These Covid-19 days, an online presence is vital for any business, even for brick-and-mortar stores that don’t conduct e-commerce. Studies have shown that 97% of consumers search for local businesses online, while 94% of B2B buyers research companies online first. Our company follows these design principles because we want our clients to have an effective business website.

1. Website mobile responsible

In 2016, OuterBox reported that more than 62% of shoppers made purchases using their cell phones, and the 2016 stats show that over 90 percent of shoppers use their smartphones even while in retail stores for comparing prices and looking at product reviews. Further, 40% of consumers will go to a competitor if they have a bad experience with a mobile website. “If you plan on running a successful eCommerce website, or any website, you absolutely must cater to mobile users,” wrote Justin Smith, CEO of OuterBox, in his company blog.

2. Easy to find it

You need to have a domain name that describes your business or is your company name. You can even have multiple domains that point to the website.

3. Visible contact information

If your business depends on people being able to contact you or call your sales team, put that information where they can find it easily. “Your contact information should be visible, preferably at the top of the home page, so that visitors don’t have to search for a phone number or address if they want to contact the business,” said David Brown, CEO of Web.com. If you use social media to connect with customers, then be sure to put links at the header or footer, where they are easily found.

4. Simple and easy

Limit the use of fonts, colors and animated gifs, which can distract and pull the eyes away from the focus of the webpage. Short paragraphs and bullet points also make the information more scannable and likely to be read. Ian Lurie, CEO of the marketing company Portent Inc., suggested paragraphs should be shorter than six lines.

5. Easy to navigate

Dan Veltri, co-founder and chief product officer of Weebly, advised limiting your top-level navigation menu to five clearly labeled tabs with related pages organized under them. You should also have a clear way to get back to the home page no matter where your readers land. Very often, a search can take your reader to a page other than the home page.