Your website is the foundation of your business’ online presence. Not only does it give your business credibility, but it also informs your customers on why they should trust your brand. Your website also ties every social media account and online marketing effort to one place and unlike your brick and mortar store, it is accessible to an interested customer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In short, your website is an important tool to getting and keeping customers… if built correctly.

When building a website, there are hundreds of elements and features that you may want to add, which is why it is only natural that some slip your mind. At Cobalt & Sapphire, we’ve researched (and built!) several websites, and in the process, we’ve discovered that there are five features that are easily overlooked when building a site:

1. Clear Definition of Product/Service
In a world where less is more, sometimes websites are so aesthetically pleasing and clean that they fail to inform the audience on what they are selling. Or the opposite can happen, where the page is packed with information making your viewer feel overwhelmed. There is no formula for how to properly describe your product, but make sure your description is to the point, easy on the eyes, and located in a place that is intuitive.

2. A Call To Action
You’ve showcased your offering, but now what? As a website viewer, I don’t know whether I should call you, visit your store, purchase online, make an appointment online, etc. The call to action is crucial for guiding your interested viewer to the next step. Whether it’s a button, a link, a phone number or anything in between, the call to action eliminates confusion and makes the purchasing cycle intuitive.

3. Proof of Quality
Some things on the internet seem too good to be true. People who are new to your business might have concerns about how legit it is and will probably conduct further research (yelp search, competitor site, social media, etc.) before making a purchase. To combat this natural sentiment, it is crucial to include proof of quality on your website. The type of proof varies with the industry that you are in. You can display testimonials, add a portfolio to showcase your work, upload high-resolution photos of your product, the list goes on.

4. Newsletter Sign Up
Email newsletters allow your business to communicate directly to the people who are interested in hearing from you. Your website will most likely be visited by an interested party or spark a newcomer’s interest, making it prime real estate to advertise your newsletter and grow your mailing list. The newsletter sign up can take form as a pop-up box, a section on the footer/contact page of your site, or both!

5. Social Media Integration
Many businesses attach icons of their social media accounts on their website, but there is so much more that can be done to ensure that your audience is clicking through to your profiles. There are several plugins that allow your website to highlight your social media accounts. Showcase your aesthetic Instagram feed, exhibit your awesome Yelp reviews, and display how people are checking into your store via Facebook. By making your social media accounts more visual than just an icon, your audience is more likely to click through and follow or like your business’ page.