| A good business website is not a luxury. It is your | | | | video should be designed in such a way that the |
| brand identity on the web. It must inspire confidence | | | | visitor can see whatever they want in a glance. In |
| and invoke the desire to do business. Hence, | | | | short, make it supremely easy for your visitors to |
| regardless of whether your do business directly | | | | decipher what your website is all about! |
| through your website or not, you cannot and must | | | | Information: People who visit your website come |
| not tolerate a poor business website design. | | | | there for two purposes. First, they want to know |
| Here are the top 4 features that go to make an | | | | more about you and your product; two, if they're still |
| attractive and successful business website. | | | | interested, they want to buy from you. In short, |
| The Design: OK. It's easy to get carried away here. | | | | your visitor is looking for useful information. So, give |
| You want your website to be a reflection of your | | | | it to them. |
| business. You'd like it to be hi-tech, jazzy and | | | | Include all kinds of important and useful information |
| glamorous. You want innovative features, you know, | | | | about your products. The About Us page of your |
| all the bells and whistles, and you can't wait to get | | | | business website must give visitors a clear view of |
| your hands on it all. | | | | your business philosophy. It must also establish |
| Sadly, if you build a business website that looks like a | | | | rapport with them at a personal level. The Contact |
| video screen, your business will actually suffer, | | | | Us page must be complete and concise. It would help |
| instead of doing well. Here's why. | | | | to accept comments, suggestions or queries through |
| Your website is not about you. It is more about | | | | this page as this helps you keep in touch with your |
| what your customers want. Ideally, the home page | | | | visitors. |
| must be simple, attractive and quick to load. It must | | | | Optimization: Your business website is an |
| give away just the right amount of information. It | | | | advertisement in itself. If it is pegged high on search |
| must also have the 'call to action', as in what it is that | | | | engines like Google, you can expect to get a good |
| you want the visitor to do (click a link, visit another | | | | web following. You have to do your best to woo |
| page, leave a testimonial etc). The extra features | | | | search engines. This is done by adopting a number of |
| you put in (video, search box, log in box, news ticker | | | | small but useful measures like using the right |
| and so on) must serve a useful function. Otherwise, | | | | keywords on the website, making use of Meta tags |
| it's simply a waste of time. Anything blinking, scrolling | | | | properly, using Alt tags for your images and so on. A |
| or dancing across the screen only distracts attention | | | | specialist can guide you with this. Many website |
| and gives the visitor a royal headache. According to | | | | design companies offer search engine optimization as |
| surveys, the average visitor does not stay on a page | | | | a part of their package. |
| for more than 4 seconds! | | | | Making your website business friendly is a matter of |
| Navigation: For a visitor, a business website is like a | | | | trial and error. Even so, the above information will |
| maze. They do not have the time or the inclination to | | | | help you build a business website that is attractive, |
| search for information. So, text, menus, images and | | | | helpful and innovative. |