In today’s business world, a great website is the most important marketing tool at your disposal. Not only does it keep the doors open to a global audience on a 24/7 basis, but it’ll often form the first point of interaction. A successful website will leave a lasting impression.

While all websites should be unique and tailored to the needs of the business, great sites tend to share a number of attributes. Here are six of the best.

1. A Clear Homepage Message

First impressions count for everything in business, especially online. In fact, many visitors start to formulate opinions of your site within 50 milliseconds.

Given that most website visitors (both new and returning) will be greeted by your homepage before any other aspect of the site, accuracy and readability are crucial. The homepage should set out to answer all of their key questions right away – who are you, what do you provide, and why are you the right solution for them?

Answer those questions quickly, and visitors will be intrigued to read on. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that simplicity is king. Unless your website is aimed at a niche that dictates jargon should be used, it’s best to opt for clear, concise information.

A clean and uncluttered homepage that leaves visitors wanting to learn more will work wonders.

2. Comprehensive Contact Details

If your goal is to convert traffic into leads and sales, you must accept that gaining the prospective client’s trust is as important as impressing them with great products and fancy web features. Presenting your contact details in a clear and full manner is essential.

NAP data describes the company name, address, telephone number, and email addresses. This information must be shown clearly in a prominent position or else visitors will feel concerned.

Aside from this data, it pays to create a solid about page that provide clear insight into the business and the key personnel behind it. The use of photographs can be very useful too as it makes potential customers feel as though they know your company a little better. The sense of familiarity alone can influence their subsequent consumer decisions.

3. Great Design & Navigation

As already mentioned, first impressions count for a lot. If your website doesn’t look the part, a large percentage of visitors won’t bother staying around to see whether your company’s services are right.

Visual content is often far more exciting and helps the message become clearer too. For example, viewers can retain 95% of a video’s info compared to 10% of text. You don’t need to overload the pages with videos and images, but high-quality content will make a huge impact.

Navigation through effective and responsive menus is another key element of the website’s design. Users will quickly become frustrated if they are unable to reach the desired content. Menus are commonly found to the top or the left of the page, but there are plenty of options to consider. Ultimately, clarity is the key.

An attractive website that fits with the brand needn’t break the bank, while website maintenance firms can make the ongoing management easy too. Employing a static site will no longer suffice.

4. Effective Calls To Action

Making people aware of your products and services is one thing, but you need web visitors to follow the right steps after visiting your site. A clear Call to Action is your best hope of pushing them in the right direction.

A Call to Action could be any of the following; complete a purchase, start a trial, sign up for a newsletter, create a membership, request a callback, request further info, make a telephone call, or download a file.

In truth, the list goes on and on. Knowing what you want the visitors to do next is a crucial step on the path to conversion. If nothing else, a clear CTA will grab the attention even when the user is skimming the info.

If you fail to point them in the right direction, they may end up navigating to a competing website instead.

5. Mobile-Friendly

Did you know that mobile browsing has overtaken desktop browsing in recent years?

As such, over half of your potential customers are trying to access your site through a mobile device. If your website doesn’t load properly or fails to incorporate a winning aesthetic for the smaller screen, it will instantly cut your opportunities in half.

During your site’s development, it’s important to test it across all potential devices. A well-designed website will respond to the screen size, whether that’s desktop, tablet or mobile. Otherwise, you will never gain the maximum exposure or conversions that you deserve.

The shift towards mobile usage will only continue to grow over the coming years. Now is the time to take control through mobile optimization.

6. SEO

Last but not least, remember that an attractive and functional website is useless if nobody visits. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the greatest weapon at your disposal.

A strong SEO practice will improve your Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) ranking. After all, over 90% of all clicks are gained on the first page. Better still, the traffic gained in this manner will come from users that are actively looking for business like yours – either by location or the type of products and services provided.

Page rankings are determined by over 200 metrics, but the main ones include backlinks, keywords, and Google My Business information. However, it’s equally important to factor in the changing user habits, which is why mobile SEO and voice searches should now play a central role. And while some of SEO tactics are best left to professionals, here are 5 Foolproof SEO Tips Anyone Can Do.

Businesses are judged on their website. Is yours built to attract? Does it provide a clear and concise user experience? If not, we can help.