It’s common for small businesses to struggle when making a website. In fact, nearly 30% of small businesses still don’t have a website due to many reasons, such as lack of financial resources, not having enough time, and not being tech-savvy enough.
But as more and more consumers depend on the internet, having a website has become a necessity. Small businesses should invest in having one as it significantly impacts their credibility, brand, ability to generate high-quality leads, and the outcome of their digital marketing campaign.
In this article, we’ll outline nine small business website design tips to help you create a website that’s guaranteed to bring positive and long-term results.
- Avoid Clutter
If you want to learn how to promote your business locally and internationally through your website, embrace a clutter-free design. Your website should be simple yet captivating enough to draw the attention of the visitors and encourage them to complete an action on the website.
Avoid adding too many design elements on one page. Instead, think of what you want the page to achieve and only add the necessary elements. For example, if you want to inform users about the history of your business on one page, refrain from adding too many product images or videos. These can frustrate users and adversely affect their overall experience on your site.
- Use Consistent Branding
Use your website as an extension of your brand by using consistent branding on all of your web pages. In short, your website should use the same colors, logos, fonts, and other visual elements as your offline or physical marketing paraphernalia. This enables you to build a cohesive brand identity that will make your small business easily recognizable.
One way to ensure consistent branding on your website is to use a branding guide. Having one will help you stay on-brand as you add new content and pages to your website.
- Think About Mobile Users
Gone are the days when consumers only accessed websites through a desktop computer. Statistics show that 59.5% of all website traffic comes from people using mobile devices. With this in mind, it’s essential to design your website to work seamlessly on desktops and mobiles.
To make your website mobile-friendly, choose a mobile-responsive template or theme, strip back your content, avoid flash, and change your site’s button sizes and placement. It’s also important to eliminate pop-ups as these can take up the screen of a mobile device, preventing users from browsing your website.
- Optimize for SEO
To reach your target audience and grow your small business, it’s critical to optimize your website for Google and other search engines. An SEO-friendly website ranks high in the Search Engine Results Pages, or SERPs, when users search for products and services similar to yours.
Some of the most important SEO practices to use on your website are to include the right keywords, create high-quality articles, and build backlinks to your website. Meta descriptions are also important as they give users an overview of what they can expect to access on your website.
Additionally, you should also make sure that the images on your website are optimized. Optimized images load faster across all devices, which improvises the load time of your website. Websites that load fast keep users happy and engaged.
- Make Contact Information Visible
Make it easier for users to reach out to your small business by keeping your contact information above the fold. Above the fold is the part of the website visible even before users scroll. By placing your contact information here, they’ll immediately know how to contact your business the moment they land on your website.
Your contact information should include your complete business name, physical address, phone number, and email address. Don’t forget to include your social media links to easily redirect your users to your business’s social media platforms.
- Maximize White Space
Regardless if it’s for international or local web design, less is more. You don’t have to fill every space with a certain element — maximizing white space can bring better results. As the name suggests, white space is the empty space on your website that is free from any image, text, or other content.
Leaving blank space on your website is a must as it creates a more visually appealing, cleaner-looking, and user-friendly website. White space also makes your content easier to navigate and read and allows you to highlight call-to-action buttons and other prominent elements.
- Add Call-To-Action Buttons
Great website design isn’t only about looks — it should also drive results. One of the best ways to achieve this goal is to include call-to-action, or CTA, buttons on your website. These buttons encourage users to complete a specific action on your site, namely downloading an eBook, signing up for a newsletter, or making a purchase.
When adding CTA buttons, make sure that they use clear and compelling language. The buttons should also be placed above the fold for maximum visibility. Always test to see which CTA buttons work best with your target audience.
- Make Navigation Easy
Put yourself in the shoes of someone who visits your website for the first time. How would you feel if you needed to click ten times just to find the content you’re looking for? Frustrated and annoyed, right? This can even cause you to abandon the page.
Always plan a seamless user journey to ensure that users can easily retrieve needed information from your website. It should be easy to navigate, so users can find what they’re looking for within seconds.
Your website will be easier to navigate once you incorporate the following tips:
- Make hypertext obvious, so users can identify it from the copy. Format it in a different color or make it bold.
- Keep the sidebar separate by formatting it in another color. This will allow the sidebar to stand out.
- Ensure everything is simple and clear for the users. Choose the clearest texts and design options possible, so users won’t have any problems understanding what you mean.
- Harness the Power of Images
The most effective websites are those that use content and media to convey their business’s unique story. Many small businesses get the content aspect right by publishing high-quality articles regularly but miss out on the media part.
Keep in mind that images can sell your product or service better than anything you write, so make sure to use some on your website. The following examples can help you choose the right image to use:
- If you’re running a restaurant, include pictures of your menu and dishes on your website. These will make users crave your food.
- If you’re a law firm, include headshots of your employees to gain the trust of your audience. This will make your brand more “human,” as your audience will have a better idea of who they’re doing business with.
- If you own a clothing store, include photos of all the clothes in stock and models wearing them. If possible, feature your clothes on different body types and sizes, so your audience can easily visualize how the clothes will look on them.
Visual elements, such as images, will help sell your products and services. Using the right images on your website can also become the reason why your audience will choose your business over your competitors.
Use The Right Tips
Creating a website is challenging for many small businesses, but it’s not impossible to accomplish. By following all of the tips mentioned, you’ll be a step closer to creating a powerful website — one that’ll haul in customers and establish your brand in the industry!