In this modern digital age, it is imperative for small businesses to use effective web design to reach out to consumers online. Here’s what you need to know.

 

Small business drives the economy in the United States. There are millions of small businesses nation-wide. There also many that are failing for various reasons. Sometimes it is a lack of business experience or basic fundamentals. Occasionally small business failure is due to market conditions. And often a lack of success occurs when small business owners fail to adapt to changing times and marketing methods. A business owner must be savvy to the methods that consumers use to find what they are looking for.

You probably already have some idea of how important a website is for your business, but have you considered how important the actual design is in attracting new customers. Think about how many times you have been to a business website, and the layout was confusing or jumbled, or there were broken or missing links. Mobile devices such as phones and tablets compound these problems.

Here are five tips to help you improve the customer experience of your web design. Incidentally, doing these thing will also help you attain better ranking in search engines thus driving new business to your site.

5 Web Design Tips for Small Business:

1. Create a website that is consistent with your brand. Brand consistency is one of the most important ideas to keep in mind when building your website. Your brand is your business. It conveys information to the customer, not only about your products and services, but also about your business. Branding conveys your ideals and reflects the hard work you put into your business. If you fail to maintain brand consistency, you send mixed signals, and risk losing customers to a competitor.
2. Keep it simple. Marketing is about perception. The homepage of your website creates an instant perception about your business. Make a good first impression. Try not to cram all of products, services, or information on the front page. I dislike it when I go to a website and the scroll bar immediately shrinks to almost nothing. Cramming causes your page to load slower and creates a negative perception. Instead use separate pages and categories to organize your information and make it easier for customers to find. Feature just a few products or services at a time on the home page, and make sure that the page is not cluttered with information overload.
3. Keep It Current. Many business are active on social media and like to share their social media content on their website. This is a wonderful thing, but if you aren’t very active on Twitter, don’t place a twitter widget on your site. If you’re not updating your twitter content, then your widget will not update. If you show special deals or sales on your website, you also want to keep those current. Nothing irritates me quite as much as to find a deal online, only to visit the business and find out the sale was over a month ago. You will lose customers this way.
4. Place featured products above the fold. There is nothing wrong with shameless self promotion. That’s the purpose of your website isn’t it? Let your featured products be the first thing your customer sees when your page loads. This will boost sales through your site.
5. Provide clear calls to action. A call to action encourages a website visitor to take action instead of just looking.  A call to action can be anything from a buy it now button to an email subscriber widget. Customers who take steps to fulfill a call to action are more likely to make a purchase. By completing a call to action, a customer has taken the first step in committing to patronize your business simply because you provided an opportunity.

Follow these five tips in designing your website, and you will be well on your way to creating a good first impression on potential customers. Homestead Digital Media Services specializes in affordable web design and marketing services for small business. Contact us to learn how we can help you build a better website.