6 Amazing Tips for Designing a Website For Your Small Business

Do you own a small business and want a website for your business? For most small business owners, the thought of building a website is scary and overwhelming. However, it does not need to be difficult or confusing. The following five tips will make designing your website a breeze.

Always Choose Quality over Quantity

When it comes to website design and development, many small businesses start too large and quickly get overwhelmed. Small businesses often want pages built with a number of features; however, they do not have the budget necessary for this type of website. If you are on a limited budget, you can still have an amazing website. When it comes to websites for small businesses, remember that quality is more important than the number of pages on a website. A smaller website designed correctly that offers high-quality content is better than developing a large website that is of poor quality. Starting small not only saves you money but it also allows you to focus your money, time and energy on the essential parts of your website, including:

Ensuring Your Website Loads Quickly

Your website should fully load within three seconds. The content on the site should be informative and useful to your customers. Finally, the site should be optimized to be viewed on PCs and mobile devices.

Considering a developer who uses agile development for web design as a methodology can be a significant addition if looking to create a top notch, impressive website. The agile web movement is a counter one to the waterfall movement. Unlike the more static option, agile developers respond to unpredictability through incremental, iterative work cadences and empirical feedback. They take things a step further and leverage a test management tool such as qTest or Google Drive to store, centralize and organize test cases to create impressive sites.

Your Call to Action Should Be Visible and Strong

Your website should be viewed as an extension of yourself. Its primary job is to generate customers and leads for your small business. In order to do this, it must have a strong call to action that urges visitors to act. Incentives are a great way to introduce your call to action and get your visitors to take the next step and purchase your products or services. Take a look at these incentive-based call to actions:

• Contact us to schedule your free consultation.
• Ten percent off on your first purchase.
• Print this valuable coupon to use on your purchase.

If your business is unable to use an incentive-based call to action, do not fret. There are other options you can use. Your call to action should lead your visitors to a way to contact you. This can be a telephone number, a contact form or a sign-up for your free newsletter. No matter the type of call to action you are using, you want to place it in a very visible location on your website. There are a number of great locations on any website, including the centre of the page, a side bar or a highlighted region in the menu bar. Here are some good tips.

Say More with Pictures

The best websites will generate leads by using written content and media like videos and photographs. Many small businesses understand the importance of written content; however, they do not realize how important media actually is. A photo or video can generally sell your company better than any written content. Check out these examples of media you can use to improve your website.

• Restaurants can use photographs of dishes to make their visitors want to visit their restaurant and enjoy their food.
• Law firms can have a page dedicated to their attorneys. These pages should include a headshot of each member of the practice to help create trust.
• Clothing stores can include photos of the clothing in stock.
• Visual media helps to sell your goods or services. When it comes to choosing between two companies, visitors will consider the media on the website. Using photos and videos can set you apart from the competition.

Think Like a Customer

When you are designing a website for your small business, you must think like a customer. Why would a customer visit your website and what type of information will they be seeking? Answering this can help you create content that is useful for your visitors. If you are unable to answer these questions, don't worry there are ways to find out this information. The easiest and best way to discover this is to ask your current customers what they would like to see on your website. This information will help you understand the type of content you should include on your website.

Mobile Friendly and Load Times Are Essential

When it comes to your website and the technology used, you do not need to do a lot. All you need to do is ensure that the website is responsive to mobile devices as well as personal computers. This means that the website should load in less than three seconds. More people view websites from handheld mobile devices than they do from computers. Generally, mobile devices do not have access to fast internet speeds. This means that your website needs to load quickly and act responsively. Additionally, the screens on these devices are smaller. This means that all of the content should be able to be seen on a smaller screen. People using a mobile device will navigate away from a website that takes too long to load or has images that do not load properly.