| Although business owners and marketer's are coming | | | | to provide extensive information on each product or |
| to recognize the importance of having a website for | | | | service, as opposed to merely providing a product |
| their business, how those websites are being | | | | name or model number. Furthermore, this additional |
| designed and built is still very much a problem. In | | | | content assists in terms of search engine optimization |
| most cases, a website that replicates an online | | | | (SEO). |
| brochure is what most businesses have. The result | | | | Testimonials |
| thereof is ultimately a poor return on investment for | | | | Why should anyone who visits your website trust |
| the (often large amounts of) money they have | | | | what you have to say about yourself? You are, |
| spent on the site. Here are five essential elements | | | | after all, trying to sell yourself online. It is therefore |
| that every business website should have. | | | | always wise to feature testimonials on each sales or |
| Signup Form | | | | product page. Ideally, you want to place testimonials |
| Having hundreds or thousands of visitors to your | | | | about each product or service on their respective |
| website every month is no use if you are only | | | | page. I usually recommend placing them down the |
| capturing the details of a small percentage of them | | | | right-hand side column of your page, but it all |
| from people who actually enquire. What you need is | | | | depends on your layout. |
| a signup form that offers a freebie (a free report of | | | | Blog |
| interest to your visitors), a newsletter or something | | | | You may think that blogging is some weird, new age |
| similar. This way, you are able to capture the details | | | | concept that only the "arty" and creative people of |
| (name and email address) of the visitors to your site, | | | | this world indulge in - you're wrong. Setting up a blog |
| as well as build your list of prospects. | | | | allows you to write about anything related to your |
| Highly Visible Contact Details | | | | business, for example: new products or services, |
| The purpose of your a small business website is | | | | events, how-to's, insights and opinions. Be sure to |
| generally to encourage enquiries, which will ultimately | | | | feature a "subscribe" option on your blog, so that |
| lead to sales. It is therefore essential that your | | | | you can build that database of prospects as well. |
| website has your company's contact details clearly | | | | Blogging also assists from an SEO perspective, by |
| displayed on every page. Ideally, you should place the | | | | continuously adding fresh, original content to your |
| contact details in the header, or in the top right area | | | | website, which Google loves. |
| of the page. Also, try to provide as many contact | | | | As an added bonus to these five essentials, I always |
| formats (telephone, fax, email, Skype) as possible. | | | | recommend using an analytics or tracking program, |
| Dedicated Sales Pages | | | | such as Google Analytics (which is free), to track the |
| This one is a little tricky, depending on your business. | | | | goings-on of your website and assess how much and |
| Ideally, you should try to have a separate page for | | | | where your traffic (visitors) is coming from. As with |
| each product/service, or group of products/services. | | | | anything, commit to learning about the topic, in this |
| This allows you to focus on marketing each product | | | | case, internet marketing, and keep an eye out for |
| or service's benefits, features, and so forth to its | | | | new trends that may benefit your business' website. |
| specific target market. It also gives you the freedom | | | | |