Small Business Website Tips

All small businesses need a web presence in this increasingly digital age. If you’re in the market to upgrade your current setup or are venturing into the virtual world for the first time, you might be feeling lost. Having a website that works well and helps your customers to have a pleasant user experience is an absolute must, especially if you’re going to be making sales through it. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your website:

Secure Payments

Customers are becoming more and more aware of online security, so they’re going to be reluctant to share their card details with businesses that they don’t trust. Even if they’re convinced your services are right for them, they’ll choose a different provider if your payment portal isn’t up to scratch. One option you have is to give customers the choice of using a third-party payment provider that they trust. But many customers will also want to pay with their card, particularly if they’re older and less familiar with technology. This product gateway protects customer information and helps to keep you safe from fraud.

Speed

It’s no secret that customers want everything to happen as fast as possible. If your website takes more than a few seconds to load, they may lose interest. Make sure you’ve chosen a decent website provider that promises high loading speeds. As your traffic increases, you may have to choose a more expensive package to keep your business running as it should. If you’re starting off with a more budget-friendly option, then it’s important not to fill your website with large images that may slow customers down.

Contact Information

While your website should be as informative as possible, having clear contact information can make your audience more likely to convert. They’ll be able to easily reach out with any questions they might have before they make a purchase, which can also help you to compile a list of FAQs for later. Contact information also builds trust, as customers will know there is someone behind the website who they can ask about any problems.

User-Friendly Navigation

Making your website easy to use will help you to drive customers through different stages of awareness. If it’s easy to get from your blog to your product page and then to the checkout, customers will be much more likely to make a purchase. A navigation bar can help with this but you may want to look into UX principles before making any firm decisions.

Consider SEO

If your website isn’t optimized for SEO, it’s never going to appear in search results. SEO starts with how your website is built and whether it’s easy for Google to find and crawl. Having these foundations in place will support any keyword research you go on to do later. This might be something that’s out of your comfort zone, but there are many freelancers and agencies who can advise you on the best route to take.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.