10 Must-Have Features for a Successful Business Website

In today’s digital age, having a good business website is essential to building a strong online presence and attracting potential customers. A well-designed website helps establish credibility and trust with visitors and enhances the overall user experience. This article will discuss the key features that make a good business website and how they contribute to its success.

A good business website should have clear and concise navigation that guides visitors to the pages they are looking for. The navigation should be intuitive and easy to use, with logical groupings and labels that make sense. The navigation should be placed where visitors expect to find it, ideally at the top of the page, and use everyday terms that users are familiar with. It’s best if the navigation reflects the pathways available to audience sub-segments. And please don’t use the hamburger menu for the desktop. It adds another zero-value click, which is not a good user experience.

With most internet users accessing websites through their mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website is essential. A good business website will be optimized for mobile devices, using a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes. This ensures the website looks good and functions properly on all devices, regardless of screen size.

In today’s fast-paced world, users expect websites to load quickly. A good business website should have a fast loading speed, preferably a second or less. It’s one of the earliest trust events in your relationship with a prospective customer. Achieve this by optimizing images, using a content delivery network (CDN), and minimizing the use of scripts and plugins.

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Engaging and benefit-oriented content is crucial for keeping visitors on your website and encouraging them to return. A good business website should have high-quality content that is informative, engaging, and useful to the target audience. This also helps with SEO. Content should be easy to read and scannable, with clear headings, subheadings, and bullet points. And please avoid long lines; they are hard to read. 

A good business website will have clear pathways so visitors can easily find the information they seek. Using strong call-to-actions (CTAs) within pathways will encourage visitors to act. This will engage visitors, reduce bounce rates, and creates a positive user experience. CTAs should be prominently placed on the website, using contrasting colors and clear wording relevant to users’ needs.

Social proof is a crucial feature of a good business website, as it can help to establish credibility and build trust with potential customers. By showcasing positive reviews, testimonials, and brands you have worked with, businesses can provide evidence that others have had positive experiences with their brand. This helps alleviate doubts or concerns potential customers may have and drive more traffic to the website. A good business website will display social proof prominently.

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps your website rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs). A good business website will be optimized for SEO, with relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and alt tags. The website should also have a clear URL structure and sitemap to make it easy for search engines to crawl and index the site.

Security and reliability are important factors that contribute to the success of a business website. A good business website should be secure, with an SSL certificate and strong passwords to protect against hacking and cyber attacks. The website should also be reliable, with a good hosting provider that ensures uptime and fast response times.

Analytics and tracking are essential for measuring the success of your website and making informed decisions about future improvements. A good business website should have analytics and tracking software, such as Google Analytics, to track user behavior and engagement.

Finally, a good business website should have clear and easy-to-find contact information, including a phone number, email address, and physical address. This helps to establish trust with visitors and makes it easy for them to contact you if they have any questions or concerns.

A good business website should have the following features:

• Clear and concise navigation, 
• Be mobile-friendly, 
• Pages load quickly, 
• Engaging content, 
• Clear pathways to valuable content,
• Social proof to build trust, 
• Be optimized for SEO, 
• Be secure and reliable, 
• Have analytics and tracking, and 
• Have clear contact information. 

By implementing these key features, businesses can create a website that looks great and performs well in terms of user experience and search engine rankings. Remember, a website is often a potential customer’s first impression of your business. Investing time and resources into creating a website that accurately represents your brand and offers a positive user experience is essential. With the right features and optimizations, a good business website can be a powerful tool for attracting and retaining customers in the digital age.

Author: James Hipkin

Since 2010, James Hipkin has built his clients’ businesses with digital marketing. Today, James is passionate about websites and helping the rest of us understand online marketing. His customers value his jargon-free, common-sense approach. “James explains the ins and outs of digital marketing in ways that make sense.”

Use this link to book a meeting time with James.