10 Missing Pieces on Local Business Websites [Free Guide]

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1) Good Design

Don’t let do-it-yourself design DO IN your website

Almost half (48%) of people say a site’s design is the #1 factor in determining a business’s credibility.¹

Your design is what makes that crucial first impression — and helps all the other pieces fall into place.

2) Mobile & Voice Optimization

Get seen and heard on tablets, phones and in-home devices

• 52% of online traffic came from smartphones in 2018²

• 58% of consumers have used voice search to find a local business in the last year³

A site that works on smartphones and with Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant is a crucial piece of the puzzle today.

3) SSL Security

Google started marking website that don’t start with “https” as “Not Secure” in July 2018⁴

An SSL / HTTPS-secure site might be the missing piece that turns your site visitors into new customers.

• It builds your customers’ trust — A secure site protects any personal information your site visitors share with you
• It meets Google’s latest standards — Google expects sites to be secure, and could eventually lower your search ranking if yours isn’t

4) Call to Action

Tell your site visitors what to do — and make it easy for them to do it

• 70% of small business websites don’t include a call to action⁵
• 68% don’t display an email address on their home page⁵

Don’t leave your site visitors puzzled. Make sure they know what to do and how to reach you from every page of your site.

5) SEO

Get found on Google, Yahoo! and Bing

• 77% of Google users say they search for something on Google 3 or more times each day⁶
• 92% of clicks go to businesses on the first page of the search results⁷

If your business can’t get near Page 1, don’t expect your customers to hunt around for what they can’t find — SEO helps your site rise to the top of the pile.

6) Online Reviews

Let your customers speak volumes about you

• 75% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations⁸
• 57% will only use a business if it has a rating of 4 or more stars⁹

Let the feedback from your happy customers paint a positive picture for your next customer.

7) The Right Name, Address and Phone Number

Make sure your customers know that they’ve come to the right place

• 93% of consumers say they’re frustrated by incorrect information in online business listings¹⁰
• 80% say they lose faith in a business with incorrect information online¹⁰

There’s nothing more frustrating than puzzle pieces that don’t add up. You need your customers to be confident that they can reach you by phone, email or in person.

8) Focus On Your Customer

Remember: Your site is about your customers’ needs

According to consumers in the U.S., the top 3 features they expect on a small business website are:¹¹

1. Easy navigation
2. Descriptions of your products and services
3. Pictures of your products and services

Your site visitors are looking for a particular piece to their puzzle — focus on what they need to know, not what you want to say, and you’ll see more engagement on your site.

9) Professional Support

Trust the professionals to keep your site in one piece

86% of SMBs would rather spend their time on something other than marketing — and your website is just one piece of your marketing plan.¹²

Don’t cut corners on serving your customers! Partner with professionals to keep your site up to date and on track while you focus on what matters most — running your business.

10) Powerful Technology

The right technology and code can pull all the pieces together

A website that works for computers, smartphones, tablets, voice search devices, search engines AND your site visitors doesn’t happen by accident. You need a platform and a partner who can match up all the right pieces.

• 80% of websites today don’t use the powerful technology that helps Hibu Smart Sites perform better¹³

Put a site together that shows the whole picture

At Hibu, we build small business websites that look great and get you found — everywhere that matters online.

• Search engines
• Directory sites
• Social media
• Google, Siri and Alexa voice search-enabled devices
• Computers, smartphones and tablets

1 BlueCorona.com “20 Web Design Facts Small Business Owners Should Know,” Aug 2018 https://www.bluecorona.com/blog/20-web-design-facts-small-business-owners/

2 Statistica.com “Percentage of all global web pages served to mobile phones from 2009 to 2018,” 2019 https://www.statista.com/statistics/241462/global-mobile-phone-website-traffic-share/

3 Small Biz Trends “58% Use Voice Search to Find Local Businesses,” June 2019 https://smallbiztrends.com/2019/06/voice-search-statistics.html

4 Google announced that non-SSL sites would be labeled as “Not secure” in the navigation bar of Google Chrome starting in July 2018

5 Espresso.digital “2019 Small Business Websites Statistics You Need to Know to Stay Ahead of the Digital Curve,“ Jan 2019 https://espresso.digital/small-business-website-statistics/

6 Moz.com “We Surveyed 1,400 Searchers About Google – Here’s What We Learned,” April 2019 https://moz.com/blog/new-google-survey-results

7 Smart Insights “100+ must-see digital marketing research statistics for 2019,” May 2019 https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/100-must-see-marketing-stats/

8 BrightLocal “Local Consumer Review Survey 2018” https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/

9 Local Search Association “The Great Conversational Divide: What SMBs Don’t Understand About Reviews and How it’s Hurting Their Business,” Nov 2018

10 https://www.lsainsider.com/new-study-the-consumer-smb-conversational-divide/archives 10 BrightLocal “Local Citations Report 2018” https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-citations-trust-report/

11 Clutch.co “Top 6 Website Features People Value,” Dec 2018 https://clutch.co/web-designers/resources/top-6-website-features-people-value

12 Outbound Engine survey “Stress, Time & Growth: Factors Affecting Small Business Marketing in 2019” http://www.outboundengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/OutboundEngine-Marketing-Survey-2019.pdf

13 SearchEngineWatch.com “Why do marketers still struggle with innovative search tactics?” 2017