Guest Post

17 Must-Have Features for Every Good Business Website

Rajinder Singh
Posted on 31/05/226 min read
17 Must-Have Features for Every Good Business Website

Have you spent days, weeks, or even months perfecting your business website but haven’t seen its benefits yet? You could endlessly consume your business budget, hoping it’ll get you more responses, but it hardly does any justice.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, you need to place every piece correctly to get your desired solution. But often, you might not know what these pieces are. So, here is a robust and promising list of 17 must-have website features to boost your business online.  

3 Attention-Grabbing Business Website Features

First things first, you have the three horsemen of readability and outlook of your website. Think of them as a basic rule of thumb whenever you’re making fresh edits or additions. And no, these are not your premium membership tools and extensions! So let’s take a peek, shall we?  

Website header

Website header on website

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The titles you give to your web pages are nothing but the headers. Usually ranging between header-1 (H1) and header-6 (H6), they are vital to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) ranking. 

It allows the readers to identify what the content ahead carries too. It acts as a table of contents. It helps your audience decide if they even want to visit their site or move on to the next one on the list. This is one of the must-have features of a good website.

Home page design  

After the header, the home page design is the following website feature that determines if your viewer will stay on the page. Here, the appeal and aesthetics matter just as much as the overall functionality. 

Besides the page layout, you’ll also want to focus on the information you place. So, additional website elements like your contact details, company background, testimonials, and social media links go a long way.

Website footer  

One way to let your viewer know that they have reached the end of the page is a beautiful footer. However, you don’t want to put irrelevant information there. Ideally, it would be best to introduce useful external and internal links relevant to what your website stands for. 

It determines your bounce rate and whether it ends up on the positive side. Amongst other website features, this one adds to the functionality of your page as well.

Website Header Features for Better User Engagement 

You already know how important the header feature proves to the success of your website. Let us look at how you can achieve that goal.

Here are some must-have elements for your website header:  

Well designed logo  

Did you know that 36% of the audience look up your website logo to get a better reading? It builds trust and increases the viewing time by communicating the possible experience they might have with you.

Easy navigation

Incorporate text in the menubar and not icons because search engines can’t figure out the latter. Therefore, the chances of your SEO ranking enhancing will also increase. It breaks down the most important parts of your website and fastens the average loading time.

Search bar

 Search bar design

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Having a search bar is critical for a good business website as readers always look for something specific. Without this feature, they’ll waste more time searching for what they’re looking for, thus, moving on to another website.  

Call-to-action button  

This button is one of the most impressive website features for boosting your bounce rate. Their purpose is to urge the viewer to take a specific step. A good CTA button on your website will be appropriately placed and highly visible so that the reader can click it.

Home Page Features for Better User Experience  

So far, you have a basic idea of how important a home page is for the success of your business website. Now, let’s get your hands on how you can step closer to relishing that success.

Introduction

After reading the header, what made you sure you would find what you’re looking for on this page? You read the introduction, and that’s how you knew. The same goes for your website. As long as you make your introduction catchy, short, and summarising, nothing can stop your audience from reading further ahead.

Services

One of the most useful website features is services. Depending on the services you offer on your website, the SEO ranking of your page boosts. So, next time you make changes to your website, infuse it with multiple services for a better success rate.

Images and media

There is a reason why so many people prefer books with images rather than just text. Visual website elements like images and media add to the credibility of your work or service. It gives the viewers a deeper insight into the information you’re offering on your site. Besides, it also enhances the SEO scores.

Testimonials

Customer testimonials on the website example

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Reviews are a great way to judge how good or bad a product or service is. Testimonials and reviews prove just as imperative for your website too. By providing a bunch of these, your viewers will develop a sense of trust in what you’re offering. 

Subscriber opt-in

Subscriber opt-in is one of the website features that finds its roots in marketing. Through this permission marketing, you ask if the reader would be interested in receiving follow-up communication, offers, opportunities from you. etc. It is one of the surest ways that help you grow your website and brand organically.

Website Footer Features for Better Conversion

Lastly, we come to the important website elements to make your footer more engaging. These include:

Contact information

One way to ensure your audience that you will be available to them is by providing contact information. It builds trust and reliance and helps you maintain a relationship with your viewers.

Contact form

Contact form example for a website

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A contact form is nothing but a short fill-in for your audience. Your visitors can approach you by filling this form out to either ask a query or convey a message. This can trigger an auto-generated email to the sender, too, establishing a platform for contact.

Business hours

This feature allows Google to make your website appear more easily in the local search result. Due to increased visibility, the traffic on your page will also increase. 

Map to your business

Like several other website features on this list, a map to your business will establish authenticity. Even more than that, it will allow Google to show your website in the results in case of local searches. 

Social media icons

Social media links to your business profiles show your reader that you’re available to connect to them on all platforms. Moreover, the audience gets to see what goes on behind the scenes or simply the face of your website. This is also a way for your audience to get to know you better as an establishment.

Other Website Features  

Apart from the main website elements present under the three classifications, secondary elements help boost your success rate, and these are:

Price

This feature is what lets your audience decide if what you’re offering is worth the cost. It helps the consumer get an idea of the quality of your product, service, or business. So, add this one to your website if you haven’t already.

Blogs

Like social media platforms, the blogs on your website help your audience get a clearer idea of who you are. It shows them the diversity of your products or services and how they can benefit from it. In fact, these are quite close to testimonials too. Except, the narrative is often from the ‘buyer’s guide’ perspective.

FAQs

This element adds to your web page’s depth. Even if you are a new business, it assures that you’re working in a sector that people have been consuming for a long time. FAQs are a great section to add for readers who have very specific questions in mind. Ensure you’re addressing all the common FAQs related to your business/service.

Conclusion  

More and more people have started to run their businesses online nowadays. Even if your company offers offline services, a business website’s reach is unparalleled. 

The only way to beat your competitors is by increasing the online presence of your business. And what better way of doing that other than incorporating the website features mentioned on this list.

Rajinder Singh has driven the UI/UX design vision as the Director at Immense Art (P) Ltd., in Chandigarh, India. He has also helped set the direction for product development. Singh, also the founder of TheHotSkills.com, enjoys freelance writing.