How Much Information Should You Put On Your Website?
As a small or medium sized business there is absolutely no way that you should not have a website. A failure to have even the most basic of sites can lead to a major downturn in your turnover as searching for a company online, and then learning about them, has overtaken the age old method of looking in the telephone directory and talking to friends for advice. However, this has also led to there being another problem. What exactly do you put on your website? How much information is too much information? Is there such a thing as putting on too much?
The basics that need to be covered
There are of course a number of basics that need to be covered with your website. Obviously you have to put up your contact details or else what is the point in having your website if nobody can email, call, or find your actual location? You may want to include things such as a Skype address, Instant messenger addresses, social media profiles, or any other means by which people can contact you. How many or how few is entirely up to you and at least at this point a number of people believe that the more ways to contact you the better it is.
There should also be a section whereby you tell the visitor all about your business. Tell them some of the history, but not too much, as well as what you do and really try to sell yourself to them. Look at this section as being your opportunity to let them know why they should use you and view it as being your 24/7 advertisement.
Another key section has to be your services or products as this gives you more space to be more specific about what you do. Depending on the type of business that you have, be careful about the level of details that you put on this section. Do not be too technical if you are providing a general service as this could put people off using you and clearly this is something that has to be avoided. Make life easier for your visitors and break it up into useful sections so they are not faced with just paragraph after paragraph of information.
Another basic area that needs to be covered has to be some images to support whatever it is that you do. If you offer a service, then show some of the work that you have previously carried out. Alternatively, if you sell products, then some snapshots of whatever it is that you have to offer should always be included. This just lets people get a better idea of what they should expect to get when they spend money with your business.
When information gets to be too much
So at what point can you give your visitor a touch of information overload? As was mentioned earlier, being too technical can be an issue unless you know that your visitor will actually understand what you are saying. Going over the top with your sales pitch can also be slightly annoying for some people, but this can be a fine line and is certainly something that you should get some advice on from experts. You should also look at trying to group together similar services rather than having your visitor seeing page after page of information because people do tend to have rather a short attention span when it comes to checking out a business website, so being straight to the point and concise is certainly advisable.
Why too much information can be bad
If you are seen to just keep going on and on, then people will switch off and simply not absorb the information and that is going to be bad for business. People expect to land on a business website and be presented with information that they can read in a short period of time and then determine if they can indeed go ahead and buy that product or use that service.
The last thing that they expect is to be presented with a book to read and the chances of them reading any part of your website will diminish by the second. Look at the websites of your competitors and see the kind of details that they have put on their website and then compare it to what you have. Do you see a difference? How do you think that difference is going to impact on your business? How will it change your turnover? There are so many questions that need to be asked and all of them just surround the amount of information that appears on your website.
The best course of action that you can take is to contact us here at Webfoot-Designs and get some expert advice on how your website should be set up and the information that we believe should be put on there. It is impossible to give strict guidelines as every business is unique, but that is why we deal with things on an individual basis and take into account what your potential clients need to know. Getting your business website perfect for your company is extremely important because in general it could really make or break your entire business.
