7 Vital Things Your Business Website Should Have

Your business website is an invaluable online marketing tool.  It helps to increase brand recognition, draw in new customers and increase your advertising by a considerable amount.  However, if your website does not have some very specific things present, you will lose visitors and effectiveness.  What should be present?  Here are seven things a visitor should see on your business website.

What Teams Do You Play On
Associations, like the Better Business Bureau, the local chamber of commerce or local retail associations are very popular amongst your potential customers.  They feel they can trust those groups.  If you are a member of any of those associations, then you should make sure that you post their icons on your website.

Also, posting credit card brands, such as, Visa, Mastercard and Discover Card, says that you are not a “Fly By Night” company.  Here’s my strong advice…Be honest.  Post the above associations and credit card brands ONLY if you’re a member, because trust me; you will be exposed if you’re not.  Don’t think for a second that customers don’t do their due diligence.

Video Mug shots of You and Your Staff
Don’t hide behind your website.  Your potential customers are not doing business with your company.  They’re doing business with you…The person who created the website.  Add a video of you and your staff on the homepage.  Your video could have you in your office talking with background music.  Or it could be a combination of a video with a slide show which includes a virtual tour of your office and pictures of your staff.  Either way, a video will give your potential customers a sense of who you are as a person as well as your staff.  If a picture is worth 1000 words, when you add sound to it, it’s worth millions.

Contact Information
Your website visitors want to feel comfortable with your company.  The increasing number of sham websites out there has made consumers more than a little leery of companies that do not have any type of contact information.  Therefore, your visitors need to be able to find real, usable contact information for your company.  Ideally, you will provide them with a physical address, a telephone number, fax number and an email address.

Clear Navigation
When a website visitor first comes to your site, they will only give it a few seconds before moving on.  If they do not see clearly defined navigation options, they will leave.  Therefore, you need to ensure that your navigation is clearly defined, logical and easily accessible.  Tailor your navigation to match your needs, but ensure that it is visible and usable for your visitors.

Show Me Your Badge
Your logo is essential for your company, and for your visitors. Having your company logo present on your website is an important part of conducting an effective branding campaign.  In fact, if you do not have a logo present, you can reduce the effectiveness of your web campaign by a considerable amount.  Boost brand recognition by putting your logo in a visible location.  It need not dominate every page, but it should be present.

More Content vs. More Graphics?  Make it Even
Graphics play an important role in website design.  However, if you overload your page with too many graphics and too little information, you will drive away your visitors.  Interestingly, the converse is true as well.  Too much information with too few graphics will also drive away traffic.  Therefore, you need to use an optimum mix of images and text to give your visitors the information needed.

Let’s Get Social.  It’s Party Time!
Social media marketing has become enormously popular.  You need to have clearly visible social media icons so that your visitors can "like" your posts, share them on Reddit, Digg, Del.icio.us and more.  You should include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg and others that offer value and better visibility for your company.

**Bonus** What Do Your Customers Think About You?
Testimonials are a great way to sell people on your brand when you can’t be there to sell yourself.  Post testimonials from your customers that not only address your products or services but also address you and your staff, your customer service and your company’s ability to process orders.

Text testimonials are great but video testimonials will give you instant credibility.  Also, sign up for review sites like, Yelp and Angie’s List and link to those sites from your website.

Your visitors are bombarded with hundreds of marketing messages constantly on a regular basis.  Your web presence must be strategic, different and diversified to capture your potential customer’s attention.  Applying the above 7 plus 1 components to your website will set you apart from your competitors and will ultimately increase its number of visitors.