16 Must-Have Features Of A Good Business Website

For your business to reap the benefits of a website, your website needs to make an instant, positive impact with its users. Here are the must-have features of a good business website:

1. Modern Design

Firstly, in this day and age, all websites must have a modern design! A modern website gives visitors a great impression of your business and motivates them to do business with you.  Therefore, a modern website should be in your marketing strategy.

The following are some techniques that you can use to achieve a modern design:

• Create layout designs that are trending and inspiring. The designs should be interactive, user-friendly, and capture the interest of the user.
• Include rich content such as attention-grabbing cover images, illustrations, videos, animations, or abstract art.
• Feature appealing font styles, large and readable font sizes.
• Adopt eye-catching colors that match the persona of the business.
• Allow for enough white space and minimal text. One should take the approach where less is more. 
• Have an easy site navigation menu.

If required, a website design agency can provide website design services or one-on-one website training to build your own website.

2. Mobile Responsiveness

A mobile-responsive website adjusts its layout based on the user’s device.  The screen size of the website design must be suitable for every device such as tablets and phones. Hence, it is a mobile version of your website. 

Some ways to achieve a mobile-friendly website include the following:

• Avoid fixed-screen size website designs as they are a turn-off for the user. 
• Hide unneeded images and elements to provide a better browsing experience. 
• Ensure that the text is readable without requiring zoom.
• Include adequate space for the user to tap a link.
• Avoid horizontal page scrolling.

3.  SEO Friendliness

One other must-have feature of a good business website is SEO friendliness. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.  It is the practice of creating websites that are easy for search engines to crawl and index. That is, the search engines must be able to easily understand the website’s structure and its content. SEO helps your site rank higher in the search results of major search engines such as Google or Bing.  

Above all, you can drive more traffic to your page by investing in an SEO-friendly website.  SEO-friendly websites get more traffic than websites that ignore search engines.

Therefore, to make your website SEO Friendly, do the following:

• Place keywords into key page locations. Such page locations include the website address, site title, meta descriptions, and post content.
• Ensure that the user can read the post easily.
• Include internal links on posts.
• Create enough backlinks with external sites.

4.  Fast Load Times

Page load time is the amount of time a page takes to show up on a device’s screen.  The fewer the seconds between a page link click, and a page load, the better.

Fast load times enhance the customer’s experience. In contrast, long delays reduce conversions and result in fewer page views. For some companies, this delay can even result in thousands or more dollars of sales losses every year. 

It is important to realize that the suggested page load speed time is 3 seconds. Hence, to improve page loading speeds, do the following:

• Remove unnecessary plugins.
• Reduce page redirects.
• Compress and optimize images.
• Upgrade your web hosting package.

You can use Google Page Speed or GT Metrix to track the page load times of your business website.

 5.  Custom Design

A website that has a custom design is one that did not use a pre-designed theme.  Custom-designed websites uniquely brand your business and offer the freedom to create extra features to achieve customer satisfaction. 

Moreover, instead of cookie-cutter website themes, a professional, custom-designed website would make your business stand out. Your business would become more memorable and its online reputation intact.  Also, your customers will have a very clear understanding of the branding, culture, and purpose of your business. 

If you are using the WordPress platform, you can use Elementor Website Builder to create truly custom website designs. It is a world-class tool that gives you many design options.

6. Content Management

Content is an asset to your business. Website content includes elements such as pages, posts, text, media, links, users, plugins.

It is important to manage and review content frequently to keep it structured, fresh and appealing.  Outdated content discourages visitors from spending quality time on your website.

To help manage the content, you must have a Content Management System (CMS) installed on your business website. A CMS is a big must-have feature for a successful business website. This system creates, maintains, stores, controls, changes, and displays the content on a webpage.  In addition, the CMS allows many users to log on to add content from any location.

While there are many Content Management Systems you can choose from, the most popular one in the world is WordPress. It is free, open-source software and powers over 42% of the web. It creates beautiful websites and allows easy management of the website content.

7. Website Training

Before its launch, staff must be trained in the use of the site. Each person must be a quick study. They must learn how to protect your website and keep content updated.  Ideally, persons should be able to manage the site fairly well without requiring the help of a website designer.

Each person trained should know how to do the following:

• Plan, outline, and write new content for your website.
• Add new pages to your website’s menu.
• Research and include SEO keywords in the website content.
• Change content on website pages.
• Deal with minor technical aspects with ease.

If required, a website design agency can provide further website training after the website’s launch.

8. Ongoing Support

Even after its launch, your business website needs frequent maintenance to keep it running properly. This is because a website is not a static system. You must upgrade the system core, plugins, and themes to avoid potential security threats and to add extra features. 

In addition, one must always be alert to the changing environment. The website platform and also the local and global bodies all prompt changes.  Frequently update the website content to comply with search engines and to keep the content fresh and accurate.

If required, a website design agency such as TECHNOKAT Solutions can provide further website maintenance after the website’s launch.

9. Call To Actions

A Call-to-Action is a call for visitors of your website to take a specific action. Call-To-Actions are a very effective marketing tool and must-have feature for a successful business website. This technique results in increasing sales conversions and monthly revenue through your website.

To implement this technique, strategically place buttons that link to the desired action, in key locations of your website. For instance, include actions such as Call Now; Get A Quote; Request a Free Discovery Call; Start Now; Add To Cart; Sign Up or Subscribe. By carefully thinking about your marketing strategy, you can prompt visitors to take action on your site.

10.  Extensibility

Extensibility allows you to easily add new pages or features to your website as your business grows. The aim is to make these additions without changing the core structure of the site. 

Indeed, extensibility ensures that you can keep abreast of new ideas and technologies without doing an entire overhaul.  You would be able to be creative with your website without any hassle.

The WordPress platform easily allows the addition of plugins and modules and is thus ideal for business growth.

11.  Security 

Security should be a major concern for a website owner. Chiefly, the website’s programming platform must be robust. Also, the website must contain enterprise-grade security measures. Some of these measures include malware scans, threat removals, passwords, and 2-step authentication.

A next major security measure that must be applied in a successful business website, is an SSL Certificate. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. Applying an SSL certificate on a website enables encrypted communication between a web browser and a web server. 

Millions of online businesses apply SSL certificates on their site. By applying these certificates to websites, identity thieves have a harder time tampering with or stealing sensitive data.  Such sensitive data includes emails, usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers for instance.

Furthermore, a website with an SSL certificate does the following:

• Prevents attackers from creating a fake version of the site.
• Verify ownership of the website
• Keeps user data secure.

You can purchase an SSL certificate for your website from any web hosting provider such as GoDaddy. You can also obtain a free SSL certificate from LetsEncrypt.

12.  Images

Another must-have feature of a good business website is images. Images convey a wide array of messages. They grab the attention of people faster than any other element of a web design. For this reason, you must select the most suitable images for your website. By doing so you will attract potential customers and generate more sales.

The following are ways in which you can add images to your website:

• Add an image gallery or portfolio page to your website. The gallery would include images into the website allowing users to see several images clearly, all at once. These will offer visitors a visual aspect that shows off your work. It will also create an emotional connection between you and potential clients.
• You can also add stock images to the posts of your website. Stock images are high-quality photographs that someone already took, edited, and made ready for use. If you can take your own stock photos, then this would be ideal for your website brand. However, if this option is not possible for you, you can use stock image websites such as Pexels and iStock.

Sourcing high-quality images related to your business is a very important part of designing your website. This is because it makes your website look professional, and builds your brand authority.

13.  Contact Form

Publishing a contact form on your website will allow visitors to submit their contact information. After the visitor submits the form, the website owner can receive that message and follow up with further action.

The form is an important part of your business.  For instance, the contact form helps to:

• Generate more leads.
• Keep track of inquiries.
• Offer support to customers.
• Build an email marketing list.

14.  Social Media Integration

Social media is an extension of your business marketing strategy. By linking your social media accounts to your website you will expand your social media audience.  

There are many ways in which you can connect social media to your website. For example, place social media channel links in key locations. Likewise, place social share buttons on blog posts and web pages to allow for easy sharing of content.

15.  Blog Integration

A blog is an online article that includes text, pictures, videos, and other rich content. All companies should blog on topics that are fitting to their business. This is because blogging helps promote your products or services and adds real marketing power to your website. 

The blog on your website will generate great traffic and in the end, sales. Further, a blog on your website will enrich visitors as well as your business.

16. Analytics

Finally, the last must-have feature for a really successful business website is Analytics. There is no point in setting up a website if you do not know the overall performance of the site. Analytics collect, measure, analyze and report on website data. It tracks what’s happening with your website.

By monitoring your website activity, you will be able to tailor the site for the best results. Some of the analytic data collected include the following:

• Website traffic on the number of visitors.
• The source of where the website traffic comes from.
• The rate at which visitors leave your site. i.e The bounce rate.
• Visitors statistics such as device and country.

The most popular tool used to collect website metrics is Google Analytics. Other advanced tools as include Hotjar and SemRush.

Conclusion

The above set out to outline the features of a good business website. By including these features in your business website, you will no doubt be on the road to success.