Small business website design is different than building a personal portfolio or other types of website. Building a great small business website takes time and strategy. Instead of just promoting yourself and your work, you must put yourself in the mind of your ideal customer.
Before we get started with our guide on small business website design, we must focus on the customer we want to attract. Ideally, they are the person who you love to work with and want the service that pays you the most money. Your goal is to build a site where the ideal client can see themselves being successful through your services or products.
Your goal while building your website is to show how you can help your ideal customer win the day. If they can identify you can help, and are trustworthy to do so – it’s much easier to make the sale.
Today you’ll discover some helpful tips for creating a great website for your company. We’ll also discuss the importance of choosing the right design and layout for your website.
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One thing you should consider before getting started is your style guide. Often this relates heavily to your logo and creating a cohesive brand identity. Once your graphic designer sends you the final logo, ask for the fonts and colors used in the design.
Your small business website designer can then use the same or similar fonts and colors in the website design. The goal is to make sure your brand feels seamless across the internet. If they click on a Facebook ad, they will likely expect to go to a website that looks the same.
Your website is a virtual storefront for your small business, so having a consistent look and feel is vital to its success. A guide will help you create a cohesive look and feel and ensure that your branding strategy is consistent throughout your website and marketing materials. Branding is the overall impression your small business makes on potential customers.
A style guide is a design reference that helps you create a consistent design for your website. It contains rules and guidelines for various elements of your website design, including typography, color, and layout. Having a web style guide can help you create a cohesive design and ensure that your site looks professional and unique.
The main goal of a website style guide is to create a consistent design that represents your brand accurately and clearly. The guide should also be designed to reflect the values of your business and your personality as a company.
The first thing to include in a website style guide is your logo. This is the symbol that most people associate with your brand. Getting this part of your design right can make a big difference in how your brand is perceived and recognized by the public.
Your fonts should be in a consistent format and match the style of your brand’s logo. It’s also important to include font families and styles for alert messages, forms, and body text in your web design style guide.
Creating a visual style guide is crucial for your website design, especially if you’re using WordPress. It can be a powerful tool for establishing consistency and helping other designers understand how to create similar designs without having to ask you for assistance. The guide should have plenty of visual examples of how to use the various elements of the guide.
The layout of your website’s pages and blog posts should be consistent with the overall layout of the site. This includes the spacing and margins between sections. You should also add a layout grid to your website style guide so that you know where images and graphics should go on pages.
Any good guide to small business to web design must discuss layout. I often like to focus on a basic site structure that goes like this Homepage, About, Services, Contact. A homepage can follow a page layout like the following.
Each website is unique, and some websites don’t need all of this information. You can first start with a one-page website that contains all the basics. You can build out the site structure over the years as your business grows.
The most essential part of a small business website design is content and content creation. You will need to write and re-write content for your website roughly every 6 months. Get used to a kaizen experience of incremental improvement.
Your goal is to provide authentic and reputable content that represents you, your brand, and how you do business. Content in conjunction with design can send a powerful message.
You want to make sure your words are in line with the photos on your website. When writing content consider the most recent interactions you’ve had with your customers. Incorporate answers to common questions and let your customers know you hear them. Preemptively providing answers to common questions increases your perception as a thought leader and trustworthy business.
A good call to action will inspire readers to take the action you want them to take. For example, your CTA could be a “call now” button or a “contact us today” via a contact form. If a visitor is not prompted to do something, they are unlikely to take action.
Make your call to action as clear and attractive as possible. This means making it the unique, colorful, one-of-a-kind button on the site. You want something that captures their attention.
Use FOMO as a trigger. The word “FOMO” means “fear of missing out.” You can use words that induce emotion to draw people to your call to action. For example, if your website is about an app, use a call to action on the homepage that encourages users to download and install the app.
This is just a basic introductory guide to small business web design. Remember, your site should always be revisited and revised. Your goal through your web design and content is to tell the right person that you can solve their problem. This is ideally a client you love to work with and will keep you in business for years into the future. Revisit your website often to ensure the layout is easy to navigate and all the information is up-to-date and accurate. If you want me to build your website, feel free to contact me via my easy five-minute contact form.
