When it comes to your online presence your website is your primary digital asset. But if you fail at having the right elements on your website, you can lose prospects and clients. In fact, 88% of online consumers won’t return to your website if they have a bad experience.

So let’s make sure your website doesn’t give people a bad experience by going over 9 essential elements every website should have.

1. Viewing the top of your home page, I should be able to know what you do in under 50 milliseconds. Why 50 milliseconds?… In a recent study, it was found that users form an option of a website in less than 50 milliseconds to decide if they stay or will leave your site. So you need to look at your website and ask yourself, “Can someone tell what you do from your home page?”
2. Phone number or contact info clearly visible. If you don’t have clearly visible contact info, 44% of people will leave your website, says a recent study. And as far as where to place that information, people tend to look for this in the upper right-hand corner and the bottom footer of a website. So check your site and see if you have clearly visible contact info.
3. Have a call-to-action. What is a call-to-action? It’s a clear statement of some action you want your website visitors to take. Such as “call now” or “Fill out this form for a free evaluation”. This should be clear, not mixed with any other action you want your visitors to take, and should be repeated throughout your website. It’s also a good idea to make this one of the first things people see when they visit your homepage.
4. Good design. This might go without saying but 57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed. So as you can see, design matters! If you need to upgrade your design, feel free to reach out to our Tampa web design company.
5. An online form or way to collect leads. If you don’t have this you’re missing out on all on potential customers. Remember some people, for whatever reason, don’t want to pick up the phone and call. But they may still be interested in your service or product. So make sure you have online forms strategically placed on your website so that people can easily contact you.
6. Customer testimonials. It’s been proven that positive testimonials increase sales. Think about it… What the first thing you check when you’re looking at a new product on Amazon.. the reviews! Testimonials provide social proof that you just can’t do by telling people about your product or service yourself. So take advantage of this and display testimonials throughout your website.
7. Mobile friendly website. The average website sees over 50% of its visitors on a mobile device. So it’s critical your website is mobile friendly. If you’re not sure if your website is mobile friendly, you can use tools like Google’s mobile friendly test.
8. Clear description of your services and products. A recent study showed 86% of website visitors want to see information about products and services. It should be obvious but if you’re not displaying information about your services and products you’re losing out. Id’ suggest displaying this info on your homepage and create an entire services or products page to display this information as well.
9. Website load in under 3 seconds. 53% of visitors will abandon your website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. So having a fast loading site is super critical. Check your website and make sure it’s loading under 3 seconds. If not, you’ll need a web developer to optimize your site so that it loads faster.

Bonus. Opening hours. This only applies to brick and mortar businesses, but it’s super important. In fact, from a 2016 study Internet users said it was the second most important thing they look for on a website.

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