What do I need on my Website?

Ok, so before I dive into what we should add to our website lets just consider for a second the purpose of a website.  Think of your website as the long version of your pitch. So you would have a 30 second elevator pitch, so when someone asks what do you do, you can tell them in 30 seconds what you do. Well, your website is the long version of that. So you really want to make sure you add all the things your customer would want to know and understand about you and your products or service. 

Here are 5 things you should have on your website?

ONE (1)

Your Who, your Why and What. You need to have these very clearly stated and in a manner that your target customer can understand.  You can have this on your Landing or Home page so they can quickly understand Who you are, What you do and Why you do it. And then you can add more content into your About page, your Service or Product page. You need to make sure that this content focuses on how you can benefit your customers, instead of how awesome you are.

Two (2)

You need to add your Contact details. How many times have you gone to a website and you can’t find how to contact the business? Add a contact form if that is how you want your customer to contact you, add your phone number if you want them to call you. Make sure you have a link in the top navigation to the Contact page or Contact section on your website so they can easily find this information. Maybe add it in your Footer section so its across your entire site as well. Make it really easy for them to find your contact details.

Three (3)

Add Social proof and testimonials. We are such a sceptical society and so there needs to be a level of trust created before someone will give you their money. So this is why you should add testimonials of your customers and any Awards that you may have won that are relevant to helping build trust from your customer. It is also a good idea to add links to your Social Media Platforms so they can go into your Social Media profiles and see more reviews and how you respond to your customers on Social Media.  When you get a bad review it’s important to see this as an opportunity to address this appropriately instead of blasting the customer. This will show that you respect others and are willing to learn and grow by the way you respond to a complaint.

Four (4)

Add Visual stuff. What do I mean? Images of what you do, a portfolio or your work, images of your products or service.  Video’s are also great. Add Video’s of your service or video’s of how your product works. This can sometimes be the hardest to do because you need to capture images and create video’s which all takes time, but it is very worth the time put in because people want to see the product or service.

Five (5)

Add a simple Blog to keep your website content fresh and SEO happy. What do I mean by SEO happy?  Well when you don’t add fresh relavent content to your website, such as in Blog posts, Google and other Search Engines don’t have any work to do. They will get bored as there is nothing new they won’t want to show your boring website to their customers who are using their Search Engines to find interesting content. So by adding a simple Blog page and updating it regularly with blog posts this will keep Google Search very happy. When you are writing your blog posts think about who your customer is and write content that will be really valuable to them, to help them in their life journey, business journey or whatever industry you are in.

Other stuff to add to your Website

Other things to add are what I call industry relevant elements, for example, if you are a brick and mortar store, what are your opening hours, what is your address, add a google map so your customers can find you easily. If you are a restaurant add a menu and dietary options. I will not enter a restaurant in general, until I know what is on the menu and if it has dairy free options because dairy makes me sick.  So if they don’t have a menu on their website I would be very reluctant to go, not because I don’t like what they offer but because I don’t want to be a burden on their kitchen staff having to prepare a special meal for me.

Really think about what it is your customer needs to know before they would consider using your service or buying your product. 

Whenever you take the challenge of building your own website, always have your target customer in mind, and make it all about their needs.

Things you shouldn’t have on your website

Lots of random irrelevant stuff, flashy text, or ads, lots of pop ups and interruptions. Keep it really simple clean and easy to navigate. You can add a lot of extra content into blogs so that if your customer is interested in reading more, learning more they can find it there.

Until Next time humans

Leisa