7 essential features every business website needs to succeed

When it comes to business websites, certain key elements can really help you achieve a solid online presence. Let’s take a look at seven must-have components.

This means effectively communicating your products or services’ unique benefits and value, making it clear why they should choose you over competitors.

Get someone (outside of your business, that doesn’t know your business) to take a look at your website, ask them to look through for 30 seconds and then ask them to tell you what you do. See if its simple enough to understand. If not, you may need to revisit this.

Create a simple menu system that allows customers to find what they need. Present your menu in the way your customers think, not the way you or your company thinks about itself.

First of all ask – “What do my customers need?” Spend some time understanding what parts are important to them in making a decision to use a company like yours. Check the analytics to see what pages are attracting most visitors, and take the time to ask some customers and non-customers what they think is important. You can do this with an email survey.

Make sure phone number, email address, and physical address are in an easy to find place – like your footer on clearly on your “Contact” page.

Make the phone number and email address clickable so your customers don’t have to copy and paste it or write it down – one click contact – make it easy!

All websites should be responsive – i.e. works on desktop, tablet and mobile devices – but its amazing there are still companies out there that have websites that just shrink down to a tiny font size on a mobile device.

If its not responsive – get a new website that is responsive – its likely your website is more than 5 years old, maybe older if it still doesn’t work properly on mobile phones.

It’s important to incorporate clear and prominent calls-to-action (CTAs) throughout to encourage users to take desired actions on your website. These can include prompts to make a purchase, subscribe to a newsletter, or contact you for more information.

Create a consistent block at the end of your pages that is a slightly different design to the rest of the page – and ask them the question…”Want to know more? Then get in touch here”. Or something similar. It will catch your customers eye and cause them to make a decision.

Favourable feedback from satisfied customers in the form of  customer testimonials, reviews, or case studies. When researching customer behaviour, one of the top things people look for is customer reviews. So include them!

Make asking for a customer review a part of your process when you near completion of a job. Try to get a short and concise 1 or 2 sentences on what you did for them and why it was good. If a customer gives you a longer testimonial, that covers multiple points, then break it down into several smaller testimonials so they remain concise and to the point. You can then reuse these on social and in other areas of the website if they are bite sized.

And finally –

Remember that your clients are human, so communicate with them accordingly. Don’t let the digital nature of your platform distract you from this fact, and engage with your audience in a human-like manner.

Bring emotion into your website, by the use of imagery or video, or the way you write. People like to buy from people, so weaving some of your company personality into the website is often a good way to connect. Be open about your values and the charities or good causes you support. Real photos of real team members is also key if you’re in a service based industry. It’s easy to spot a stock photo these days, with models looking far too beautiful and perfect. Its not authentic and creates a disconnect when you’re trying to make meaningful connections with other humans.

So there you have it – 7 essential features every business website needs to succeed.

While these points serve as a basis for creating an efficient website for a business or service, it’s important to keep in mind that each business has its own distinct culture, target audience, goals, and approach to quality and communication.

At Made with Maturity, we specialise in UX design for marketing websites and UX design for technology. If you’d like to have chat to see how we could help bring measurable success to your website then please get in touch.

Article written by Clau Gutiérrez, first published in Devon Chamber magazine, Summer 2023