So you’ve decided to create a website for your small business, or maybe you’ve decided it’s time for a redesign. Either way, that’s great! These days it’s essential to have a high-quality professional website if you want to succeed in the digital world and we’re glad to see you’re taking a step in the right direction.
Creating a website for your small business is exciting, but we understand it can also be overwhelming. Not to worry though, we want to help you succeed online and ensure your visitors have a great experience on your site. Therefore, we’ve come up with 7 killer tips that will help guide you when designing (or redesigning!) a website for your small business.
1. Make it clear to visitors what business you’re in
When visitors come to your site they should immediately know what exactly it is your business does. It’s easy to get caught up in designing the site and ensuring it looks good, but if your visitors don’t know what it is you do, they are not going to be sticking around to experience it.
When it comes to writing about what your company does, think of it as an elevator pitch where you have less than 30 seconds to explain who you are and what you do. Also, to ensure you are not using industry jargon in your explanation, run it by friends and family and make sure they understand what it is you’re saying.
2. Make your website easy to use
Easy-to-use navigation is crucial when it comes to your small business website design. In order for visitors to stick around and experience your site, you need to make it easy for them to use. Visitors are looking to find quick solutions to their problems and if they are unable to find the information they are looking for, they will quickly move on to a different site.
Therefore, it’s essential to make sure you have a clear navigation structure with easy to understand and logical names for the various pages on your site. If your website is user-friendly and leads your visitors to the next logical step, they are more likely to stick around.
3. Add personality to your website
Your website is often the first impression potential customers have of your business, so when it comes to creating your small business website design it’s important it has personality. When customers come to your site they want to know if you’re capable of helping them and if you’re the right company for them to do business with. Showing them that you’re a real person will help them to get to know you and gain their trust, and could be the deciding factor when it comes to choosing which company they want to work with.
A great way to add personality to your site is to use friendly photos of you and your staff so that visitors are able to form a connection with you as soon as they enter your site.
4. Optimize your content
Search engines, such as Google, want to provide their users with the best content for each search they perform. Therefore, to ensure your website is found by your audience you need to create high-quality content that is optimized. You can start by doing keyword research and determining which keywords are relevant and will help visitors find you. Once you have decided on your most relevant keywords you can include them in your headlines and naturally throughout your text.
You may have the best looking website, but if you’re not optimizing your content you’re not going to be found. To learn more on SEO check out Best Practices for Search Engine Optimization – SEO.
5. Use calls-to-action
To accomplish the purpose of your website you need to ask visitors to take action. Think about what you want them to do once they land on your homepage. Whether you want them to subscribe to your blog, buy your product, or contact you, having a clear call-to-action will guide them accordingly.
Place calls-to-action in prominent spots throughout your website to help guide your users to that next step.
6. Get responsive!
As more and more people are accessing the Internet from smartphones and tablets, it’s important your website is responsive. Which means, your website adapts to the size of the screen it is being viewed on. Whether your site is being viewed on a desktop, tablet or smartphone it must be functional for your visitors.
Having a responsive design will provide your users with a great experience no matter what device they are using, and will ensure you are not missing out on potential customers.
7. Use analytics to track everything
If you don’t know what’s wrong, you can’t fix it. Which is why it’s essential to track everything that’s happening on your small business website to ensure it’s always performing to the best of it’s ability.
A great reporting tool to use is Google Analytics, which is free for anyone to use. It will give you valuable insights into what is and isn’t working on your site, which will allow you to improve your site for even greater success online.
A high-quality professional website is one of the most powerful marketing tools for small businesses and we’re glad to see you’re headed in the right direction. If you take these 7 essentials tips into consideration when creating your small business website design then you will be sure to succeed online!
We also recommend you take a look at 5 website design mistakes for small businesses to help you avoid some of the most common mistakes small businesses make when designing their website.
Are there any other tips small business owners must know when designing their website? Share them below!
