In this new multi-part blog post series, we're going to be examining elements that when assembled together make up a great website, we'll discuss what these elements are and why you should have them on your site. So without further-a-do let's get started!

1. Contact information on every page

Sure, you have to have a contact page, that's a given...but you shouldn't limit posting your contact information to just the contact page. A good percentage of the time, when a visitor comes to your site they are looking specifically for your contact information or location. Why make them click through to your contact page to find it? If your contact / location information is in the header or footer of every page it will be right there available for the visitor to find immediately if that's what they're looking for. The more readily available your contact information is on your website, the more calls you will get from your visitors.

2. Primary information above the fold

"Above the fold" is a web development term that means the area that displays when a page is loaded without any scrolling. When a user loads your homepage, they should see all the key information you want to get across without having to scroll. This is really just common sense when you think it through. Why would you make your users put in extra effort to get the information you really want to get across to them? Why give them the chance to have second thoughts and leave your website before seeing what you want to present to them? Obviously what this information is will vary wildly depending on the type and nature of the business, but there are a few elements that will be common to every site. For example, your site navigation should always be above the fold as well as contact information (tying in with the point above).

3. Usability

Typically for most business websites, there won't be a tons of complex user interaction on your site, so usability is fairly straight forward. All you have to do is make sure you have conventionally placed navigation that has a naming structure that won't confuse your visitors. For instance, don't call your photo gallery "post cards from the edge of nowhere!". The name may sound neat, but most people won't make the connection immediately and it can cause user confusion and frustration if they have difficulty understanding / finding your navigation. You're not the only business on the Internet, and if your users can't find what they are looking for quickly and easily they'll be more likely to just move on to the next site, rather than try and figure things out.

4. Attractive Site Design

Often times, your website will be a potential customer's first point of contact with your company. If you're website design isn't aesthetically pleasing and doesn't portray your professionalism, then it's no different than having your clients come into a run down messy office in a bad part of town. A poor site design can scare off a potential customer before they even talk to you and find out how much you can help them with your products or services. Finding a provider who can give your company the professional look it needs online can often push the price of web development hirer, but consider this: If the website you end up with doesn't have the right look and ends up turning away customers rather than bringing them in, have you really saved money?

5. Cross-Browser Compatibility

If your website looks great in Internet Explorer but is horribly broken in Firefox, on average you are turning away 30% of your visitors. Think of it in terms like this, what if you or one of your employees stood at the door to your location and barred entry to 3 of every 10 people that came to visit you. Or if you rigged your phones to automatically disconnect 3 times out of 10 when receiving an incoming call. You would never consider hanging up on a potential customer giving you a call, why would you effectively do the same thing with your website? Fortunately any web development company worth their salt is going to already have a handle on cross-browser compatibility and you can allow them to take care of this for you.

That brings us to the conclusion of part 1. Stay tuned, next week we'll have five more elements that make up a great business website for you!