1. WHERE AM I?

Your company name, logo, and tagline should be displayed in the header of the site on every page. This is particularly useful for visitors that find your site through indirect channels, such as search engine results or referrals from external websites. This is also effective for a business with a web address that doesn't match their company name. For example, if your website address is www.ABC.com, your website visitors should realize within seconds of connecting to your website that your company name is Acme Building Contractors.

2. CAN YOU HELP ME?

What products or services do you provide? Your business website should include a brief description of your company and your products and services in a prominent location on your home page. Most importantly, you should indicate how this product or service will benefit your potential customers. Remember, your visitors are interested in finding solutions to their problems. You should convey this information as briefly as possible; remember you have 5-10 seconds. To encourage your visitors to learn more, provide a link to interior pages to distribute further detail about your products or services.

3. HOW CAN I DO BUSINESS WITH YOU?

Once a visitor has determined that your product or service matches their need, what should they do next? Your website should encourage your desired customers to perform an action? What action would you desire your visitors to take: subscribe to a newsletter, schedule a phone meeting, buy a product, download a free e-book, join a forum, ask a question etc.? The danger in not including an explicit call to action is that your visitors will read the information, leave and never return. You want to initiate a relationship with your desired customers.

4. HOW CAN I REACH YOU?

Your visitors should see or have access to your contact information from every page. Most businesses should include the following minimal contact information: business phone number, physical address, and email address. Also, for visitors that are referred to your site from another website or search engine, your website address should be prominently displayed on every page.

5. WHAT WILL (AND WON'T) YOU DO WITH MY INFORMATION?

A privacy notice is particularly important for websites that request or accept information from visitors. This applies to information such as the acceptance of email addresses to ecommerce transactions. Generally visitors are less likely to provide their information if the data could potentially be sold or shared with anyone outside of your company.

Structure your website to provide answers to these 5 questions quickly. This strategy could encourage your desired customers to stick around longer than 10 seconds.