Small Business Websites – What Do Visitors Expect?

The expectations people have when visiting a website aren’t really that much different to those they would have when visiting a store or office. They expect…

– To be able to quickly find what they’re looking for.
– To have their questions answered easily and quickly.
– To see evidence that they can trust you.

That’s what people care about. They don’t really care if some design aspect is red or blue, or how great you think a product or service is. They want to get in, get what they want, and get out again. Some might need a bit more persuading, and so you should cater for them also, but the main focus should be on expediting the process of giving people what they want.

Navigation – There’s no need to deviate from the standard design layout of having your logo at the top of the page, a top navigation bar and/or sidebar. Link to your best and most important pages directly from your main navigation area, and don’t clutter up that navigation area by directly linking to secondary pages from it.

Pages – Look in Google Analytics, and see which pages people view the most and spend the most time viewing. Those pages are the ones that you should directly link to from your main navigation area. If you include pages there that people don’t view or don’t spend long viewing, then they’re getting in the way and distracting people.

Font – People expect to be able to easily read your site, so play safe when it comes to fonts styles and sizes. People never complain about text that’s Arial or Arial and which is 13px or above. Don’t worry about it being “boring”. You need to impress people with what you say, not how modernly and stylishly you’ve styled what you’re saying.

Call To Action – Don’t hide or confuse people about what you want people to do. If you want people to buy from your website, tell them plainly and clearly “You can buy this – here and now”. If you want people to call you, tell them plainly and clearly “Phone this number and we will answer and help you”. Put this at the top and bottom of every page.

Product/Service Information – If you want to people to buy from you, you have to tell them as much as possible about what it is that you want them to buy. Tell them what exactly you’re offering, what the benefits of buying it are, and why they should buy it from you. Any question anyone has ever asked you about that product or service, answer it on the page where you’re trying to get people to purchase it.

Images – An image can be worth a thousand words, and can show visitors in an instant what would be difficult and/or time consuming to get across in words. Photos of any products you sell are the obvious option, but if you sell services instead of products, then show some photos of you carrying out your service. Photos of you and/or your employees and place of business are helpful too. Don’t restrict yourself to just photos either, graphs and charts that show off benefits are helpful too.

Contact Details (Address, Phone Number & Email Address) – Some people will find your website and contact you straight away, some people will browse around and then contact you, and some people will never contact you. Have these on every page and include a map if you are expecting people to visit you, list your opening hours if appropriate.

About Us – Say who are you? What makes you different? Explain what experience you have
Names, dates, places.

Social Proof – Show you are trustworthy and popular. Include Testimonials. Provide links To your Social media pages.