That Smith

Last time I wrote about finding a professional domain name for your small business, but failed to mention what you should put on it once you have one.

To most people - myself included - coming up with the domain name and running the business is the easy part - it’s figuring out what to put on the site that is complicated.

A small business website does not have to be an extensive project, nor does it require a lot of time to set up. Here are three things that should be on any business website before it goes live. Other pages are not essential or are only needed for certain types of businesses.

Three things every small business website needs

• What your business does.

If the first page on your website does not tell me (or potential customers) what your business does then you have failed to capture me as a customer.

This is because the majority of the people that find their way to your site, whether they find it by searching or type the address from an advertisement or business card, only visit one page before making the decision to go further.

This percentage of people who visit only one page before leaving is called the bounce rate. Many small businesses I have worked with had high bounce rates because people searched for something they did not find on the page they were brought to, or left because they didn’t understand what they were looking at.

If the fist page your visitors come to does not tell them what you do, they will leave - whether they are valid prospects or not. This is why it is important for your business’s website to specify what your business does as soon as possible.

• Where you are located.

Once you tell visitors what you do, be sure to tell them where you are located. This is just as important but is often overlooked because a lot of websites are created with a specific market in mind.

If you do not specify where you operate you will probably miss out on local and non-local opportunities.

Failing to put your location on your website can be compared to company vehicles you see with a phone number on the side of the vehicle (i.e. plumbers) but no area code. Be sure to tell them what you do, and where you do it.

• How to contact you.

The final thing you need to make sure your website has is your business’s contact information. It doesn’t make sense mentioning what your business does and where you are located, and not how to contact you, yet people continue to do this because they assume their visitors already know how to reach them or they do not feel comfortable listing that information on the internet.

If done right, most visitors your website receives will be from new visitors rather than existing customers. Many of the businesses I have worked with use their websites as a form of advertising, so there is little reason for existing customers to visit unless they offered a special incentive for doing so.

Make it easy for potential customers to contact you, and make sure to give them choices so they can do it on their own terms. Do not limit them to e-mail, telephone, or a contact form only. Also list more than just your business address as a means of contact.

Your customers will appreciate it and you will find more people are contacting you that learn about your small business through its website.

Of course there are other items you may want to consider putting on your website, such as hours of operation, your mission statement, your qualifications, why they should choose you over the competition, services offered, testimonials, rates, and so on, but they are not essential for a site to be ready to go.

Next time I will share more of what to put on a small business website, and things you should never put on a small business website, as well as actual examples of each.