4 features of a successful website

There are so many websites on the internet now, but building a successful website and then marketing it isn’t as easy as some may think.

If you take a look at most websites, you will probably notice that most of them have almost the same or at least similar features, and for a good reason.

Successful websites rely on proven strategies and features that increase website traffic and conversions.

Let’s take a look at what they are and why they’re so great.

Ideal domain name.

While every website has a domain name, not all of them are good.

Some people think that domain names are nothing more than their website’s online address, but they’re much more than that. In fact, the domain name you choose will determine your website visitors’ first impression of you.

If you really want to have a successful website, your domain name needs to be unique and show that you are trustworthy.

You can achieve that if you have the following things in mind:

• Choose the perfect length. The shorter your domain name is, the chances of other people remembering it are much higher. Short names are also easier to pronounce and they leave less room for mistakes, so keep your name between 6 and 14 characters long.
• Use the “.com” extension. While your name should be unique, your extension shouldn’t. Unusual extensions seem untrustworthy and will turn a lot of your website visitors away. It’s best to stick with “.com”, as it’s a reputable extension with 22.44% registered domains.
• Include strategic keywords. Google uses many different factors when ranking websites, and it also includes domain names in its ranking system. If you include one or two high-quality keywords related to your niche, you’ll be able to have a much higher ranking.
• Avoid mistyping at all costs. Your name needs to be unique, but not so unique that people aren’t sure how to pronounce it or type it. Some things that can confuse potential website visitors include hyphens, double letters, numbers that aren’t a common numerical term, and homophones.

Most people think that the biggest issue they will have with a domain name is the price. However, as long as you know where to find the cheapest domain names, you can register an attractive name without breaking the bank.

Knowledge management system.

A good knowledge base can help you run a successful business much more efficiently, but maintaining and managing a knowledge base can be a struggle. This is the biggest reason why a lot of businesses avoid building their own knowledge base.

However, that shouldn’t discourage you because there’s an easy solution. All you need to do is find the right knowledge management system (KMS), and you’ll be able to build an easily manageable knowledge base.

As a knowledge base can help you solve many different problems in your business, there are different types of systems for you to choose from:

• Customer support system. Some knowledge base systems were created to serve as a customer support tool and include things such as tutorials, answers, and guides. This type of KMS will allow your customers to find a solution without contacting your customer support.
• Expert knowledge system. These systems are private to a company’s department or one specific team. They include expert guides regarding specific topics.
• Document management systems. If your business offers multiple different products or services, this type of KMS can help you manage all of your documents and create a large manual for all of them.
• Database management systems. If you’re looking for a way to manage all product and business-related data, this KMS will be of great use to you. It can help you keep all of your customer and product data well organized.

If you want to figure out which KMS is the best fit for your business and can help you grow, you should take a look at the best knowledge management systems so you can make the right decision.

Customer relationship management tool.

As much as 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience, and if you take good care of your customers, your business will grow.

To be able to provide the best possible experience and upgrade your customer service to boost sales, you need to use a high-quality customer relationship management (CRM) tool. A CRM tool helps you collect and organize all actionable customer data without any mistakes and view all of your previous customer interactions from one place.

Some of the biggest benefits this tool offers include:

• Improved organization. A CRM tool identifies, documents, and records all of your customer information and categorizes data for future reference. As all of this data is stored on the cloud, it’s also easy to access at a moment’s notice.
• Consistent communication. Since your CRM tool will give access to all customer data to every agent, you can be sure that even if a customer talks to a different agent every time, the communication will stay consistent.
• Automation. For one of your agents to complete a sale, they have to do much more than just get the customer to agree to commit. They have to perform a plethora of smaller tasks such as filling out forms, sending reports, and addressing legal issues. A good CRM tool can help you automate these tasks.
• Greater possibilities for multiple teams. Easy access to all past customer communications is a goldmine of data that all of your teams can use. The customer service team, as well as sales and marketing teams, can use that information to lead customers further down the pipeline.

If you use WordPress to create and maintain your website, you can easily get a customer relationship management tool by installing one of the CRM plugins for WordPress.

Include or Make Videos.

A number of business owners are hesitant to include videos on their website because most people nowadays are used to seeing auto-playing videos on different sites. However, a video that your website visitors can control and play whenever they want can actually help you increase engagement.

Videos are actually one of the most engaging types of content and your business could benefit much more from them than from written content. Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, and 10% when reading it in text.

Take a look at some types of videos you can include on your website:

• Customer testimonials. Positive customer reviews show that your business has made a previous customer happy. When you post a video of a happy customer who’s talking about how you improved their life, it can help potential future customers trust your business.
• Product demos. If you sell products that require any kind of demonstration, it’s best to provide it to customers in a way they can easily comprehend.
• Educational content. If you want to establish yourself as a leader in your industry, you can show how big of an expert you are with educational content. This can be how-to videos and tutorials that will help your customers understand the industry better and even make you stand out from competitors.

Final thoughts.

The difference between a successful website and one that fails is in the tiny details. We all know what the most popular features are because we can see them almost everywhere online. Before you start building your next website, don’t go only for what’s easy to implement. Instead, think about the features that can improve your traffic, conversions, and sales, and whether they may be the secret ingredients that your website is missing.