Your website is the welcome mat and digital front door for your business. Before potential customers communicate with you, your business’ online presence helps them form initial impressions, gather information, and decide whether to take the next step in their journey with your brand.
A well-designed website can help you attract more business, establish your brand’s credibility and improve the overall customer experience.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or working on a long overdue website redesign, here are 10 essential elements every business website should have to drive results.
1. Contact Information
Research indicates that almost 90% of consumers want the option of speaking to a real person before making a purchase. Make it easy for potential leads to reach you when they’re ready to take the next step!
Your website should include your business phone number, email address, and any physical location(s). Whether at the top of the site or in the website footer, your phone number should be featured on every page. Including a click-to-call button can also help mobile users connect with you effortlessly.
2. Clear Navigation
A cluttered and confusing navigation with too many options can stop potential customers dead in their tracks. Hick’s Law states that as humans, when the number and complexity of choices presented to us increase, it takes longer for us to make a decision.
When structuring your main navigation, strive for a clean and concise layout that users can scan easily. Prioritize pages that cater to your target audience’s needs and the information they visited your site looking for. Your site’s primary navigation should be visible at the top of every page and link to 4-5 clearly labeled main pages.
3. Responsive Design
From tablets to smartphones, people use all sorts of devices to browse the web nowadays. With Over 50% of global website traffic now originating from mobile devices, the reality is that both search engines and humans prefer websites that work well on mobile.
A Responsive design ensures that your website looks good and functions smoothly on any size screen. It allows text, images and layouts to scale proportionately with the screen size, improving readability, accessibility, and overall usability. Mobile optimization is crucial for converting more visitors into customers, plus it leads to faster loading times, a key ranking factor for search engines.
4. Services + Products
People don’t buy products or services, they buy solutions to their problems. This is your website’s core purpose – to showcase how your offering will make potential customer’s lives better. When people visit your business’s site, they should instantly understand what you do and the value you provide.
When writing descriptions, make your message clear and scannable using subheadings, short paragraphs and bullet points. Nobody wants to read a laundry list of features either – explain specifically what your product or service does and how it benefits the customer. Target the right audience and improve SEO by including relevant keywords potential customers might use to search for your solutions.
5. Images
Our brains process visuals faster than text. A captivating image can grab attention, tell a story, and create a more enjoyable experience that keeps visitors engaged. Beyond visual appeal, images break up text-heavy content, and when tagged properly they can boost your SEO performance.
For products, hiring a pro to take high-resolution shots is the way to go. When it comes to services, prioritize visuals that effectively convey the results your business delivers. These could be photos of your team in action, ‘before and after’ transformations, or images of people experiencing the positive outcomes from your service (Think relaxed clients after financial planning).
6. About Us Page
Your ‘About Us’ page should answer the big questions that visitors have about working with your brand. Who are the people that work at this company? What do they believe? It’s an opportunity to tell your unique story, share your values, and explain the ‘why’ behind what you do.
If nowhere else, the ‘About’ Page is a great place to add a human face to your brand and showcase your team. Infuse personality into your page and spark curiosity with high quality team photos accompanied by short bios, quotes, or fun facts. After all, people still want to buy from people, not faceless companies.
7. What Makes Your Business Different
The internet is a crowded place, and you can’t stand out without a website that quickly communicates what makes you special. Most prospects are looking at multiple sites that offer similar products and services to yours.
If you don’t know already, research your competition and figure out what makes you different. Is it a special product feature? Perhaps your unique company culture, or exceptional customer service? Make sure it shines through on your site. but don’t just tell visitors you’re different – show them using images, videos, infographics, and social proof to make your point memorable.
8. Blog
There’s a reason that most of the world’s biggest companies have a blog and it’s not because they enjoy writing for the sake of it. Your site’s blog should serve as a strategic content hub that helps you attract, engage, and convert more visitors.
By regularly publishing relevant and valuable content, you can position yourself as a thought leader and boost brand awareness, demonstrate your expertise, and improve search engine visibility. Tailor your topics to your target audience, focusing on their most pressing problems and FAQs.
9. Social Proof
Humans are social creatures and we tend to look to other experiences’ to inform our own decisions. That’s why we often put more trust in what others say about a company than what the company says about itself.
Customer testimonials, reviews, and case studies are powerful tools that show potential customers how your product or service has helped others. Including media mentions, industry awards, and certifications can also add weight to your words and cement your brand’s legitimacy. For maximum impact, social proof should be strategically woven throughout your site, rather than simply dumping it all on the homepage.
10. Calls-to-Action (CTAs) + Contact Forms
Every page on your site should include clear, action-oriented CTAs that nudge visitors towards the next step in their journey. But even the most compelling CTA won’t convert if there’s no easy way to follow through.
Whether you want visitors to request a quote, subscribe to your newsletter, or sign up for a free trial, a user-friendly contact form is key. Keep forms concise and only ask for essential information to minimize friction and encourage submissions. When placed strategically on your site, CTAs and contact forms help you transform initial interest into an actual lead.