Having a website for your business puts you miles ahead of businesses without websites. That’s why approximately 71% of small businesses have websites.
While having a website is one thing, having a website with a proper design is another. Your site is bound to fail without a proper small business website design. However, having a seamless website design is easier said than done.
If you’re having trouble designing your small business website, we’re here to help. In today’s post, we’ll be highlighting a few tips for designing a small business website that looks great and helps you achieve your business goals. Without wasting too much time, let’s dive straight into it.
1. Ensure Your Website Is Easy to Navigate
A non-functional and difficult-to-navigate website is a huge turn-off for web visitors. You need to ensure that navigating your website is a breeze.
You can do this by having a well-thought-out website structure and design. It should be intuitive and easy to understand. The last thing you want is for your visitors to get lost on your website.
Also, consider including a search bar on your website. This allows visitors to quickly and easily find the information they need without clicking through your entire website.
Make sure you test your website on different devices and browsers to ensure it is fully functional before making it live. Websites that don’t work properly have no place on the World Wide Web.
2. Use Themes and Color Palettes That Reflect Your Brand
Your website’s design should reflect your brand’s identity. After all, your website is an extension of your brand. This means using colors, fonts, and images in line with your brand’s style guide.
Doing so will help you create a cohesive and consistent look for your website.
It’s also important to use themes and color palettes that look good and resonate with your target audience. This will help visitors have a more pleasant and enjoyable experience on your site.
3. Use Relevant and High-Quality Images
It’s not uncommon for business site owners to slap whatever photo they find onto their website. Understandably, most are oblivious of the detrimental effects low-quality images have on their website design.
That said, remember to use high-quality, relevant images for your website. High-quality images make your website look more polished and professional. And, using relevant photos helps send the right message to your target audience.
When selecting images for your small business website design, consider using photos that:
- Convey emotion
- Tell a story
- Are high resolution
- Reflect your brand’s identity
For example, using images of happy pets and families would be more relevant and impactful than generic stock photos if you own a pet store.
4. Choose a Cohesive Website Layout
Your website’s layout should be easy on the eyes and cohesive. A common mistake small business owners make is cramming too much information onto one page. This creates a cluttered and disorganized look that does more harm than good.
Instead, choose a website layout that allows you to showcase your content in an organized and visually-pleasing way. One way to do this is by using grid-based layouts. This type of layout uses a series of rows and columns to structure content.
Grid-based layouts are easy to use and allow you to create a well-organized website design.
Another popular layout is the card layout. Card layouts are perfect for small businesses that want to showcase a lot of information without overwhelming visitors.
5. Declutter Your Website
Minimalist websites typically have better designs because there’s not much website owners need to work on. Having too much on your website can get in the way of ensuring proper website design. Try decluttering your website to improve its overall design.
Eliminate any unnecessary pages, blog posts, images, etc., taking up space on your website. Doing so will help you create a cleaner and more organized website design.
It’s also important to declutter your website’s navigation menu. This ensures that visitors can easily navigate your site without feeling overwhelmed.
6. Optimize for Mobile Devices
Did you know that more than half of all internet users are using mobile devices to browse the internet? While improving your web design, don’t forget to optimize your site for mobile devices.
This means making sure your website design is responsive and can be viewed on all screen sizes. Visitors should be able to view your site without having to zoom in or scroll horizontally.
There are a few ways you can make your small business website design mobile-friendly:
- Use larger font sizes
- Use more white spaces
- Use responsive design
If you’re not sure if your website is optimized for mobile devices, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool. This tool will analyze your website and let you know if any issues need to be fixed.
Professional website designers can also help you have a more mobile-friendly site in no time.
7. Ensure Your Site Is Fast and Responsive
Speed and responsiveness are key imperative to the success of your small business website. No one has the time to wait for a slow website to load. In fact, studies show that people expect websites to load in under three seconds.
Thankfully, you can do a few things to improve its speed if you have a slow website. First, check your website’s hosting plan. If you’re on a shared hosting plan, consider upgrading to a VPS or dedicated server.
You can also improve your small business website’s speed by optimizing its images. Make sure all the images on your site are compressed and in the right file format. You should also use a content delivery network (CDN) to improve your site’s load times.
Small Business Website Design Simplified
Working on your small business website design not only improves user experience but also makes your site rank higher on SERPs. Use the tips above to enhance your site’s design to attract more visitors. Remember, consistency is key, so be consistent with your efforts and watch your business website grow.
Talk to us today if you need any help optimizing your small business website for increased traffic. We’ll take care of it.
