A solid business website is an essential component of every company’s efforts to market itself. The truth is, businesses that lack a sophisticated website are less likely to attract those customers that rely on the internet to research new customers. And that could mean devastating losses. For many individuals, your company’s website is their first impression of your business and what you do, so this website must be able to act as an ambassador for your brand. Part 1 of this articles gives several tips on how to design a smart business website, and below, you will find three additional tips for making your website’s first impression a good one:
1. Keep it short.
It’s understandable that you should want to brag about your business. Your company provides income for you and your family, and it is likely the one place you spend the majority of your time. But it is important to remember that most website viewers are remarkably impatient and possess neither the time nor the desire to read everything you’d probably like to write about your company or your products/ services. In fact, studies indicate that the average visitor to your website will stay on one page for no more than sixty seconds. This means that you usually have less than a minute of a potential customers’ time to grab their attention and convince them to stay on your site. Thus, it is advisable for you to limit your text to only one or two pages’ worth of information on each page of your website (excluding the homepage, which should have even less- no more than a paragraph or two). There are exceptions to this rule, of course, such as when you are composing an article for a company blog or when you are writing an informative article (like the one you’re reading), but for the majority of your website, one to two pages should be considered the absolute maximum. If you or your staff are having difficulty crafting concise content of good quality, it is often a good idea to seek the assistance of a marketing company or a professional or freelance writer.
2. Use the About Us page wisely.
The About Us page is a crucial part of your business’s website, but many businesses struggle with deciding what to include in this section. In essence, the About page should provide essential information pertaining to your company, information that otherwise might not fit on your website. A good About page should include, at the very least:
- What your business does, including areas of expertise and specialization- Many times, the About page is the first page a visitor to your website will see, so even if you’ve stated your business’s purpose on the homepage (as you should), you’ll need to do it again here.
- Who you primarily serve
- Company history- State how long your business has been around, and talk about important dates and milestones.
The above points are all crucial, but that doesn’t mean you should stop there when creating your About page. If you finish this section after including only the basics, you could be severely under-utilizing this part of your site. Going beyond the basics means including:
- What you can deliver to the customer that differentiates you from other companies
- Your long term and short term goals
- Your mission and core values- Avoid becoming “preachy,” however, as this type of stance is likely to alienate many potential customers.
- Some light (or not so light) bragging- Do this in the form of awards, achievements, customer testimonials (unless those have their own page on your site) and other forms of praise
- An appeal to the human side of your site’s visitors- Talk about your company, of course, but also talk about the people behind your company (in the form of employee-prepared bios, favorite quotes, personal facts, and other things that will help you to establish a human connection with the customer).
3. Include a page with your business’s contact information.
Some people will visit your website for the sole purpose of obtaining your contact information, and if your site lacks a page clearly dictating this necessary information, you’ll likely lose customers as a result. Even if a customer visited your page for a reason other than to find your contact information, there is still a high possibility that they will need to get in touch with you for some reason. Again, remembering how little patience most potential customers have for poorly designed websites, you’ll want to have your contact information displayed as clearly as possible. Email addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and addresses are all examples of pieces that should be included whenever possible, and the necessity for this information to be displayed in as straightforward a manner as possible simply cannot be stressed enough! Additionally, many businesses choose to display this information in a sidebar or footer that is present on every page so that should a customer decide that they need to contact you, they can do so without even leaving the page they are currently viewing.
In order to attract and retain prospective customers, it helps to have a sophisticated and easy to use website. Your website will often have to act as your representative, so it’s important that you keep your text concise, that you have a solid About Us page, and that you display your contact information as clearly as possible.
