A Clear Description

People visiting your site don't know who you are right off the bat. Think of it as giving someone a handshake and not introducing yourself to them.

Sure, they can see your website and the design that comes with it but you need more than that. A clear description gives insight as to what you do, who you are, and why you're in business.

It doesn't have to be anything lengthy. And you can also include all of this information on your about page rather than on the homepage.

Easy-to-Find Contact Information

How many times have you visited a website where you couldn't find their contact information? Guessing correctly, we'd probably say a few.

Unfortunately, not having a dedicated place to contact you or your customer service agents is a no-no. What if someone has a question that can't be found on your website?

The takeaway from this is that it's very unprofessional if visitors can't contact you. If you sell products or services of any kind, this can also make customers wary to do business with you. What if they have issues?

They'll feel they were scammed if they bought a defective product and the company cannot be contacted to solve the problem. That's a bad way to do business because instead of flagging you down for a phone number or email, they'll head straight to Yelp to post a bad review.

To prevent bad reviews from damaging your online reputation, create a contact page. This is where customers and visitors alike can find all the information they need such as a number, email, even fax. Make sure your contact page is placed on your menu and on the footer of your site.

Testimonials

Speaking of reviews, feel free to display some of the best customer feedback on your site. This is helpful, especially if your business is relatively new. You want to entice visitors to convert into customers and the best way to do that is to let them know what people are saying about your business.

Word of mouth marketing is an essential part of traditional marketing methods. For the online world, however, online reviews and testimonials act as that word of mouth tactic.

If people had a bad experience, they'll want to share it with those to make them aware. Same thing goes for if they had a good experience.

What you want to focus on is providing great customer service while also having products and services that live up to the hype. When you achieve that, you'll rack up those good reviews.

However, if you do happen to find a negative review, don't add fuel to the fire. The customer is upset for a reason so instead of calling it bluff, let them know you're here for them and will get to the bottom of the situation.

Anything you can go to diffuse the situation and not make it worse will be better for your business. This'll also show other people reading the review that if they come across a problem with your company, you'll act to solve it.

Calls to Action

Often abbreviated as CTA, a call to action is a direct phrase of what you want the customer or visitor to do next. Say they finished up your recent blog article showcasing the best features of your newest product.

They're convinced to buy that product since you've written about it. At the end of the article, you should put something like "Sign up for our newsletter to receive 10% off your total purchase price!"

This not only gets you another name on your email list but now they get a discount to purchase that product and more. If you were to end your article without a CTA, most likely that reader would've clicked off your site. Let them know the next steps you want them to take by informing them of their options using a CTA.

Relevant Content

Since we're talking about content already, let's continue on with it. For your small business website, you want to keep visitors on there. And the end goal is that you end up converting them into a customer.

Before we get them to become a customer, you have to entice them with good content. No matter you're industry or niche, all companies can benefit from a blog.

Blogs allow you to keep readers up to date with industry trends while also keeping them engaged with your company for longer. Not only does it benefit your visitors but it benefits you as well. Fresh, engaging content is key to SEO.

Be sure to know your target audience so you can create content that'll provide valuable information. Think of ways you can turn one or a few customer questions into a blog post. Most likely if one person is looking for answers on a specific subject, more people are too.

A Good-Looking, Responsive Site

Your site is the first impression you make for those who just discovered your business in the online world. If it's slow, clunky or disorganized, good luck trying to get written to stay on it.

A responsive website is fast, full of content and well-organized. You want to make sure images download quickly and there are no walls of text. Also, be sure your menu is condensed and not chock-full of unnecessary pages.

If you're in the stages of a website redesign, there are ways you can do it without losing your mind.