I think that most businesses today realize the importance of having an online presence – whether that be through a website, or a Facebook page, or a Twitter profile, etc. If your business does not have an online presence, the chances are you could be losing valuable business and customers to your competitors who do have effective and active online presences.  Its not enough to just have a website, it is important to have an effective website, one that is an asset to your business, and  that pays for itself by the amount of business or number of customers it converts. Today I want to talk about a few of the features and elements that help make a website effective.

Navigation

The organization and navigation scheme of your website can ultimately be the difference between visitors staying on your site and visitors leaving to go to your competitor’s site. It is extremely important that the navigation of a website makes it easy for visitors to find what they came for in as few clicks and with as little confusion as possible. Taking the time to make sure your website’s navigation is up to par is a huge step towards building an effective website.

Aesthetic Appeal

Another extremely important feature of an effective website is its aesthetic appeal. If your site is too distracting and busy, it will detract from the appeal and usability of the overall site.  This can potentially limit its effectiveness and you may start to lose visitors due to the poor design. On the other hand, if a website is too plain and looks like it was designed 10 years ago and hasn’t been updated, you risk losing or disappointing website visitors, and potential customers. A well-designed and aesthetically appealing website can give you a strong advantage over other online competitors.

A strong message

An effective website is clear on the message it is trying to send visitors. It should be fairly obvious what the purpose of the site is, why you should be here, who the company is that this site represents, and how this company can benefit its customers.

Intuitive design

One of the most important elements of a highly effective website is its intuitiveness. By this I mean that each page should be designed with the customer in mind. This will make the customers experience more user friendly. A good example of this is a “Related Products” feed or “Other Products You Might Be Interested In” feed on an e-commerce website. An intuitive website shouldn’t have “dead-end pages” which leaves a visitor with nowhere to go but back. An intuitive website seems to know what information visitors are looking for and where they need to go to find it.
So there you have it!  The four most important elements of a highly effective website for your business are listed above. Take a moment and look over your existing website with these points mind. Is it as effective as it could be? Is there room for improvement? Investing in your website may be the best way to increase your customers and potential sales.  Don’t wait!