The difficulty of competition is something all small businesses know all too well. Whether you’re competing in the physical realm or online, there is always bigger fish in the proverbial sea who can more easily tap into various audiences. Due to bigger budgets, better name recognition and a host of other factors, it can be hard for small businesses to make inward roads in a market against the bigger competitors. In order to maximize the chances of long-term success, small businesses need to make sure their online presence is optimized for users and search engines alike. Let’s review a few of the features that all small businesses absolutely need on their websites in order to compete.

Up-to-date Contact Information (NAP)

In order to ensure you’re reaching as many people as possible, an online presence is necessary. If, however, people are arriving at your website but are incapable of contacting or finding you, then it’s all for naught. Small businesses must ensure that their contact information (Name, Address, Phone) are up-to-date and visible across all online platforms. From the main website to review platforms and Google, ensuring that you’re pinging servers with the correct information is absolutely essential.

Aesthetically Pleasing Design

With so many choices for consumers and shoppers to consider, most audiences have become more critical of imperfections than ever. While you may have a great product or service to offer, your website – if designed poorly – can be a huge turn-off and cost you potential business. It’s important to ensure that your website features a modern, aesthetically-pleasing design in order to retain as many visitors as possible. Whether your current website is outdated in terms of design or lacks a consistent color scheme, now is the time to act on improving it.

Social Media Integration

Most small businesses need all the synergy they can get. If you can successfully connect with an audience via your website, email and social media profiles, then you have a much better chance of converting them into loyal customers. Your website must feature social media integration at every level. From widgets that display your most recent updates to share options on every product page, make sure people know exactly how to interact with your social media profiles.

Mobile Responsive Design

With more traffic originating from mobile devices than desktop devices, how your website appears to those on smartphones and tablets matters. In years past, standard web design didn’t account for mobile device usage, but consumers and search engines alike have changed. If you’re pinging a static design to search engines and users that doesn’t adapt the resolution, menu sizes and other variables for smaller screens, then you’re not only turning off many visitors, but search engines are also penalizing you for not catering to mobile users. By implementing a mobile responsive design, you’ll be sure to keep everyone happy – and in the process, earn more money.

Your small business website should help further your success. It cannot do that if you’re not able to facilitate easy interaction between your brand and potential customers. By ensuring your contact info is up-to-date, your social media is fully integrated, your design is aesthetically pleasing and you’re catering to visitors across all devices, you’ll eliminate some of the biggest reasons why small business websites fail to deliver.