Guest Blog: Characteristics of a Good Website for Your Small Business

Earlier website was an option for businesses, but with the increase in the usage and popularity of Internet, it has become a necessity. According to AT&T Small Business Technology Poll 2013, 67% of small businesses are using website to market their products and services. A study by Google also revealed that the small businesses with websites grow 40% faster than those without a website. The website represents your small business on web and it is a crucial aspect of your small business Internet marketing strategy.

So, in order to attract more visitors (potential customers) and leverage the benefits of the Internet fully, small businesses should have good websites. A good website is one that is appealing, easy to use/navigate and that has quality content. In this article, we will discuss some of the important aspects you need to consider while designing a website for your small business.

Structure of the website

- Structure of the website must be well organized and should match the mental expectations of the users. Users must be able to know where they are and how to go to a desired page on your website. • A website with good structure increases the usability and makes it easy for the users and search engines to find information within your site easily.

- The sequence of hierarchy must be followed while placing the content on the web pages.

Quality Content

- Content is one of the key factors that search engines consider to rank websites these days. High quality content on the website not only gives you better search engine rankings but also brings in many visitors and customers. • High quality content represents your concern in educating your customers and builds loyal customer base for your business.

- Content posted on the website must be genuine, informative and fresh without any spelling, grammatical or factual errors.

- According to Content Marketing Institute, 91% of B2B and 86% of B2C marketers have started content marketing.

Relevant images

- Posting relevant images for attracting visitors is a good idea. But, images should be real and relevant to your business.

- Images of products or any relevant images will help the visitor understand the product well and allows the customer to visualize the product.

- Images and videos also give instant knowledge of products and services to the users.

- 67% of customers say that good quality product image is very important in selecting and purchasing the product (source: Forbes).

Easy navigation

- Website navigation is one of the primary aspects in website designing.

- A study by Forrester shows that 50% of potential sales are lost and 40% of online users do not visit a website where they had negative experience during the first visit. Hence, navigation of a website affects the business directly. • A website with easy navigational structure helps visitors in finding the information easily and quickly. It encourages them to re-visit the website.

Consistent theme

- The theme of a business website should be simple, professional and consistent across all the pages.

- Different themes or styles confuse visitors, and it is more likely that visitors leave the website. This increases the bounce rate of the website. (Bounce rate of the website is the percentage of visitors leaving the website after visiting just one page on the website). It also affects the rankings of the website. A good website with above characteristics not only generates more traffic but also gets rewarded by search engines.

Author Bio: Nancy R Jones is a writer and blogger for Marvist Consulting LLC which offers small business Internet marketing services. Since establishment in 2005, Marvist’s SEO services have earned the goodwill of clients with uncompromising commitment to business values while delivering expert services.

Comments

• Anonymous
  October 15, 2013
  I found your site is perfect for my needs. It contains wonderful and helpful post. I have read most of them, and learned a lot from them. You do some good work. Thank you for making such a nice website.

• Anonymous
  October 17, 2013
  I think you have covered the essentials here, there are just two things I would like to add. The firs one is Speed. It's imperative that your website loads fast. The second one is mobile "friendliness", your website must display well on mobile devices.