The 10 must have features behind Websites that generate local customers on Autopilot for Small Businesses.
(How to build a website that works for you instead of against you)
by AG Shaw
One of the biggest lost opportunities for small businesses right now is not knowing how to use their business website correctly to attract and capture customers.
Any good small business has a website, but most owners and managers have no idea how to set up their website in a way that attracts customers. Even scarier, a website that is set up the wrong way can actually lose them customers every day.
It’s not their fault. Website marketing wasn’t an essential skill-set to have until recently and with all of the important things an owner/manager must focus on daily, it usually takes a backseat.
While that’s understandable, keeping their business website as an afterthought ends up costing them thousands of dollars of money “left on the table” every month.
In today’s current environment, your website is typically the #1 “make or break” first impression a consumer gets. Savvy consumers are almost exclusively checking out your (and your competitor’s) website before they pick up the phone or come in to try your products.
With that in mind, what are the features that a small business website must have in order to not only attract curious consumers, but also convert them into paying customers?
Today, I’m going to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what over a decade of marketing experience has given us. You’re going to see the 10 secret features that professional website designers bake into their websites that cause browsers to become paying customers.
Let’s dig in.
Must Have Website Feature #1: An Intelligently Designed User Interface.
We’ve all been to websites that are hard to navigate or don’t work like we think they should. When a website isn’t organized well or doesn’t work correctly, it causes the person browsing the site to assume the business is just as disorganized in person. Professional design usually means a user-friendly interface, making it easier for visitors to navigate, find information, and make purchases or inquiries. This enhances customer satisfaction and leads to increased sales.
Must Have Website Feature #2: Intentional Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Professionally designed websites are optimized for search engines (SEO), helping the business appear higher in search results. This increases visibility and can attract more organic traffic (They can’t buy from you if they can’t find you and SEO is the quickest and easiest way to be found faster and above your competitors).
Must Have Website Feature #3: Mobile Optimization.
With the increasing use of smartphones for internet browsing, a professional website is typically optimized for mobile devices, ensuring a seamless experience for users on any device. If your site isn’t mobile optimized, it quickly leads to frustration and your potential customers fleeing to a competitor’s website and business for their purchase.
Must Have Website Feature #4: Branding and Quality Consistency.
There is nothing worse for a brand than a website that looks like it was put together over a weekend on a cheap web design platform. This gives your potential customers the impression that you “phoned it in” on your website and that you’ll do the same inside of your business. Professional designs integrate your business’s branding into the website design, reinforcing brand recognition and loyalty. A good design also conveys the quality of your service or products in the eyes of the consumer by delivering a quality experience on your website.
Must Have Website Feature #5: Secure Socket Layer (SSL) compatibility.
Have you ever gone to a website and gotten a security warning in your browser? If so, you know how that experience immediately makes you move on to a competitor. Google now requires SSL technology on websites to rank them and most major browsers will warn a person if the website isn’t secure. Taking care of this can be difficult but it is essential to giving a website browser the feeling that they are taken care of when doing business with you. This is one of those things most people don’t notice, until it’s done wrong on a website.
Must Have Website Feature #6: Analytics and Reporting.
Professional websites include analytics, which allows businesses to track visitor behavior, preferences, and demographics. This data is invaluable for tailoring marketing strategies and improving the website. You can’t grow if you don’t understand what people are doing and looking for when they are on your website. This one thing is the difference between businesses that continually grow their income via their site vs the ones that perpetually don’t understand the importance or effectiveness of their website.
Must Have Website Feature #7: A Detailed Explanation of your Product/Services
People seek out your website to get in depth information on your products and services. They want to be able to make a buying decision before they ever call or visit your business. When you give them the detailed information they need about your products or services, they instantly feel better about spending their money with you. More understanding of your products and services instantly equals higher sales. (it’s also a great way to rank higher on Google for multiple terms that lead to paying customers).
Must Have Website Feature #8: Multiple Contact Options and hours.
You must have your phone number, physical address, and hours of operation on your website. But even more important than that to today’s consumers is a way that they can contact you without having to call or come in. If your website has a contact form that they can use and you have a way to be instantly alerted and get back to them fast, you will convert 20-30% more of your website visitors into actual paying customers.
Must Have Website Feature #9: Pictures of You and Your Staff.
People want to look you in the eye and get a sense of who you are. The trick is that they want to be able to do that without having to actually come through your doors first. The businesses that have professional photos of the staff as one of the first things that people see when they visit the website consistently convert higher than those that don’t. You can’t afford to be faceless these days. People want to use the internet to get a sense of who they will be doing business with before they come in and your website is where they come to “snoop on you” first.
Must Have Website Feature #10: A well Crafted Mission Statement (About Us)
People need to know why you do what you do. The most overlooked but most important page on any business website is the “about page”. A professionally crafted and well told story about why your business exists is extremely important to converting browsers into new customers. This one page, when done correctly, can transform your website and your business overnight.
These 10 features are the most important but the most commonly done wrong things that we see in business websites these days. If you get these right, your website turns into a full time salesperson for your business. If done incorrectly, it can actually scare customers away.
Can you do all of these things yourself and fix your Website yourself?
The answer is absolutely.
The above 10 features are written as a cheatsheet to anyone that wants to go fix their website. But, I want to make a bold statement.
Why waste your time and money doing it yourself when you could get someone who specializes in creating professional websites for growing businesses? The answer is usually because people think getting a pro is going to cost them an arm and a leg.
While it’s true that hiring a “web designer” will cost your tens of thousands of dollars and take months, hiring a professional web marketer is different.
How is a Web Marketer different than a Web Designer?
While a web designer is going to focus on building everything from scratch and charge you for the hours spent doing that, a web marketer is going focus on using a proven template to get your results.
With a solid template, you’re getting a beautiful website, that is branded to your business, but that follows a set of rules that can be quickly implemented. In short, a web marketer cuts out 90% of the design cost and just focuses on the “important stuff”.
That cost savings gets passed on to you.
Here’s my Sincere Recommendation and Request.
If you’ve been looking for someone to turn your website into a Sales Asset instead of something that is a liability for your business, give us a shot. The pricing is affordable for any business out there (new or established) and you’ll never have to worry again about whether your website is working for you, or working against you.
I guarantee that within 60 days of using a website that we’ve built for you, that you’ll see the difference in your customer interactions and your sales.
Click Here to Sign Up and Get Started Now.
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