Creating a simple business website to attract local traffic and increase one’s sales is not as difficult as it used to be. Today there are many options and services that offer small business owners the opportunity to host a business website that are easy setup and inexpensive to maintain. The first rule of creating a small business website is in the title. Keep it simple. The site needs to be clean, easy to read, and answer all the questions the clients or prospects may have. The navigation must be easy to follow with big menu items and internal links that take the visitors to their intended pages and sections. Adding videos to you website should be reserved for videos of one’s products and services. Avoid putting all the pictures on the home page. This will create clutter and complicate the website. If one has many pictures of one’s products or services, create a photo section and organize the photos into categories to facilitate the visitors’ experience.
When a visitor clicks on a link the results should open in the same window. Avoid links that would open a new window or new tab for pictures, PDF documents, or order forms. One’s website might be easy to read on a monitor but you need to realize that a lot of people have small laptop monitors or they might be viewing the website from a smart phone. The best practice for displaying information is dark text on a white background. Keep your home page small and clean so it will load fast for people on slow connections and that will decrease the chance of people losing patience and going to another website. One must have the business information on every page. The company name should be at the top and on every page. It should be a link back to your home page in case visitors feel lost and want to return to the beginning.
The site requires a contact for people who are not comfortable in asking questions in person or on the phone. You would be surprised at the number of people who just can’t get themselves to pick up the phone for the simplest request for information. Make it easy for them to contact you with the use of a form or simple email. Contact information and business hours. If you want your visitors to visit one’s location make sure one has the location information on the site. One can also include a map and driving directions from major landmarks. No matter what route one takes to create a website one needs to remember to keep simple and to place all the importance of visitors experience on the website. They should not have one single question unanswered when they leave or contact you for a sale or quote.
