Must haves for your small business website

When you are creating your small business website you are going to want to make sure that you include specific items. Providing these items is vital for any small business owner because it tells their customers what they can expect from the company. Including these items on your small business website will also increase your small businesses chances of being successful; it can also help to increase your sales.

Here are some things that your small business website must have in order for it to be successful.

Number one: Forums or message boards
Providing your customers with a forum or a message board is a great idea because it allows your customers to leave any comments, suggestions, or feedback that they have for you or your company. These messages can include information about how you can improve your company in general or they can be messages about the products that you sell. Allowing your customers to leave messages on your website is a great way for you to collect positive comments about your business that you can use in advertising later on, such as testimonials on your website.

Number two: Frequently asked questions
Providing your potential customers with a frequently asked question section will allow your customers to do even more research on your website with just a few simple clicks. To get started on your frequently asked questions section you can use questions that other customers have posed to you or you can create your own based on what you think people will be the most likely to ask when it comes to your product or your company. The more information that you provide your customers with the longer they might spend on your website trying to get certain questions answered.

Number three: Privacy policy
You want to provide your customers with a privacy policy so that your customers can know what to expect from you. The privacy policy needs to describe what you plan on doing with their personal information, such as if you will sell information to third parties or if you promise to keep their information secure. No matter what you include in the privacy policy you want to stick to that promise so that your customers know they can trust you.

Number four: Secure website
With the threat of identity theft it is important for customers to know that their information is being protected. The best way to ensure that your customer's information is protected is to provide them with a safe and secure website for them to complete their transaction. When creating a secure website the part that you want to have the most protection on is the check-out page because this is where your customers will be entering in their payment information. If the information is compromised rather than hiding that fact be sure to notify your customers and provide them with some sort of monitoring system for their credit reports.

Number five: Selling product information
If you are selling the same item as what larger companies are selling you will not be able to focus on the product because it is not considered a specialized product. In that case what you want to focus on is how your business plans to sell the product. You want to provide information on your customer service policies, which is going to include your return policy information, shipping and handling, company background, and anything else about your business that makes you stand out from other companies. You want to focus on what the customer is getting from your small business that they cannot get from larger companies. One way to focus your website on your customers is to use the word "you" instead of the word "us".