Top 10 things every website needs
For most companies, the web has become the premiere communication vehicle that helps develop and maintain relationships with customers. Your business’s perception is often positively or negatively influenced by the users’ experience on your site vs. that of your competition.
1) A Solid Brand Identity
A good design is not necessarily going to win you a client, but a bad one can turn visitors off right away. First impressions are key. If your site does not help communicate your overall marketing message, you are effectively diluting your branding message. Good site designs allow users to experience a deeper level of the brand in both form and function.
Although good design alone will not keep someone on your site — an eye-catching design will, at the very least, grab their attention long enough to take a look around. Bells and whistles are nice, but the “less is more” theory usually holds true. You don’t want your design to be over crowded with extraneous elements. You want it to help you stand out from your competitors in the minds of your potential clients.
2) Thoughtful navigation
Although it sounds very basic, you’d be surprised how many sites still make it difficult for users to find the information they are looking for. When reviewing your site’s navigation, consider the skill levels of potential users, and how they might navigate through the site. While less experienced users benefit from a traditional ‘drill down’ approach, more advanced users might prefer navigation shortcuts via expandable menu systems. Including options for all kinds of users is the key.
You’ll also want to be sure that your navigation is easy to spot and consistent throughout the entire web site. Utilizing ‘breadcrumbs’ when possible is always helpful. Breadcrumbs typically appear horizontally across the top of a web page, usually below title bars or headers. Breadcrumbs provide a trail for the user to follow back to the starting or entry point. A greater-than sign (>) often serves as hierarchy separator.
Consistency is key here — be sure to place both your primary and sub-navigational links in the same spot throughout the various pages of your web site. Navigation should also be repeated at the bottom of the page, so users who view content below the fold do not have to scroll back up to get to the next page.
3) Site search feature
Site searches are a great way for users to find the right content quickly and easily. When programmed properly, searches serve up relevant content based on key words, part numbers or the like. Categorized results display possible matches by type, products, instruction sheets, or parts. These categorized results allow users even more control over the search, and reduce the number of clicks significantly.
4) Useful, up-to-date content
In today’s competitive online environment, content is king. Sites that provide users with useful information about the industry, as well as their products and services, helps your site in multiple ways. First, your customers and potential clients will appreciate easy-to-find information about your product applications, specifications, supporting documents and news all in one place.
Another benefit of detailed, relevant content is its ability to help seed your site with key search terms. Including key search terms within good content is a key factor in improving your organic (non-paid) search rankings with Google.
5) Online customer service tools
Allowing your customers to access important information outside of regular customer service hours goes a long way toward improving service. Password-protected extranets allow your customers to locate important information like past orders, invoices, order status and shipping updates on a 24 x 7 basis. They also eliminate many repetitive customer service calls, and allow your staff to focus on more pro-active relationships with your customers. The return on investment for these types of systems is excellent, as they pay for themselves in increased orders very quickly.
6) Feedback forms with back-end database
Most sites have a contact form that allows users to inquire about more information, but many still do not go beyond generating an email to the sales department. A very cost-effective feature to add to your site is a ’smart’ form that captures the user information into an online database. Information stored can then be integrated with email marketing systems and CRM tools. Smart forms can also be designed to capture and store important marketing information like referring sites and keywords that the user searched.
7) Blogs and forums
Creating ongoing conversations with your customers is a great way to improve customer service and get important feedback. An inexpensive way to do this is to add a blog or forum to your site. What’s the difference? A blog allows you and your staff to post information about your industry, your products and services, and any other relevant information. Readers are allowed to post comments on your articles (posts). A forum allows registered users to begin their own topics of conversation (threads) with your company and with each other. Both require ongoing effort to maintain and moderate, but are very powerful and cost effective ways to communicate regularly with your clients and prospects. They can also have search engine optimization benefits when used properly. For more benefits of having a business blog, please click here: http://desktopsolutions.com/blog/?p=180
8) Share button for social media
Including links from your site to various social media outlets is a no-brainer. If you’ve made the effort to include good site content, allowing your viewers to share it quickly and easily helps spread the word. While links to individual sites like Twitter, Facebook and Linked-In are important, the ’share’ widget allows users to re-post your content to multiple outlets and feeds.
9) Search Engine Optimization Tools
You want to make sure your site plays nicely with the search engines, so you have the best chances possible of showing up in search results. By using some simple SEO tools, you can easily fine-tune your site so when Google visits, you’ll be putting your best foot forward. Please review your meta tags and descriptions, your home page content and how your site is coded. For more information, please visit http://desktopsolutions.com/blog/?p=70
10) Google Analytics
This powerful tool from Google provides site owners with excellent, easy-to-read statistics about site users and their traffic patterns. Data about traffic coming from paid versus unpaid sources is invaluable for advertisers. Smart marketers can also create specific goals and targets to track success.
