1. Clear and catchy introduction.

Since new visitors may only spend a few seconds clicking through your home page and offerings, it’s important to make the time count. Above all else, shoppers need to know who you are, what you do, and why they should investigate your company further. Areas to cover should involve the following.

• Who are you? What is the mission behind what you do that sets you apart?
• What products do you offer?
• How do customers obtain your goods and services? (This is where you include your brick-and-mortar store’s contact details as well as specifics about how to shop on your website. If you accept international payments, display this information clearly so that foreign buyers feel included.)
• What distinguishes your business from all the rest? Do you feature lower prices, special manufacturing practices, or locally made items? Whatever your uniqueness is, let it shine through.
• Specify how and when customers can reach you.

With these basic details in place, you can move on to equally important requirements.

2. Easy navigation.

One of the quickest ways to alienate customers is with a confusing, cluttered website. Keep it simple, accurate, and clear by taking the following steps.

• Include only essential information on your site pages.
• Label your menus in such a way that visitors know exactly what will result from clicking on them.
• Call customers to action with clear language and buttons that are easy to identify.
• Optimize your website for mobile users. Because people are increasingly browsing and buying with their tablets and smartphones, your site needs to work well on smaller screens.
• Include a site map. This not only helps shoppers to navigate your website but also makes you more accessible when people use search engines to browse the internet.

Avoiding animations and other flashy bells and whistles enables you to direct your guests to the products and information they are seeking with maximum efficiency and minimal frustration or confusion.

3. Compelling content.

The textual and visual information you provide about your store and the products you sell should serve as the foundation of your website. This content should not be static; instead, it should evolve as your business grows and customer needs evolve. The following suggestions can help as you generate the words and images that will attract customers and keep them coming back.

• Learn what is driving your customers. This can be done by keeping your ear to the ground when it comes to your industry or niche, figuring out what interests people, and what needs or questions they may have. Keyword tools can assist by letting you know what some of your top industry-related searches are at any given time.
• Use what you have learned as a springboard for coming up with content. A great way to incorporate customer concerns into your website offerings is through blog posts on their subjects of interest.
• Harness the power of social media. As part of understanding your buyer base, find out what social media platforms they use. Then create business pages that can draw shoppers in and acquaint them with your store and products. Platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok particularly lend themselves to videos, so leverage multimedia tools to demonstrate products or even to introduce everyone to what makes your store so special.
• Consider linking your site to online influencers. You may not have the ability to hitch your store’s wagon to the top-tier digital celebrities who boast millions of followers and who can launch a trend with just one post. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t cash in on the affiliation trend. Do some digging online to learn which people in your industry are gaining followers on their social media pages. Then directly contact these individuals to see if they are willing to feature you on one of their videos or provide their fans with a link to your website. While this will probably cost you financially, a well-thought-out relationship with an online influencer can pay for itself many times over.

When you greet visitors to your website with text and video content that goes beyond the dispensing of dry information, they are far more likely to enter into a lasting relationship with your business.

4. Incorporation of analytics tools.

One great thing about today’s technology is that it allows you to easily take a snapshot of any number of business-related statistics, including:

• How many new visitors are you receiving?
• How many visitors return and how often?
• What technology are your online guests using to access your website?
• What pages do visitors tend to focus on and which do they click past?
• What is your rate of shopping cart abandonment?

Once you gain access to this information, you can use it to make intentional, targeted changes in your website and marketing techniques. For instance, use the data that shows that you are not attracting new visitors to propel a change to your social media approach. If mobile phone users are tending to click away quickly, you may need to revamp your site’s coding to make it more mobile-friendly. If guests are selecting items but then leaving without completing the sale, it may be time to make sure your payment gateway is providing them with a seamless shopping cart experience.

When someone walks into a store for the first time and is greeted by a friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable associate who demonstrates a commitment to providing them with a superior shopping experience, the benefits are lasting. As the digital equivalent of your physical store, your business website needs to make a great first impression as well. Maximize its assets, and you will reap the rewards in the form of expanded profits and satisfied customers who return again and again.