Even if your budget is tight, you should start with a website that covers these basic must-have’s and can be added to over time as your business grows.

Content is king when it comes to getting high rankings in search engines - search engines love new, relevant content. Keeping your site fresh with new content also engages your site visitors. 

If your site does not allow you to login and easily add pages and update content you need to change this, otherwise your site will quickly become outdated. 

Your website management system should allow you to easily add Title and Description meta tags so that you can better target keywords people search for when looking for your services. This will help improve your search engine rankings. 

If you don’t how to do this, ask your web developer, they should be able to give you the tools to easily do this. 

A simple form which allows users to immediately get in touch with you. Make sure it has a captcha image at the end (the code you have to enter at the end of a form) to help protect you from spam. 

It’s proven that blogging on a regular basis gets you more leads and better website rankings in search engines. A good website management system will allow you to add this easily. Make sure you submit regular articles to get the best results. 

Your website needs to give clear and compelling offers. A call-to-action is exactly that; you are prompting your site users to engage with your business and to act. They are also a great way of increasing your database by giving something in return for users supplying their contact details. These may include ‘sign up to receive your free quote’ or ‘sign up to get your free business checklist’

Your site should match your corporate colours to maintain a consistent brand image and portray your business in a professional manner. Don’t settle for a website design that makes you look like a backyard business (even if you are one), these days you don’t have to spend a fortune to get a professionally designed website.