1. Contact information in an easy to find location
If you want to sell products or services to your users online you should put up a way for your clients to contact you. A contact form is ok, but what you really need to have on your website is your phone number, business address, map to your location and any additional information that will make it easy for your clients to contact you quickly, such as specialized customer service numbers or parking directions.
2. ACTUAL Product and/or Service Information
A lot of small businesses think that the fluff copy they put in their sales brochures is enough to satisfy a user. Think again. Lots of consumers start their product and service searches online, so this may very well be their first contact with you, make it good. Instead of regurgitating that brochure copy, think about how users read on the web. Website users generally skim content, they look for headers and bolded content to catch their eye, and once they find what they think they’re looking for they may only read the first few sentences of content before clicking into (or out of) your website. So be brief, be honest (no fluff copy please!) and keep that readers attention.
3. Clear Navigation and Usability
So often I hear users talk about how CLUTTERED a homepage is and how CONFUSING it is to get around websites. Don’t try to get down to the nitty gritty with your content on your homepage. Again, think about users reading habits, give them short snippets of copy and then CLEAR a call to action (that means something do to such as “Order this Product Now” or “Contact Us for More Information”). This will help guide your user to the primary action you want them to do on the website.
Also, make sure all your navigation (the links to get through your website) is easy to understand, navigation isn’t really a great place to “get creative”, keep your language simple so your users don’t have to backtrack because they went to a page that sounded like what they wanted but wasn’t. This includes the dreaded “click here” links for more information on a given topic. Instead, tell your users what’s on the other side, for instance “download more information about Product Name”.
4. Anayltics Tracking
Without tracking your users visits and interactions on your website there really isn’t an easy way to track your return on investment of your website in the first place. So many businesses build a website, but never actually start tracking how many poeple actually SEE it.
Tracking data from a website is called “Web Analytics” and this data allows you to track how many people come to your website, how they get there, how they use your website once they find it and many other types of data about your users. Using web analytics you can make updates to your website that attract interest and allow for better usability for your visitors. Helping you out on item #3 on this list.
I highly recommend Google Analytics for tracking your web analytics. It’s completely free, has amazing tracking capabilities and pretty easy to use.
5. E-Newsletter Subscribe Form
It’s easy to get the word out on a new product or service when you have the names and e-mail addresses of all your website users that sign up to receive more information about your company and products via an e-newsletter. How do I get these names you ask? Well! The answer an E-Newsletter Subscribe Form, this small form allows your users to sign up (also known as opt in) for your e-newsletter. This way, you can get their name, e-mail and any other vital information you might want to collect about them. However, be careful not to make your form too long, that will deter users from filling it out.
It’s ok if you don’t plan on sending out an e-newsletter ANY time soon, you should still collect interested users information in case you ever want to start communicating through e-mail. It’s much easier to collect it now gradually and then have a bunch of names to start with later than to decide you want to start an e-newsletter and watch and wait painfully as you’re eager to start but still need to collect the names.
E-newsletter companies (people you pay to send out e-newsletters professionally) usually provide a form for your customers as part of their services, however some companies require you to pay to hold your lists on their systems. Also, e-newsletter companies and their services are not compared apples to apples and it can get confusing to select a company if you don’t know all the jargon. However, there is a great company out there that I highly recommend called Campaign Monitor. They don’t charge you to have your account or your lists on their systems EVER, they just charge you $5 per e-mail/ a penny a recipient. In other words, if you’re not sending any e-mail and just collecting addresses, it’s completely free. Yep, I said the magic word again…FREE!
I hope this list of Website Must Haves helps you in your quest for a great website that your users enjoy and brings you success online. It’s easy to get lost in the hundreds of widgets and gadgets that you can put on your website, but it’s important to remember why your customers try to find you online in the first place. They want more information on you, your products/services and how to buy them, and they want it FAST. Deliver this and you’ll win over clients online.
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