Developing an awesome business website

For those of you who don't think it's important to have a strong website for your business, you need to immediately change your way of thinking. Your business' website is a chance to make a first impression -- and the first impression is the most important one.

These days, whenever people hear about your business, they won't be looking for brochures or fliers. These things are dying a slow death. Instead, they'll whip out their smart phones and iPads and put your business name into a search engine. If you're serious about your business, make sure the first thing that pops up is your website -- www.yourbusinessname.com.

I've seen some pretty terrible websites -- ones that have literally made me cringe. But again, here I am with some awesome tips that can help you with what seems like an incredible feat -- creating an amazing website.

1. Don't do information overload -- When people see paragraph after paragraph of information, they will not bother venturing any further into the site. Don't burden people with having to search for nuggets of useful information mixed in with mundane and unimportant details. Instead, choose the most important things about your business and feature them on the front page. Organize the other information into pages that visitors can choose to click on if it is something they are interested in.

2. Free is not always best -- There are many web hosting services that offer you free templates for your site. Sometimes you get your money's worth with templates that are very generic, boring, or just generally painful to the eyes. Find a website designer that will give your website the professional look it needs, as well as make your website reflect what your company is all about.

3. How do I reach you? -- This may seem obvious, but please remember to list ways for potential clients to contact you. I have visited sites that, apparently, were just up to make known to me that the business exists somewhere on planet earth. At the very least, make a reliable phone number and email address available to viewers, and make sure that the contact information is easy to find.

4. Give them a reason to stay -- Use sticky content, also known as content that attract site visitors and makes them stay. Sticky content includes blogs, videos and articles that turn visitors into customers. "How?" you ask? The longer people stay on your site, the more likely they'll turn into buyers.

5. What do you do? -- Don't make visitors have to guess what product or service you provide. Make it palpably clear from the first page what your business is all about.

6. Security is key -- If your website collects information from visitors, ensure that security systems like SSL (Secure Socket Layer) are in place. This will keep sensitive information safe and show site visitors that your business cares about keeping their personal data safe.