Having a successful website is one of the strongest marketing strategies available for businesses of any size. Even if your business website is only informational, it is vital that you pay close attention to all of the details, making sure it is as user-friendly and easy to navigate. Viewers of your website won’t want to stick around if there are errors or if they find it difficult to locate information; therefore you should continue to maintain your website and incorporate these five key features of a successful website.
Key Features
1) Simple Layout Design
One of the most important aspects of a successful website is to use a simple and easy-to-use layout design. Your website design should not be complex as this may be confusing, distracting, and deter viewers of your site. Keep the fonts basic and simple to read by using such fonts as Helvetica or Arial. Avoid fonts smaller than 12-point as well. While including both graphics and information is beneficial for almost any website, avoid making it appear overcrowded. Reduce the load time by choosing several smaller web pages as opposed to one or two web pages with a lot of information, images, files, and media. Most website viewers will leave your site if it doesn’t load in 2-3 seconds.
2) User-Friendly Navigation
Create a website that allows for simple, user-friendly navigation that makes it easy for viewers of your website and potential customers to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. Generally, viewers won’t click on more than three links to get to their destination, so keep important pages like the shopping cart, shipping information, company background and other pertinent information visible on the home page. A search tool should exist on your webpage from the first landing page and be clearly visible on each and every page of your website. Links are also very important as is the organization of your website including a navigation bar and primary category pages.
3) Visually Appealing
Your business website should also be visually appealing using clear and concise images of products that are for sale. While large image sizes and overcrowding of images makes web pages load slower and seem distracting to the viewer, images are still important. If you are selling a product, you should have professional photographs of each product, which clearly shows the colors and details of the product on a neutral background. The look of your website should also reflect the theme or style of your business including the theme, color scheme, font colors, images, background and logo.
4) Expedient Checkout Process
Successful websites of online retailers offer a simple and easy-to-use checkout process that works quickly and without much effort. Use a reliable shopping cart program in order to have an expedient checkout process on your website. The shopping cart feature should offer flexibility such as accepting a number of credit cards, and possibly other forms of payment like e-checks and PayPal. The shopping cart feature should also offer secure payment processing so the shopper feels comfortable purchasing from your website.
5) Impressive Marketing Methods
Your website is going to double as a marketing tool so you should use successful marketing strategies on your website. This includes excellent customer service and easy ways to contact the administrator which is easy for the customer to find as well as listing product ratings and reviews so future customers may feel that your products are excellent based on previous reviews. Following up with your customers after the purchase is completed and the goods are shipped is also an essential marketing strategy.
Your company’s website is just as important as the product you are trying to sell, no matter what it is and how large of a customer base you have. The website is often the first look into your business and what you have to offer and can help you gain a reputation for being a reputable business. Successful websites incorporate marketing strategies, user-friendly designs and navigation, and offer convenience when designing their website.
