3 Essentials Your Website Should Have Right Now
Website design trends come and go, but a great website that benefits your company requires more than a pretty design. You want to ensure visitors have a positive experience when clicking through your pages, as this could be the key to driving new business.
Every website should offer visitors a clear, cohesive, and concise description of who you are and what you do from the landing page, services page, and contact page.
Here are three website essentials you need to make sure to have:
1. Simple Navigation
When I think of website navigation, I think of an acronym I used during my time as a broadcast news producer: KISS.
KEEP
IT
SIMPLE
STUPID
KISS your visitors. There are so many ways to complicate your website navigation without realizing it. Too many options for people to click through can be overwhelming and (in most cases) unnecessary. You want visitors to be able to find the information they want and the information they need quickly.
One piece of information you want to make sure is super easy to find is your contact information. Only some people have the patience to search your website for vital information. You want to make it easy for potential clients to get in touch with you rather than walk away because they can’t find your information.
My trick to keeping my contact information front and center is to have a button or link on every page. That will lead them to my contact page. They can’t miss it.
2. Calls To Action
A call to action is a marketing term that means calling or telling someone to take action. Tell a reader to like a post, share your blog, or leave a comment. It’s usually incorporated into sales scripts or advertising messages because it’s a great way to tell customers what to do without being too pushy.
You’d be surprised how many websites need a call to action.
A CTA can be as simple as carefully creating page titles. For example, instead of titling your contact page ‘Contact,’ try titling it ‘Contact Me Now.’ Or, if you have a pop-up window to sign up for a newsletter or subscribe, instead of saying ‘Get our newsletter,’ say ‘Sign up now to hear from us.’
You can strategically place CTAs throughout your website or use special buttons, colors, text, or highlighting to draw attention to CTAs. Figure out what works best with your style and brand, and go for it!
3. Website Analytics
Analytics may not seem necessary, but understanding the numbers behind your website performance is a powerful tool. It gives you the insights and data you need to create a better customer experience. From the get-go, you can understand:
- Where website traffic is coming from – you can focus on marketing and promotion on those sources
- What pages visitors are and aren’t clicking on – you can analyze and replicate successful pages
- Identify the metrics of your audience and
- Improve your SEO ranking
There are so many other ways website analytics can help you. Overall, it’s an all-in-one way to enhance your content, marketing, leads, and sales. The best part is that most analytic platforms are free!
Wrap it up
Depending on who you talk to, there’s a list of website essentials you’ll need. Check out this article from Entrepreneur.
Written By
Jalisa Haggins
Jalisa is the Founder and CEO of Live Your Basics. She can tell you the best brunch spots in cities across the USA, she’s an avid traveler, and is always listening to a new audiobook. You can connect with her on Instagram @jalisalicious.