Important Website Elements For Home Services Businesses

All home services businesses looking to grow their online presence will benefit from taking some time to plan out the basic building blocks of their website design. A well-designed website matters more than you think in today’s digital world, and if done right, can successfully increase online traffic as well as conversion rates. 

If you are in the home services industry – be it cleaning, redecorating or any other service – you likely already know this: it is important to build a good foundation before getting down to work. The same thing applies to the website where you will be promoting these services – it is important to keep in mind your goals and target audience when deciding on the website elements to include. In this article, we lay out some important website elements home services businesses cannot afford to ignore.

Planning

Before you do anything, have a good think about what features will enable your customers to navigate your website as easily as possible. Furthermore, what tactics do you want to make use of to get your message across? Below are some suggestions:

• Header: Appearing at the very top of your website, this includes your logo as well as the different links to navigate. No matter which inner page your customer lands on, they will be seeing your header at the top, so it may be a good idea to place your contact details here as well. 
• About Us: If you are a small business, this section can help to add a personal touch to your company. Sharing the story behind your business can give customers something to relate to. Furthermore, adding information about your business’s qualifications and/or experience can’t hurt either.
• Service Block: Chances are, your business offers more than one kind of service. Service blocks are a great way of breaking down all the different services you offer as well as incorporating photographic illustrations. Consider adding “before” and “after” pictures of client projects you have worked on.
• Customer Testimonies: We have all been there – endlessly scouring websites for reviews before deciding whether to buy a new product or engage a new service. Incorporating testimonies from your customers help to give an unbiased perspective into your business to entice potential customers.
• Call to Action (CTA): The point of generating traffic to your website is to increase conversion, hence you do not want customers to be looking very hard for ways to get in touch with you. Carefully direct the customer to the next steps they need to take if they wish to engage your services.
• Footer: If you are unsure what to include in the footer, think about what you want your customers to have access to without scrolling all the way back to the top. Most business websites have a navigation panel as well as “Contact Us” section in the footer.

Mobile-Friendly Websites

If you are like most people, chances are you spend a good deal of time browsing on your mobile phone. Ask yourself this: how long would you stay on a website that is clearly not optimized for mobile viewing, where you have to zoom in constantly just to read anything? The popular consensus is, not very long. Do not allow this to happen to your customers – ensure that your website is mobile and tablet-friendly.

Responsive Web Design

Now, if you are thinking that this means you have to design two different websites – one for desktops and one for handheld devices – the good news is that you do not have to. With responsive web design, your website adjusts itself to the size and shape of the device it is being viewed on. However, you will have to put in some effort when it comes to designing the layout of your website. Consider whether your layout will work as well as mobile as it does on desktop. Think of it this way: your website layout is essentially different blocks on one page. When the screen gets smaller, these blocks end up collapsing below each other. Will your layout still work then?  

The next step would be to make sure your website is responsive. Although the way to achieve this really depends on the program you are using, a grid system is one of the most common applications, where you have the option to restructure your blocks in a column format. Drag and drop systems are easy to use as well, where you quite literally drag and drop blocks where you want them! This allows you to view exactly how your blocks would appear to mobile users.

White Space

When browsing a website, have you ever noticed an empty block of space between different sections? That space is known as “white space” and many businesses make use of this tactic when designing their website including Google, Dropbox and Evernote! The purpose of white space, quite simply put, is to give your customers some breathing room amidst all your content. You do not want your website to end up looking cluttered with information. Keep in mind that white space does not have to be white (literally), it can be green, grey, blue or any color that matches with your website design! White space keeps information more digestible for your customers and avoids overloading them with information.

Never Miss an Important Website Element with SmartSites

There we have it, most of the important website elements home service businesses need to take note of. And that is just the tip of the iceberg! If we have convinced you of the importance in having a good website design when it comes to growing your home service business, do not delay. Optimizing your website design is a long-term investment that is bound to pay off. 

When you engage our services at SmartSites, you can be assured that you are working with the best as we have been ranked in the top 1% of digital marketing agencies. With an impressive track record of growing successful businesses, our award-winning website design team delivers excellent results that look great on all devices. You only get one chance to make a first impression – do not put your business at stake with a poorly-designed website! If you are ready to optimize the website design of your home service business, please do not hesitate to contact us today!