A website is crucial for any business in any industry, but especially for small businesses that want to grow a loyal customer base. No matter the industry, a professional website can generate more leads. Small businesses need to maximize their online presence and reach local customers through search or social media to keep their business afloat.
What Do You Want Your Website To Accomplish?
The first question to ask yourself is what you want your website design to accomplish. Doing so can help you narrow down a layout, color scheme, and content to feature on your site. If you want your website to help customers solve a problem, you may want to feature blogs on certain topics and have them on the front page. If you want people to purchase products faster, optimize your website with products featured on each page.
Determine Your Brand
To promote your small business, you should work on making a cohesive brand that catches the attention of others. Choosing your logo, colors, and core values are just some parts of a business brand. Once you have established your brand and voice, it will be easier for customers to connect with you. Your brand should also carry over into all elements on your website.
Keep Your Contact Information Front & Center
If you want your small business website to help you get more customers, having your contact information on every page of your website is crucial. Websites with contact information in the header are also better recognized by search engines.
Putting contact information above the fold (the area a visitor first sees on your website without scrolling) makes it easier for your customers to find and provides multiple methods of contact. Include a phone number, email address, physical address, or contact form in this section.
Make It Easy To Find
If you want to reach people who may have worked with you before or seen your business in an ad, you should make your website easy to find. Small businesses can do this by having a clear domain name, carrying the same name and logo across platforms, and optimizing the site for SEO. All of these elements will work together to ensure that when an individual searches you on Google, Bing, or other search engine, your website will populate on the first page of results.
Less Is More
Many elements and sections make up a small business website, but often keeping it simple is the best way to go. Using clear photos or graphics, readable fonts, and a call to action on your homepage will help draw the reader in. Filling every small space on your site will get overwhelming to look at and will cause searchers to leave your site.
In website design, you should utilize white space or negative space to make your focal points pop. This white space will help to balance your website and improve the overall experience for the user. Including negative space around your logo, blog posts, or different services makes the human eye more drawn to these elements.
Utilize Bullet Points In Your Content
Quality content is important for SEO, but long paragraphs or repetitive information are not helpful for your small business website. Bullet points can be helpful to break up sections of your website while still giving users the information they need. Utilize bullet points or list forms for services, examples, service areas, products, or current events.
Add Content Aimed Towards Your Location
Local SEO is just as crucial as other elements on a small business website. Since you are a smaller company, you should appeal to those in your local area. Including your business location on your website will help the right people find you, but there are some other aspects to show your customers that you care about your community.
Show Your Community Pride
A small business helps contribute to the local economy and improve community comradery. In your written content, be sure to mention the areas you serve and how proud you are to serve the people of that area.
Sharing your website with in-person customers and on social media are other ways to reach more residents in the area. Participate or sponsor local events, and school functions, or attend job fairs at the local high school. All of this will help improve word of mouth around your business and show you care for the community.
Great Small Business Website Examples
Want to see some of these tips in action? Here are some small businesses that utilize good web design techniques.
- Chicago French Press
- Wildwood Bakery
- Puffin Packaging
- Beehive Naturals
- Regeneration Health of Northern Utah
- Rosewood Painting & Remodel
- EK Bailey
Website Design From Performance Driven Marketing
Performance Driven Marketing offers all marketing services in-house. Our team has multiple experts who are dedicated to helping small businesses or industry leaders reach more customers. Our marketing team offers web design, paid advertising, social media posting, content writing, and more!