7 "Must Haves" For Your Company Website

Building a company website that is both relevant and effective is no small task.  Fortunately, there are some things you can plan out before you begin in order to make your chore more manageable.  Here are 7 things that you should make sure are included in your company website.  By following these tips, you can take steps to ensure that your company is set apart from the competition, and you’ll find that your conversion rate from website visits will improve dramatically.

Introduce your company first

The first thing a visitor to your site should see is a short introduction to your company.  Don’t make visitors wander around or click links to find out what your company does.  Most people don’t have the attention span for that, and if you don’t introduce yourself right off the bat they will wander away from your webpage, never to return.  One more thing: your introduction should convey your company’s passion, and not just include dry information about what you do.

Web Addresses Matter

You need to have a web address that is easy to remember.  Most visitors to your site won’t bother typing in something that is too long, or something that they can’t easily remember.  When coming up with the best url, keep it simple, and keep it short.  That will make all the difference in the world when it comes to the number of repeat visitors you have.

Take Advantage of a simple site map

Visitors to your site don’t want to have to jump through hoops to find what they’re looking for, and they don’t want to have to wander around your website trying to find certain pages.  Make things easy for them by employing a very simple site map.  This will help with user experience as well as your search engine optimization results.

Use a call to action, and make it prominent

Website visitors are sometimes a bit like cattle wandering through the Internet: they need to be prodded into taking the next step.  Don’t leave it to chance whether someone elects to contact you or purchase your good or service.  Instead, use an effective call to action to steer visitors to the next step.

A call to action is only useful if it’s easy for visitors to see.  So make sure it is prominently displayed where it will draw the eye.  If a visitor has to hunt for the next step, there’s a good chance that he or she won’t ever take it.  Whether it’s a button labeled “add to cart” or “shop now” or some sort of contact form, use a good call to action to maximize the effectiveness of your website.

Don't hide your contact information

If a potential customer needs to get in touch with you, make it easy for him or her to do so.  Display your contact information prominently, and be sure to provide more than one means for getting in touch.  Some people prefer email; others like to talk on the phone.  Make sure your visitors can engage with you in any way they prefer, and make the information easy for them to find.

Develop plenty of original-and useful-content

Sometimes, in order to get something, you have to give something.  In the case of a website, this means you may have to provide them with content they can use in order to build credibility and brand awareness.

Visitors to your website might be looking for information on a particular product or service.  Make sure they find what they are looking for.  In exchange, you will begin to become (in their eyes) a reliable source for the good or service you offer.  Then, when they actually need what you’re offering, your site will be the one they go to.

Another benefit of adding original and useful content on a regular basis is that it will help with search engine rankings.  Search engines want people to use them; to facilitate this, they tend to give higher rankings to websites offering valuable information.  So put valuable information on your site, and you’ll find that the search engines rank your company higher in the results.

Obtain customer reviews and post them where visitors will see them

Internet users are a skeptical lot.  Anywhere you look online, you’ll find websites purporting to offer valuable goods and services.  Frequently, they don’t do much more than take their customer’s money and produce less than satisfactory results.

To keep visitors from wondering if your company is like this, make sure to get reviews from real people who have tried using your company.  Make sure they are authentic, as posting fake reviews will eventually come back to haunt you.  Then, put the reviews up in a place where visitors will see them.  This builds credibility and leads to better sales.