Perhaps one of the greatest challenges that owners of small businesses need to deal with is having and maintaining a website. What makes it even harder is the unlimited options available, and the costs involved that may range from affordable to very steep prices that they cannot make sense of.
Professional web designers should aim to create a website that can effectively draw in more relevant traffic to the site, generate additional leads and reduce the issues that users might encounter as they navigate through the web pages for whatever reason or need they may have.
Here are some tips they could take into consideration so that their small business website could catch the interest of viewers and in turn, get the impact they desire:
Clutter Free
The website of small businesses should be attractive but simple in design. Viewers may feel overwhelmed if the website looks too complicated or includes a lot of information. A clean, simple design looks more professional. Viewers should always have a pleasant experience every time they visit a website.
The website should easily be found by Google.
Top search engines like Google will be able to easily index a small business website if it is clutter free, has clear content, proper URLs, sitemap and makes use of relevant keywords. In addition, a small business web design should have a basic SEO at the least. For this reason, it is vital to hire the services of a good CMS to create and maintain a website.
Mobile Friendly
Since Google announced about its mobile-first index, it is a must for small businesses to get a responsive web design. This means that the website will adjust to the devices it is viewed on. However, this does not necessarily make it mobile friendly. Small business owners should see to it that visitors have a user friendly experience on whatever device they use.
Inbound Leads
A small business website should be able to get as many inbound leads as it can. It is normal for people to search for products, compare them and their prices before making any purchases. This time should be used in getting their email addresses. This way, businesses can send them information and will be able to assess the time when they are ready to buy. They should refrain from being too persistent so that potential customers would not get turned off.
Visible Contact Details
Some web design companies have a tendency to overlook this but they should make sure that contact details can easily be seen. It is best to display such information like the email address and phone number on prominent locations like the top and bottom of all pages. There should be a “Contact” page at the last part that contains the company’s contact numbers, physical address, email address, map with directions as well as its operating hours.
Professional Branding
Small businesses should choose a website design company that will create a website that looks professional and is consistent with their brand. They should also make use of colors that stand out in their brand logo. They should stick to only one or two fonts, using them consistently all through the website. They should choose graphics plus images that go well together as well as enhance the website.