No matter what industry you’re in, having a great website can be the difference between success and failure. Your customers are searching online, so you need to make sure that they can find your business. If they do find you, however, they’ll want to know if your website is easy to use and looks professional.
A lot goes into designing a great small business website: you have to consider your company goals and figure out exactly what information needs to be included on the site so that people can easily find it when they search online. But don’t worry! We’ve compiled five simple steps that will help ensure success on your next project:
Think about your company’s goals
Before you even start to create the website, it’s important to think about your company’s goals. The first step in building a great small business website is defining what you want it to do for your business. Your goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound). A good example of a SMART goal would be “I want my customers to find me easily online”. This sentence has all five qualities:
- Specific – What exactly do customers need to find? Is it just your contact information or something more specific like an address or phone number?
- Measurable – How will we know if we’ve achieved this goal? Can we measure how many people are finding us through Google searches versus other methods like referrals from friends on social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter as well as email newsletters sent out by other businesses who have done business with us before which drove traffic directly back into our own inboxes instead of theirs!
Make sure it is mobile-friendly and user friendly
When it comes to website design, there are a few key things you need to consider. The first is making sure your site is mobile-friendly and user-friendly. A good place to start is by looking at what other companies in your industry are doing–you can see how they’re doing it by checking out their sites on your phone or tablet. You should also take into account what your customers will want from the site: if most of them are older people who don’t use technology as much as younger people, then you might want to make sure that everything loads quickly and doesn’t require too much scrolling or clicking around for information (for example, if someone wants directions from point A to point B).
The second thing we’ll cover here is navigation–this means making sure that all the links work properly so that visitors can easily find what they’re looking for without getting lost along the way! This also includes making sure each page contains its own unique URL (i.e., not just having “home” be another link under “about us”) so that users can bookmark specific pages within an entire website without having any confusion about where exactly those bookmarks would lead them when clicked upon later down the road.”
Create a design that fits your business
Once you’ve settled on a design that fits your company’s brand and industry, it’s time to make sure the website is easy to navigate. You want customers to be able to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. A good way of doing this is by using navigation menus that are clearly labeled with text-based links (not buttons).
- Use colors in line with what’s already been established as part of your brand identity
- Keep it simple when it comes to design elements like fonts and images so they don’t overwhelm the content
Create a great navigation scheme, but don’t overdo it.
Navigation is a huge part of any website, and it’s one of the first things people will notice when they visit your site. You want to have enough options to make it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for, but not so many that it becomes cluttered or confusing.
When choosing what information should be included on your navigation bar, think about how users might search for something on Google or another search engine (or from their smartphone). If someone searches “small business websites” what words would they use?
You can also use tools like Google Analytics that allow you to see how visitors were getting around on your website and what pages were being viewed most often. That way if there are certain pages that get more traffic than others from organic searches then these would be good candidates for inclusion in the main menu bar at all times; whereas less popular pages could just be tucked away under secondary links instead of taking up prime real estate at all times on screen
Create the right content
One of the most important factors in creating a great website is the content. The content on your website should:
- Be relevant to your business and industry. If you’re selling cars, don’t make an article about how to bake cookies!
- Be easy for customers to find what they need quickly. Make sure that all of your most important pages are at the top of the page (or at least near). This includes any contact information or frequently asked questions about services offered by your company, such as “Do we deliver?” Or “What are our hours?” You can also include links under each heading so customers can easily navigate through different sections of your site without having to scroll down every time they want something new from you!
- Be understandable by anyone who reads it regardless of their level or experience with computers or technology – even if someone has never used a computer before then this won’t matter because everything will still make sense when reading through these pages!
Consider SEO best practices
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way to make your website more visible to search engines. It’s also about making it easier for users to find your website, and it can help ensure that the right people see your content. That said, SEO isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy: The best approach depends on what kind of business you have and what kind of audience you want to reach.
If you’re just starting out with SEO and want some practical tips, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Keep things simple–but not too simple! Keep things short but don’t be boring; keep them interesting but don’t get overly creative; keep it informative but not overly technical…you get the idea!
A great website is one that meets the needs of your customers, helps you market your products or services and accomplishes your goals
A great website is one that meets the needs of your customers, helps you market your products or services and accomplishes your goals.
Your customers should be able to find the information they need on your site with ease. Your site should also be easy to navigate so that visitors don’t get frustrated trying to find what they want or leave because of too many clicks required to get there.
The look and feel of a website can make all the difference in how people view it as well as how much trust they put into it before even reading any content on it; therefore, having an attractive design is important for building brand recognition and credibility with potential clients who visit often enough to see changes made over time. A professional appearance will make people more likely not only take notice but also remember what it was about this particular company that caught their attention in the first place.”
Conclusion
A great website is one that meets the needs of your customers, helps you market your products or services and accomplishes your goals. You may have heard the saying “content is king,” but in today’s digital world it’s more accurate to say that good design is queen! A good design will help visitors navigate through your site easily and find what they need quickly and efficiently.
