Web Development & Design

  WooCommerce: WooCommerce is one of the world’s most popular e-commerce platforms—it can turn your WordPress website into an online store. Like WordPress, there are many plugins available, and it attaches to WordPress, which makes it extremely flexible. There are many free and premium themes pre-built for WooCommerce. (As a rule, it is better to use a premium theme from a reputable developer because it will offer better security and support.) If you are not tech-savvy, you will most likely need a WordPress developer to help you set it up and use it. WooCommerce also offers a very high amount of capabilities and scalability that your small business might need. Shopify: Shopify is a cloud based e-commerce platform that allows you to create and customize an online store, and to manage products, inventory, payments, and shipping. It is not a WordPress extension like WooCommerce—it is a standalone platform that is hosted on the Shopify server—so if you have a main website, your e-commerce site would technically be separate from that. You can link to your Shopify account from your regular website built with WordPress, Drupal, Wix, etc., unless your main website has a Shopify integration plugin. Features include unlimited products, unlimited bandwidth, fraud analysis, discount codes, reports, and much more. The key benefits of Shopify are that you do not need a developer to set up a store, and everything on the backend is already set up for you when you subscribe. The downside is you do not have as much control or flexibility over your store as you would with WooCommerce.

  Shopify Plus: Shopify Plus is Shopify, but with a higher level of customization, more staff accounts, and international e-commerce options. It also has a higher level of support. However, all of this obviously comes with a higher subscription cost, and it still does not have all the flexibility and customization abilities as WooCommerce. Business Squarespace: Squarespace has an e-commerce subscription option, so if you chose Squarespace to build your site and have very simple e-commerce needs, you can choose this route. Business Squarespace charges a transaction fee, but this can be bypassed by upgrading your subscription to a basic online store. It includes a free domain, SSL security, SEO, abandoned cart recovery, discounts, real-time carrier shipping, and more. However, it has been noted it is not as user-friendly as Shopify. And like Shopify, it is simply not as flexible as WooCommerce. Wix: Wix actually has a Shopify extension which is very user friendly. You will have to upgrade your Wix account and subscribe to Shopify in order to use it.

  GoDaddy Online Store: GoDaddy has a relatively new e-commerce standalone subscription platform that is relatively easy to set up and use. Very little technical knowledge is required to launch your shop with GoDaddy Online Store. The templates are simple and clean, and somewhat customizable. Features include marketing and SEO tools, social media integration, appointment booking, SSL security, rapid page loading, and more. Other Articles From AllBusiness.com: The Complete 35-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs Starting a Business 25 Frequently Asked Questions on Starting a Business 50 Questions Angel Investors Will Ask Entrepreneurs 17 Key Lessons for Entrepreneurs Starting a Business Create an interesting, memorable, and engaging website user interface Make sure your small business website interface leaves a positive impression that drives results. You can do so by implementing the following suggestions:

  Use beautiful graphics and easy-to-read fonts. Make sure your graphics are compressed and optimized for fast loading. If your website is slow, search engines like Google will penalize your ranking. Research the competition to see how they have designed and optimized their websites; implement similar components that will work for your small business website. Research your target audience to see what they want from your site and make it easy for them to accomplish it. Stay consistently on brand throughout your website design. Design an intuitive navigation system which allows users to get to the pages they need quickly. Publish easily accessible contact information. Incorporate obvious call-to-actions (especially “buy now” buttons). Create pages that are standard for small business websites, such as:

 Home About us Products/Services (with descriptions and visually appealing images) Sitemap (for SEO purposes) Management team Contact us Terms of use (the online contract governing how users can use your site) Privacy policy Additional pages relevant to your specific small business Optimize your small business website for search engines SEO is a set of practices you apply to your website to ensure search engines index and rank your website appropriately and then show it to search engine users. Once your website is “crawled” by search engines, it competes with websites that have similar content. The better your website design and content is, the higher your site will show up on search engine result pages. SEO mainly includes the following practices:

  Keyword research and implementation Optimal website code Fast loading speed Being secure and having an SSL certificate installed; SSL is the standard security technology that ensures data passed between web servers and browsers remains private Having a mobile-friendly site Existence of high-quality backlinks (links on external websites with related content) that lead to your site Having lots of positive reviews online (Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc.) Using internal links throughout your site to keep people clicking and reading Using social media to link to your site (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.) SEO is an extremely important ongoing process that can mean the difference between showing up on the first page of search engine results pages (resulting in large amounts of free traffic to your website) or page 300 (resulting in no traffic).

  Regularly create and publish quality content Both content quantity and freshness are important to search engines, so it’s important that you create a plan to publish quality articles and/or blog posts on your site and on external sites that link to your site. If you want to rank highly in search engine results and encourage people to return to your site again and again, you will have to update your website with new and relevant content as frequently as possible. In addition to static page content and articles, a great form of content to post on your website is testimonials. Asking for testimonials from your customers and then publishing them on your website is a great way to post fresh, high-quality content on your site that makes your small business more attractive. Make sure your content uses an appropriate, on-brand tone that people will enjoy reading. Install webmaster tools Make use of vital data to help you analyze traffic and site performance by installing Google Analytics and Google Search Console (both preferably via Google Tag Manager), and Bing Webmaster Tools. These tools can be used to track the following types of information:

  Daily, weekly, and monthly visitors to your site Number of views on each page of your site “Bounce rate”—the percentage of users who come to your site and leave after having only viewed one page (Google algorithms give higher rankings to websites that have a low bounce rate, on the theory that visitors are spending more time on the site and find it valuable.) Average time spent on site by visitors Crawl errors on your site (errors that the search engines found on your site in crawling its content) Broken links on the site Keywords that lead users to your site Backlinks to your site Web page download time Other information that can help you enhance your SEO Implement a website maintenance plan A website shouldn’t be created and then allowed to grow stale. In order to have a successful website that ranks well in search engines and doesn't get hacked, you need to make sure it is properly maintained. Here are some tips to create a small business website maintenance plan:

  Check Webmaster Tools data at least once a month and have any vital errors emailed to you in real time. Use traffic data to learn more about your audience so you can better cater to them. Use performance data to optimize and fix warnings and errors. Make sure all software is always up to date. Run security scans so you know your website is clean of malware and hasn’t been hacked. Use “split testing” to see if certain variations of your website help performance; for example, if you are selling a product, you might have two versions of a particular landing page with different images and wording—the split testing allows you to see which version has a higher conversion rate. Follow my advice about SEO (see point #7), and continually publish quality content (see point #8). Find on-trend and effective ways to market your business online. Allow website users to provide you with feedback about your site. Continue to check out your competition from time to time to see what they are doing with their online presence and see if what they’ve done can work for you as well. Make sure your website is backed up in multiple ways at least once a day and at least 10 days back. Conclusion As you can tell after reading this article, creating a great small business website may not be as simple as you first thought. However, if you follow the steps set forth in this article, your small business will have an excellent chance at succeeding in the online marketplace.

  When you consider this in the context of how to make a website or making a blog, it’s much the same. You spend days, weeks, even months working to build your perfect website. You utilize a chunk of your business budget to create this incredible user experience, hoping it leads to customer satisfaction and increased consumers or visitors. When creating a website or undergoing a site redesign, there shouldn’t be any pieces left behind. The various aspects should fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, eventually compiling the perfect picture. When learning how to design a website, you want to create the optimal user experience. To do so, go through your site piece by piece and make sure you have these key elements. The following features are purposeful elements of a website that users have come to expect and will leave a lasting and positive impression on all those who navigate your way. Home Page Features for Your Website The home page is where most first impressions are made. It’s a user’s first look at who you are and what you’re about. Don’t mince words here. Be concise and effective with your communications, and make it a quick place for users to understand your business. website-features Domain Name The URL for your website that appears in the navigation bar. This is the address where visitors are able to find you, or the address they are taken to after search leads them to your site. Domain name creation is one of the first steps to website creation, and you cannot have a functioning site without one. Make the domain simple and easy to spell so visitors may find you without trouble. If your ideal domain name is taken, think outside the box and get creative. Domain names are registered for brands, so you will either need to find an unregistered domain or acquire a domain that is owned by someone else.

  Company Name Your company’s name should appear pretty high up somewhere on the homepage, reassuring visitors they’ve come to the website they were looking for. Users should not have to scroll to find your company name. Search Bar Some users know exactly what they want from your site, and just need help navigating to that page. Including a search bar on your homepage, and every other site page, allows visitors to take control of their site experience. Logo Logos should also appear high up on the homepage. Logos are small, easy-to-remember graphics that create a link in a customer’s brain between your company and that image. While they may not always remember your company name, they may recognize you by logo.

  Description A short description or company tagline should appear somewhere near the company name or logo. This is especially true of smaller businesses whose work is not so easily understood. A short phrase that outlines who you are and what you do will set the scene quickly for first-time visitors. Navigation Bar Whether to the side or across the top of the page, a navigation bar should be positioned to empower users to explore your site and find their desired products or information. CTAs A CTA, or call to action, can be anything from “create a login,” to “book a demo,” to “get on our mailing list.” It’s a convincing plea to users, begging they take some kind of action on your site that would involve later contact, and it is often coupled with some sort of incentive. Images Your website should be accompanied by some sort of header image or body image to provide visitors with a visual. These visuals can be ads for your new spring line, or a graphic designed specifically for your site. Images help retain attention as they are easier to process than an overwhelming amount of text. Images can be a slideshow or video; any visual media is better than a page of plain text. Related: Learn how to pick the best images for your website.

  Internal Links The purpose of a website isn’t just to get people to your homepage. Rather, use your homepage to spur visitors to other parts of the site. Advertise relevant spring styles, or provide links to recent blog posts. Internal links get users to stay on your page longer, which increases the odds they’ll become a customer. Testimonials Consider including some of the wonderful things users and/or previous clients have said about you on your homepage. Review sites such as Yelp or G2 Crowd have a plethora of data from which to pull. If you don’t have enough data, seek out administrative rights to your company profile and ask users to write customer reviews. In the meantime, consider reaching out personally to people and asking if they don’t mind saying some kind words to be included in your testimonial section. TIP: Claim your G2 profile today to start getting more reviews that you can use on your site to highlight your happy customers!More and more, websites are utilizing live chat software as an opportunity to get in touch with site visitors and provide top-tier customer service. If you are using a live chat tool, make sure users are prompted to converse after they’ve been on the homepage or other internal link for a certain period of time. See the Highest-Rated Live Chat Software, Free → 1 Subscriber Opt-in Although newsletter forms can really be located anywhere on your site, they should start on the homepage. A lot of orgs will opt for a pop-up that encourages visitors to sign up for the email newsletter in exchange for an incentive, such as a discount. Newsletters can be set to appear as visitors are hovering over the X button, prompting them to action before they close out the page.

  Website Footer Features The footer sits at the bottom of each page, providing links that help visitors navigate to popular site pages. website-footer-features 1 Tabs and Options At the very bottom of your homepage, and every page, should be a hyperlinked list of places where visitors commonly wish to navigate. Examples of these site locations are the blog, press stories, the company’s “about” page, careers, customer support, the FAQ, and whatever other site-specific links are pertinent to your users’ experience. 1 Social Media Icons The power of social media marketing cannot be overstated. In order to get visitors over to your Twitter and Facebook pages, include social media icons on the homepage, or on the footer at the bottom of each page.

  Website About Page Features An about us page leads visitors to learn more about your organization. Although many of these elements can go on the homepage, you may prefer a page dedicated to users who wish to learn more about the organization. This can be a great place for a company to utilize brand storytelling. business-website-features Tip: "Is there an interesting anecdote about how the business started? Share it. A good story puts a human face on what might otherwise be a sales pitch or impersonal About page," advises Susan Greene, a copywriter who helps companies create better web pages. "Facts are important but stories get remembered and help you connect with your customers." 1 Map to Your Business A map and address leads users to your office or store location. This helps them understand where to find you. A larger company with multiple storefronts may also include a search for users to find a location nearest them. A smaller business just needs to include the one or two addresses it has.

  1 Business Hours If you have a physical storefront, or if you’re only reachable at certain times, include this on your about page. Having hours clearly listed helps people know when you’re more likely to answer their calls or process returns. 1 Contact Info Contact information gives users a way to get in touch with you. Include a phone number and potentially a support or informational email address on your about page. This way, anyone who has further questions or who is experiencing issues with your product or service can make contact quickly. 1 Contact Form A contact form is another way of making your company available to users. Contact forms gather an individual’s information while giving them a message box where they can voice their concerns. 1 Biography A biography for your organization and its founders helps visitors better understand who they are doing business with. People love familiarity and feeling good about where they invest their time and money. A company bio can brighten up your about page with some storytelling and personal anecdotes.

Website Developing

  Other Inner Page Features for Your Business Website The other internal links on your site will vary largely depending on what you’re selling and what tactics you enact to drive traffic. Below are some examples of internal pages and the types of features you’d need to include in a website update to make them successful and navigable. 20. Team/Careers A team and/or careers page is a marketing tool to show visitors who works at your company, what they’re interested in, and who you could work with if you were also to apply. 2 Teams and Employees Employee pages are often sorted according to who does what, meaning they’re listed in terms of who works in marketing, sales, research, etc. These pages include headshots or other team photos, with the employees’ names and titles. Teams will vary depending on how your organization is broken up and what teams you have.

  team-page-features 2 Employee Bios Team biographies show the diversity of your organization in regards to their interests, backgrounds, and modes of thought. Including short bios for employees gives everyone a chance to make their own personal impression on the people coming to your site. 2 Media A lot of companies will include a video component to their team or careers page that includes interviews with real employees. This serves as great marketing collateral for when your company goes on a hiring spree. Video components also improve SERP rankings. 2 Feature Page If you’re a SaaS company, you’ll likely want to include a features page to show visitors how you stand out against your competitors. features-website-page 2 Functionality This is, quite literally, just a list of features your product has. What can it accomplish for other professionals? Be sure to organize features according to the specific categories they fall under. If your software product can update and organize customer contact information, list that under a contact management category.

  2 Integrations Users are always wondering if a certain software tool is compatible with something they already use. Including integrations on the features page is a good way to address these questions early, as well as increase traffic to your website by including the names of popular tools. 2 Case Studies Case studies allow visitors to explore how your product or service has benefited the customers before them. Case studies are unbiased and have the data to back up the claims. Learn how to write a case study to help convert your business website's visitors into qualified leads. 2 Blog Blogs are great for any organization wishing to bring traffic to its site through unique content, or wishing to provide regular updates through published posts. Even if you’re not particularly a blogger, having a blog on your site can still gather attention. blog-features 2 Organization Blogs can be organized in a number of ways, but it matters that they are organized. Readers and visitors should have a clear understanding of how your blog is broken out and how they can find the content most relevant to their interests. \

 30. Blog Search Function We spoke earlier about having a search bar located on every page, but having one on your blog page is perhaps the most pertinent, as matching keywords can lead your visitors to locate content. 3 Author Pages Readers occasionally want to know more about the professionals writing blog posts. By adding a hyperlink to blog bylines, you can navigate readers toward that employees’ bio. This creates familiarity with certain writers, potentially encouraging readers to return specifically for their content. These also can establish credibility for authors with relevant experience. 3 Comments Blogs are meant to be conversation starters, are they not? Including a comments section after blogs allows readers to participate in a forum-like discussion that shows how engaging your content is. 3 Blog Internal Links If a visitor is interested in your blog, it’s possible they would be interested in a different blog of similar devices. Take this opportunity to include a bar or list of recommended content that could potentially keep them on your site for longer. 3 Knowledge Base or FAQ These pages help visitors find answers to questions that have been asked before. This reduces your team’s need to respond to the same questions repeatedly, and also makes visitors feel more self-sufficient.

 faq-features 3 Questions and Answers Questions are the building blocks of a forum. Once questions are asked, other people can start to offer up their answers and truly begin a community of shared knowledge. Organize the questions and answers of your forum or FAQ by topic, much like you organized your blog. As with the blog, make these questions searchable. 3 Documents and Guides Every company has set guides and processes, and customers benefit from that documentation as well. Consider making customer-facing documentation and making that available in your knowledge base. 3 Infographics Infographics explain a big concept in a small picture. If your company has infographics that explain processes or data, make that available through the knowledge base. A Business Website's Back-End Functionalities

 Everything we’ve discussed so far has been customer-facing, which is helpful in creating a wonderful user experience. But what are some of the elements you should consider on your end, in the control room? We’ve certainly gone more in-depth on this topic in the business website ultimate guide. But for those of you just looking for a quick checklist of things to consider, the following will get you off to a good start. 3 CMS Tool A content management system (CMS) helps organize and retain all of the content that is on your website. Even if you take a post down after its related event or holiday, you can store it within the CMS should it be needed again later. Many CMS platforms have hundreds of customizable add-ons for any use case. For example there are countless popular Wordpress plugins for e-commerce stores. 3 SEO/Optimization Tool SEO software tools help you word content in such a way that it attracts the most visitors possible. Keyword optimization helps you utilize the words other people are searching so as to lead them directly to your website. 40. Site Analytics Analytics tools help you understand who is coming to your site and how much time they’re spending on it. This kind of insight is great for analyzing the effectiveness of certain pages or content for the purpose of changing failing strategies. 4 Website Hosting Similar to a domain name, websites cannot function without a host. If you’re using a website builder, you won't need to worry about a web hosting provider as your site is probably hosted through them, and you don’t have to worry about finding a host externally. 4 Content Descriptions

 On the back-end, your website should offer you the option of adding meta descriptions to content and updating its title. This is useful for improving SEO, as adding in certain words in the meta description will make your site appear in certain searches. Avoid These Features on Your Company Website Among multiple sources, a few things are clear: Do not upload video content directly to your site, as it increases the likelihood of error. Instead, use video hosting websites, such as YouTube, and embed the video to your site. Auto-playing videos is also bothersome to some. Avoid using elements that require Adobe Flash Player, as not every visitor is able or willing to download the corresponding software. Stay away from background music. Many consider it bothersome to forcibly listen to music they did not choose. Next Steps for Your Business Website There are certainly more elements to consider, but there’s no need to bog you down as you’re just getting set up. The aforementioned thoughts and advice should get you started on what we hope will turn into a beautiful, functional and successful website. You can then begin to consider web design trends and overall user experience to breathe life into your business website's essential features.

  What pages should my website have? After choosing a domain, this is the next question online entrepreneurs and small business owners ask when they are developing their website. On this page, we’ll detail the most important pages your small business website needs. Best Web Hosts for Small Business Websites A dependable web host is vital to your small business so choosing one is an important decision. Reliable web hosting ensures your visitors have access to your products and services when they need them most. Here are the top five web hosts for new websites you should consider: Bluehost: Best Overall Web-Hosting DreamHost: Best Shared Hosting A2-Hosting: Best Hosting for Speed SiteGround: Best Hosting with Live Support WP Engine: Best Managed WordPress

  What Pages Do You Need on Your Small Business Website? When it comes to content creation for a newly created website, every business is unique and needs something different. But, there is a set of pages that all websites must have because visitors (your potential customers) have expectations of the information on your site and where to find it. Here are a few questions you need to ask yourself before producing your website content: What pages do I need on my website? What should I put on the homepage? Do I need a privacy policy page? Should I have a testimonials page? Do I really need a company blog? On the “about” page, should I talk about myself or the company? 13 Pages Your Small Business Website Must Have Homepage About page Services page Products page FAQ page Testimonials/reviews page

  Contact page Blog Press/latest news page Privacy policy page Terms and conditions page Sitemap “Page not found” page This is the list of the most common pages and information we believe every website should have. Homepage homepageThis is the page most people will see first, and as such, it should tell everyone who you are and what your company does. The content on your homepage should be intriguing enough to capture the attention of your visitors within seconds. Your homepage needs to be well-designed, load fast and look professional. There are studies that show that you have 0.05 seconds to convince people stay on your website. What to include:

  A short description of who you are and what you do, a brief explanation of your services and products, and perhaps some bullet points on how you can help your potential customer or client. Read more: How to create a homepage that converts List of examples of good homepages About page about pagePeople do business with other people, and visitors want to learn a bit more about who the people are behind the company. The about page is often one of the most visited page on any website. This page should give a brief summary of who you are, your company history and what isolates you from the competition. What to include:

  A summary of your company, whom it employs (with biographies and pictures of the staff, or just yourself if you are a sole proprietor), any special achievements you received, and the ways you differ from others that provide the same product or service. Read more: 9 tips for making an about page that works for your brand How to write an about us page Services page (if you offer services) services pageHere you can list details about the services you provide. Begin the page with a summary of your services prior to outlining them. If your services are vast and their descriptions are quite extensive, consider dividing them into sections, as well as adding a link to a landing page, where readers can learn more about a particular service.