Ten Must-Haves for Your Website (Part 1)
We may be nearing the end of 2021 (unbelievable!), but it’s never too late to take inventory of the must-have features and elements of your website. In fact, it’s something that we stay on top of constantly as the digital landscape evolves - so you don’t have to.
The following list provides a high-level - but not exhaustive - overview of design elements, content considerations, and features that you should be considering for your website in 2021.
We hope to update this list each year as tech and trends evolve!
Intuitive Navigation and User Journeys
This one may seem obvious but it’s something that small business owners and marketers can often overlook. Your website navigation consists of the user interface components (buttons, links, copy, etc.) that help visitors find content and features on a website. This also includes your menu - the section that is typically on the top of your website that links to the other pages of your website (see example below). A user journey is the all-encompassing term for the experiences a person has when interacting with a website.
Creating an intuitive navigation and user journey starts with identifying the ultimate goal of your website - what do you want your visitor to do? Book your services? Become a member? Subscribe to your blog? Purchase your products?
Our strategy is to reverse-engineer your content. We start with the intended end result or outcome and then work backwards to identify how a user navigates through your website. We think holistically about how each page relates to the others so there are no dead ends or confusing loops. Prioritize an intuitive navigation and your website visitors will be more likely to convert to loyal clients and customers.
Clear Calls to Action
What is a “Call to Action”? Also called a CTA for short, it is the part of a webpage, advertisement, or piece of content that encourages the audience to do something. They are often in the form of buttons or text links. They’ll often direct users to
Having clear CTAs will make for an even more intuitive experience, signaling to your user what the next step is. Whether it’s a button or a link or some other graphic element, the CTA is a crucial component of the website experience. Some people may shy away from CTAs because they don’t want to come off as “too sales-y” when in fact your website visitor will appreciate being guided toward the next step in the user journey.
Learn more about adding buttons to your Squarespace website here (affiliate link).
Lead Generation Form
Are you capturing the contact information of your website visitors? If not, you are missing a huge opportunity to grow your audience and stay connected with them. Especially when social media has shown to be undependable (I’m sure we all remember Facebook’s major crash on October 4th 2021). Ultimately, you do not own your audience on social media, but you do own your email list and your website, so adding a lead generating form to your website is a simple solution to making sure you always have a way to communicate with your community.
Email list sign-up forms can come in a variety of forms, from pop-ups to embedded forms within your webpage. Whatever the method, you can improve your conversion rate by offering a free download or something that will encourage passive visitors to sign up.
On Squarespace, you can use the Newsletter Block (affiliate link) feature to set up your mailing list and connect it to your email sender or use Squarespace’s own Email Campaigns tool.
(Use our code PARTNER10 to get a 10% discount on your first subscription to a Squarespace website or domain plan!)
Mobile-Responsive Design
Ok, it’s 2021. I didn’t think we would still have to say this, but here we are. Your website MUST be mobile responsive. It is astounding how many websites I see that are still not mobile-friendly and therefore difficult to navigate and use. My clients typically see about 50% of their website traffic coming from mobile so this is a huge portion of your website visitors.
Thankfully, many website builders and content management systems provide automatic responsive design. My favorite is… of course… Squarespace!
Squarespace's built-in responsive design resizes your content and images to fit different devices and screen widths. With responsive design, visitors can automatically view your site in many ways, so you don't need to create and maintain separate sites for every potential device, browser, and display width.
Save 10% off your first subscription of a website or domain by using the code PARTNER10.
Privacy Policy
Even if you have a small business website, you might be wondering if you really need a privacy policy for your website. But if you’re starting or running any kind of company today, the answer is likely yes.
Due to regulations that protect personal privacy online such as the European Union’s GDPR and the California Online Privacy Protection Act, it’s absolutely critical to make sure you have a privacy policy. (Skipping out on one is just asking for trouble.)
You should always consult with your attorney for specific legal advice, but if a custom privacy policy proves to be too expensive there are wonderful template options out there.
I recommend the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions template from The Contract Shop. (affiliate links!) With these easy-to-use templates, you can edit according to your specific needs and add them to your website. It’s an affordable option to make sure you are covered and in compliance!
So if you have a privacy policy, do you need a cookie banner? Most likely, yes.
If your website uses cookies (which all Squarespace websites do) and your website is available to people in the EU, the GDPR requirements for “cookie consent” apply to you.
Thankfully, Squarespace makes it super easy to turn on your cookie banner or pop-up and customize as needed!
We hope that part one of this must-have list has been helpful. If you have any questions about how to improve your website or build one from scratch, contact us today for a free consultation call.
In part two, we’ll be sharing the next five must-haves for your website, including analytics, search-optimized content, a browser icon, web-optimized images, and social media integration.
