Your business’s website is a key aspect of your company, and that is something that it’s essential that you understand. If you are going to give your company the very best chance of success, you need to be clued up when it comes to your website. The fact is that your website’s design isn’t done properly, it will have an impact on your success as a company, which is why it’s so essential that when it comes to your website that you understand what it is vital that your site incorporates and what are the must-have design features.

Let’s focus on the purpose of a business website - what is the purpose? To provide potential customers with an online hub for your business where they can view (and potentially buy) your products or services, gain information that they require such as contact details, and learn more about your brand. The concept behind having a business website is simple - it is to increase brand awareness and boost sales.

When it comes to getting what you want out of your business’s website, there are a few hacks that you should consider taking advantage of, these will help you to ensure that your business website has been designed to perfectly meet your customers’ needs and offers everything that they (and you) could want out of a business website!

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Professional design is key

Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of attempting to design your website yourself, because you will only end up with a website that lacks professionalism, both in terms of the back end of the site and the appearance of the site. Unless you are an experienced web developer, it’s best to leave the task of web development to the professionals. After all, it’s essential that your website creates a certain kind of image, an image that an inexperienced designer cannot create.

Cookie-cutter website templates always stand out in a negative way, experts from New York web development agency, Design Rush, state that it's essential that you ensure you are working with highly skilled and experienced web developers that you can rely on to create an amazing website design. It’s not just about the layout though, it’s also about the actual website’s design. The fact is that there is a lot that you need to consider, from the sitemap to the hosting service and server that you opt to use, there is a lot that needs to be considered. A simple hack for checking that a website is designed to a high-quality is to utilise sitecrawlers for sitemaps and see whether any errors are picked up - if they are this may demonstrate the fact that there is an issue with your website’s design.

Outstanding content

When it comes to having a business website that stands out, it’s essential that the content your website features makes an impact. What you don’t want is for that content to be too advertisement-based. You want your content to be interesting, informative and to sell your product or service but without being too much. People come to a business’s website to learn more about what they offer, which is why it’s so essential that your website gives out the right information. If a user is on your website, they’re already interested in your brand, product or service, so you need to increase their interest through your content.

When we say content, we don’t just mean your web pages’ information, but also your website’s blog content. Every business website needs a blog attached to it. Why? Because blogs are a great way to increase website traffic, build brand awareness, and generate leads. Blog articles shared on your website should be interesting and highly relevant to your business and industry and should be written to be perfectly suited to your customers. It’s also crucial that all of your website’s blog content is SEO optimised, to ensure that it helps your website to rank highly in search engines such as Google.

When it comes to outstanding content, it’s essential that you don’t make the mistake of thinking that this only means written content. Websites should also include video content too because video content is a key aspect of today’s content marketing. Why? Because people are busy and written content can take too long to read, whereas video content takes a few seconds and is quick and easy to watch. The message is got across faster. It’s more shareable too.

Take security seriously

When it comes to personal information such as bank details and home addresses, people are nervous about what they are sharing, especially online. That’s why it’s so essential that you ensure that your business website takes security seriously and makes your customers feel at ease.

Social media should be integrated

Today, most business websites are properly integrated with social media and have a significant presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, which helps to add additional legitimacy to the business itself and builds brand awareness and support at the same time. Social media, when used effectively, can also increase the amount of traffic that your website is getting each month.

Integrate your website with your social media channels by adding social media buttons on your website where users can connect to your social media channels through them. You can also opt to add a social media feed on your website from Twitter and Facebook to show that you are active on those channels.

Be smart about web hosting

Last but not least, it’s essential that when it comes to your website that you are mindful about web hosting. Do not make the mistake of opting for the cheapest option that you can find, because that isn’t the answer if you want a website that runs perfectly and doesn’t lag or crash constantly. Shared servers like Green Geeks are cheaper, but they aren’t built for businesses that have complex websites, they’re designed for bloggers and smaller and simpler sites.

There you have it, everything that you need to know about building a business website that is as professional as possible.