Does your Startup Website Have Important Features? Checksheet

Your website is the marketing hero of your startup. The better your website, the better is your business. No matter how small the business is, it is almost mandatory to have an impressive website.

Effective websites have some features in common that can help in building the brand. Needless to say, your portal should have a domain name that easily gets etched on the minds of people, an attractive logo and contact information. All the information on the website should be in clean font that is easy to read. Online chat facility is an optional feature that may or may not be used. It is best to refrain from using Flash elements, background music and videos from the website server.

Here are the most important features that you need for your star marketer website.

HEADER -

1. Domain name

Do not keep a “punny” domain name that only you would understand. Keep it simple so that people can easily remember it.

1. Logo

Let your logo be clear and make sure it represents the brand well.

1. Tagline

Explain the motto of your business in simple yet impressive way through the tagline.

1. Phone number with call to action button

Customers can click and easily call in case of any queries through this feature.

1. Top Navigation

Easy navigation is ensured by an easy to read top navigation bar.

1. Bread crumb navigation

While surfing the site, bread crumb navigation enables the users to have a clear idea of where they are.

ABOVE THE FOLD -

1. Slider/image

Highlight the most significant quality of your business through a slider or image.

1. Important business information

Physical evidence is a must for every business. Your office location can be included in this part.

1. Reviews and feedback

Reviews of customers or video testimonials can coax the customers to trust you and help you in gaining their confidence.

BELOW THE FOLD -

1. Main features

Emphasize on the main features of your products and services to reach out to the target audience more effectively.

1. Genuine content

Display informative content that is user-oriented rather than search engine optimized content that is only focused on achieving rankings of search engines.

1. Internal links

The content should have links to inner pages (backlinks) so that users can get more relevant information from the website itself.

FOOTER –

1. Contact Information

It is a must to include office address, phone number and Email address on the website. Make sure that you update this information if at all it gets changed.

1. Business hours

Give the customers the correct information about your availability.

1. Social Media buttons

Let the customers know that you are active on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn too.

1. Newsletter signup form

If users subscribe to your posts by signing up, it surely helps in enhancing your business.

1. Navigation

Footer navigation can help the users to save the time taken to scroll the entire page up.

INNER PAGES –

1. Contact Form

Contact form facilitates the customers to ask you any query they have regarding your business.

1. Anti-spam feature

Make sure you have a captcha so that your mail box is not flooded with junk mails.

1. Personalized about us page

It is very important to let the people know what your company is all about. Keep it subtle, honest and interesting.

1. Inner pages content

F pattern can be followed to show the inner pages content.

1. Privacy policy page

Inform the customers about your privacy policy concerning the user information that is collected from the website.

1. FAQs

Customers often have the same queries. Such questions and their answers can be listed in FAQs.

1. Blog page

Have interesting articles on your blog page so that customers are enticed to read through them.

BLOG –

1. Search function

If a user wants to get information regarding a particular topic, he/she can type in the keyword in the search bar and avail the information.

1. Social media share buttons

Give the users the facility to share the blog post on all the famous social networking sites.

1. Comment feature

It is mandatory to have a comment feature enabled so that the users can share their opinions.

1. Sidebar

Archived and popular blog posts can be shown in the sidebar of the blog page.

MISCELLANEOUS –

1. Links

Different font style and font color is advisable for the links.

1. Mobile responsive

Make sure that your website is easy to view even on the mobile screens, preferable with a hamburger menu style

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION-

1. Automatic sitemap creation
2. Easily updatable page titles, meta description and URL structure

SERVER/HOSTING -

1. Fast hosting
2. Security
3. Auto website backup

OTHER TECHNICAL TIPS –

1. Content management system

Having a content management system in the backend can make site maintenance convenient for you.

1. Cross browser compatible

Your website should be supported by all the browsers.

1. Google Analytics Integration
2. Google Webmaster tools integration
3. Speedy, fast loading, optimized code
4. Browser cache can be used to make the surfing quick
5. org

Rich snippets integration can be used for the name of your business, address and contact details.

If you are new in the world of entrepreneurship and have recently launched a website, make sure your website has these important features to woo your customers. It is never too late to turn around and make some modifications in your website if any of these are missing.