Let’s say you have an online business idea in your head. You’re sure it will make money. You’ve calculated the odds and have done the math. You are confident that your online venture will be a success. So you set up the website and waited for business to start booming. How come nothing is happening? Maybe you need to step back and take a look at your website again.

You may be surprised to know that creating a website takes more than just a good design and features here and there. An effective website takes strategy and planning. If you wish your business to flourish, learn from these tips. This is assuming that you already have a web hosting service. If not, check out this article for some really good tips on web hosting: 7-Step, Pre-Purchase Checklist For First Time Website Owners.

It is always better to know these things before hand so that you can work them in with your web designer. Believe me, it’s hard work to keep on having to change every little thing in the process. You also don’t want to drive your web designer nuts with all your changing ideas. Understand the following tips now:

1. Easy Navigation

Don’t jump into crazy creativity without considering the implications it may have on your website. It is important that that a website looks good but it’s way more important to have a website that works. A good way to test the roadmap of your website is by making a mock up of how you plan the lay out to look like. You can render this on Photoshop. When done, run it by a few of your friends and ask for their comments. Once you have reached a compromise between good design and logical navigation, you have struck gold. Remember, a good website structure also ranks points with the Google bots when ranking your website.

2. Important Information

Some website owners get really excited about the prospect of having their own website. They want music, videos, cool colors, cutting edge design and the works. The problem is, they forget the little stuff that really matters. Let’s say you’re in the business of selling food. The most important details that you cannot afford to leave out are the menu, the address, the map and the contact information. Also, if you’re going to share your mission/vision statement, you got to keep it brief. You are dealing with people with short attention spans here. Never underestimate the power of a few words. If you are spot on with your statement, you have said enough.

3. Contact Details

This may probably the most important detail your business website needs. Your contact numbers, email address and company address must be visible right away. This means making an entire section for it. This way people see it right away as part of the tabs. Now, make sure that your contact details are set up in a way that when a user clicks on it, they are able to contact you right away. It can be set up with an email service or a text message. You don’t want to give your customers a hard time when trying to reach you. It’s also nice not to use a Gmail or an AOL address. Strive to be professional and use your domain email address on the contact information.

4. Integration with Social Media Apps

Social media looks like it’s here to stay for a while. Make sure you are represented across all the popular platforms. Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Foursquare. This is important because a wide Social Media presence is beneficial to any business. So make sure that you make your social media channels visible on your website. This makes it easier for people to join, follow or like you with a simple click of a button.

If you have to ask whether it is a good idea to have such a number of accounts online, the answer is yes. It is great to have a wide online presence as long as you can take care of these accounts. You must be able to update, respond, follow-up and post new content regularly. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time. For an enlightening read about the importance of social media in online business, check this out: 3 reasons why social media is important for your business.

5. Security

Perhaps nothing is more important than a seal of security if you happen to be selling online. The last thing you want is for hackers to get into your customer database. You don’t want confidential things like credit card and Social Security numbers to be available to just anyone. That’s why you must secure your site with an SSL certificate.

6. FAQ Section

The whole point of a website is to provide a place where you can conduct business with your customer efficiently. As much as possible, you want to make things as easy as possible. Given that there is no actual person manning the website as in a physical store, you have to pre-empt things like questions. Any customer would like to ask a number of questions about the product or service before buying into it. In order to save yourself a lot of trouble, it is best to leave a FAQ section. Here, users will be able to know everything they need to know right away without having to contact you or wait a long time. The FAQ is actually a little remembered detail but provides so much help to both the customer and website owner.

7. Good Hosting

Don’t underestimate the power of good hosting. One that will provide you a 24/7 technical assistance and a fast downloading speed. There is nothing more annoying than a website that loads too slowly or not at all. A good hosting provider is one of the most important things in order to ensure good SEO ranking as well. Take a look at our web hosting reviews to find a good web host.

There you have it, some awesome tips on how to make a successful business website.