As a small business owner, you are always seeking ways to build your business and get a better ROI. You are probably aware that a website is one of the most powerful marketing tools available, and you may believe the time has come to have a website designed but are still hesitant due to the costs, time, expertise and labor involved. The good news is that you need not engage the services of a web design company in order to have an effective website. You can design the site yourself, by following the infographic below by 99MediaLab, 50 Features Every Small Business Website Must Have. This infographic will enable you to design, plan and implement your website perfectly, while understanding how to maximize its sales potential. In addition to learning what features should be included in an effective website, you will also learn what you should not include, and this is extremely important since a poorly designed website will result in visitors abandoning you for the competition, while also resulting in poor search engine rankings.
Following the tips in the infographic will enable you to reach your goal of establishing your business in your particular niche in the online marketplace. And best of all, you need not be a programmer or even have a particular level of technological expertise in order to understand and implement the infographic’s features. Descriptions are presented in a clear and concise manner.
Take advantage of this infographic and watch your business grow. 
Key Elements of a Good Website
(Infographic transcript)
Header
- Domain Name – Easy to remember domain name. You should own your domain name.
- Logo and a clear tagline representing what you do.
- Tagline representing what your business does.
- Call to action button or phone number.
- Phone number – Click to call option.
- Clear and Easy to read top navigation.
- Bread crumb navigation on all pages.
Above the fold
- Slider or Image with most important and Differentiating Point (or USP) of your business. Main headline.
- Crucial Business Information (Restaurant Menu, Location, etc.)
- Testimonials & Reviews (video testimonials can be even better).
Below the fold
- Main Features of your product, service, business location, office, and/or products.
- Quality content written first for the user and then for the search engines.
- Internal links to inner pages.
Footer
- Contact information – Physical address, phone number and email address.
- Business hours – List your business hours or support hours correctly.
- Footer navigation.
- Social Media buttons – Link to company pages.
- Newsletter sign up integration.
- Online chat feature.
Inner Pages
- Contact Form.
- Captcha or anti spam feature in contact form.
- Personalized about us page.
- Inner pages content in F pattern.
- Privacy Policy page if you collect user information like email addresses.
- FAQ page.
- Blog page.
Blog
- Search function for the blog.
- Social Media share buttons for each blog post.
- Comment feature for the blog articles. Make sure to have anti spam integrated as well.
- Sidebar showing your other blog posts.
Other Design/Content Points to consider
- Lins that are easy to recognize
- Clean font. Easily readable.
- Mobile responsive.
- Hamburger menu on mobile site.
SEO
- Automatic sitemap creation.
- Ability to easily update page titles and meta description.
- Easy to update url structure.
Server/Hosting
- Good, reliable and fast hosting.
- Security.
- Auto website backup feature.
Technical Requirements, Backend
- Use a content management system in the backend to make it easy for you to manage and maintain your site.
- Cross browser compatible.
- Google Analytics Integration.
- Google Webmaster tools integration.
- Speed. Fast loading. Optimized code.
- Use browser cache to increase speed.
- Schema.org
Things to avoid on your website if you can
- Don’t use Flash elements.
- Avoid background music.
- Do not upload videos on the website server. Instead use the power of Youtube and/or Vimeo.
