Simon Paul Thurston

In my last post I started to go off on one about how pretty looking websites generally don’t cut it in the ‘real’ business world.

You could possibly detect a hint of passion in my writing, as this is a subject that I really do hammer home with business owners, many of whom have fallen prey to web designers who have given them basically what amounts to a fancy sign, nothing else.

So rather than rant on, I am going to list below the key attributes that I feel a website should have in order to work for your business:

• A compelling headline
• A call to action for your visitors
• Contact details on EVERY page
• It should make it easy for your visitor to buy from you
• A means of capturing their name and email address (auto responder)
• Your USP – Why should your visitor buy from you?
• Any awards, qualifications, accolades that you/your company has
• Photos of you and your team
• Videos of your company’s products/services

This would be a good starting point. I see so many sites that not only make it difficult for visitors to buy but that make it almost impossible for them to contact the business, as the phone number, email address or physical address is tucked away somewhere.

Anyway, I’ll be posting next time about some basic strategies that you can use tomorrow to improve your company’s marketing, so keep an eye out for this.