Getting the most out of your business website can become a very complicated part of your day-to-day activities, and with everything else on your schedule, it can easily become overwhelming.
One part of a website where possibilities are endless are the features. The web has become a very sophisticated platform, and with that sophistication has come a litany of bells and whistles that you can add to your website…but the question becomes: What should you add and what should you stay away from?
Incorporating too many or the wrong features on your website can have two negative outcomes:
- For your customers: It can make your website too complicated in ways that aren’t appealing to the visitor. While you may think a certain feature is super cool or works well on another website you’ve seen, you really have to consider why your customers are coming to your website above anything else.
- For you and your staff: A lot of time and effort can be wasted by trying to implement every new feature released on the market. Keeping things simple and only implementing the features that makes sense for your business allows you to do a few things well, rather than doing a lot of things badly.
A few things all small business websites should have:
So, to understand how you should determine which features belong on your website, the first thing to do is take stock of a few things that all business websites should have. This list is not exhaustive, but does contain a handful of features that web users have come to expect when visiting a business’s site:
An easy to remember domain name
Visitors should be able to find your website on search engines, but they should also be able to reach it directly by typing your URL into the browser. Therefore, you should have your own YOURBUSINESS.com domain name. If you have a long domain name that you received as part of a free website, you’ll likely lose a lot of direct traffic (and return visitors).
Contact forms & information
It’s always a good idea to make it as easy as possible for your customers to contact you, and your website is no exception. Visitors should be able to contact you very quickly upon arriving at your site – especially on mobile devices. In many instances, visitors venture to a business website solely to contact that business, so don’t make it hard for them to accomplish this task.
Mobile responsiveness
Speaking of mobile devices, let’s make one thing as clear as can be at this time: You NEED a mobile-friendly website. These days, around 65% of all website traffic is coming from mobile devices, and you do not want to alienate those visitors.
Here’s a tip: When designing your website, employ a “mobile-first” strategy where you plan for mobile devices first, and then expand outward to plan for tablets and desktop screens. This way, you’re considering the mobile experience from the start, which can improve the usability and maintain simplicity in your site.
Accessibility
The Internet is at its best when it is open, inclusive, and easily usable by all, and a lot of incentives have been put in place to promote these values. Accessibility is the concept of making your website something that all people can easily access and interact with – regardless of hearing, visual, mobility, or any other disability. These days, beyond being the right thing to do, having an accessible website can help your search engine rankings, and can help you avoid issues with emerging and often changing legislation.
An About Us page
This should be obvious, but your site needs to have an “About Us” page so that people can get to know you and find important information about you quickly. This page should include your and your company’s background, the story of how you started your business, your mission, contact information, and if you’re a brick-and-mortar location, hours of operation. Bonus points for adding a photo of you or your staff as this helps to humanize your business.
Fresh content
Have you ever stepped into a store that’s musty, dusty, full of cobwebs and has old, outdate products? It’s not a great experience (and you probably wonder what the business is a front for), so do not let your website be the virtual equivalent. Keeping your website up to date shows visitors that you are, indeed, an active and operating business, but much like a physical location, your website reflects your work ethic, attention to detail, and overall image – you’ll want to maintain it as you would any other part of your brand.
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The nice to haves – but only in the right situation
Now that we know what every small business website should have, let’s turn our attention to optional features and when you should consider utilizing them (and how):
Blog
A blog is a popular addition to many business websites, and while it can bring a lot of benefits by providing a way to add constant fresh content, it is also a large undertaking. One thing to keep in mind when considering a blog: If you don’t update your blog and abandon it, it can do you more harm than good.Â
If the latest post on your blog is dated from a year ago, people visiting your site might get a bad impression of your business (or worse, assume you’re closed). Bottom line: If you have a blog, make sure you can maintain the blog.
Testimonials & reviews
While potential customers do like to see what real people think about your business, you must take care when displaying testimonials and reviews on your own website. Keep in mind, there are plenty of trusted review sites on the web, so if people do want to find feedback about you, they likely can. However, if you do display reviews on your own site, consider the following:
- Ensure you have permission to share the quote publicly…and like all permissions, it’s best to get this in writing.
- Do not alter the quote in any way.
- Make sure it is sourced correctly.
Search bar
Another feature that web users are coming to expect on websites is the ability to search through that site’s content easily. And while this can be an absolute necessity on certain larger enterprise sites with lots of information, for small businesses, it’s not always helpful.Â
If you’re a local restaurant with 5 pages to your entire website, then you probably don’t need to allow people the option to search – and doing so can be overkill in a way that confuses the user experience. Consider an easy to navigate site organization before considering search, and only add search if your site:
- Houses a lot of information and resources that visitors will want to access and sift through quickly; or
- Has a long running blog with lots of content already published.
 Live Chat support
For small businesses, this often comes down the question of “to bot or not to bot”. Finding a team or an individual to field all online support requests can be difficult, and the last thing you want is a support system on your website that’s unresponsive. So, the solution for many small businesses becomes bots:Â
Robots with pre-programmed responses who engage in conversations on your business’s behalf. Bots can be helpful but can also be off putting and can turn people away if they are unhelpful and not set up correctly. When it comes to live support, it's likely best for small businesses to provide your phone number and let customers call you directly.
Online ordering
A feature increasing in popularity among small businesses – specifically those in the food service industry since the onset of the pandemic – is online ordering. Whether it be for immediate fulfillment or to have a product send via mail, customers are increasingly expecting to have the ability to make a transaction on your website.Â
However, this is another feature that must be done right in order for it to be effective. You must also be certain that your system is secure, and that your staff has the ability to handle the additional orders that will come from online customers.Â
One more tip: Beware of the fees that can be taken by online ordering partners. If you don’t read the fine print, they could eat into your profits in a shocking and damaging way!
 Email newsletter
As a rule of thumb, you should not let your visitors get away from your website without the opportunity for future touches. Whether it be by promoting your social media in a way that entices more likes, or in this case, utilizing an email newsletter.Â
While maintaining a consistent newsletter can take work, it can bring a lot of benefit, and there are many platforms that provide templates to make your workload a bit lighter. Include things like company news, specials and offers, and even industry news in your newsletter, then send it regularly (monthly is a good rhythm for most small businesses) to keep your website working for you well after each visitor has left.
Enjoy more small business marketing content during Marketing MANIA!
Are you purposeful about the features you’ve added to your business website? Have you ever fallen into the trap of getting excited about a feature, implementing it, and regretting it because it wasn’t for your organization? Let us know your experiences with website features in the comments below!