critical in making a good first impression. List your social media accounts clearly and prominently as well and encourage people to contact you via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Hang out online where your customers are and then interact with them – especially when they leave comments or mention you in a tweet.
Simple Navigation
Nothing is worse than not being able to figure out how to get around a website. If you want your audience to not only stick to your website but also to use it to its full potential, make the navigation easy to understand and intuitive to your audience. Check your website on multiple mobile devices and browsers to ensure compatibility. Is it easy to find all of your content from a smartphone? That’s the first step in mobile-friendly website design. There’s a lot more to it than that, so for some helpful tips on how to make your site more mobile responsive, check out A Beginner’s Guide to Mobile Responsive Design by StudioPress.
Comments Section
Whether via blog posts or an entirely new page for comments, make it easy for your audience to comment and read comments from others. This is a wonderful use of website space, especially because user-generated content is loved by search engines.
Clear CTAs
Don’t be shy when it comes to calls to action. Your audience has no idea what to do unless you tell them. Make your CTAs super clear and try to limit them to one or two per page of your website so that they don’t get confused about what to do. Include them in blog posts, service pages, pricing pages, and even present visitors with a clear CTA at the end of your FAQ page.
Special Offers
A great way to draw people to read more information on your website is to always include some sort of special offer to new visitors. You can use plugins to time offerings as well as to only offer them to new visitors. This is a great way to increase customer loyalty.
Email Newsletter Subscription
Don’t let your visitors leave without offering them the ability to get updated about your offerings in the form of a newsletter or email list. Pop-unders and sliders are very common today because they work. Consider adding them to your business website for maximum impact. Be careful not to go too big or intrusive with your pop-ups or lightboxes, especially on mobile because your website will be penalized. Always offer a reason for people to opt-in to your email list. An opt-in freebie could be a coupon code, exclusive content, a whitepaper, or even an ebook. If you are giving stuff away people are more likely to give back with their email address.
Need more ideas on how to build your email list? Check out How to Build Your Email List to Grow Your Business.
Adding these elements to your business website will make your site work that much better within your marketing and sales strategy. Just remember to frame everything you do in terms of how your audience thinks and feels rather than how you think and feel.
Once your website is up and running, let someone help take the load off of creating content, updating new offering, and making sure your plugins are all working properly with your email marketing provider. We provide WordPress & blog management services for busy business owners and know you have better things to do than keep up with your website. Contact us if you’re ready to focus on your business instead of on your website.
