Top 10 Tips for Designing a New Business Website
Do you want to know the formula to create a successful business website?
Website = Design + Functionality
Your website’s design plays an important role in your online marketing and digital strategy.
Studies indicate that 94%
of first impressions are shaped by how your website looks.
A good website design for small business shows professionalism. It helps users to easily browse through the content and take action.
By providing clear and easily accessible information, your website can foster repeat business and keep visitors coming back for more.
If you’re looking for expert web design services tailored to small businesses, consider reaching out to Website Design Sunshine Coast. Their team specializes in creating high-quality websites, helping you achieve your online goals.
Meanwhile, you can also follow these 10 tips for business website designing.
1. Start by making a plan for your website design
If you are designing a new business website from scratch, it is important to outline exactly what you want to achieve. Answer these questions to make a plan:
- What are your web design goals and objectives?
- How do you plan to achieve them?
- How each part of your website will benefit your customers?
Begin by identifying your target audience and understanding their journey from start to finish. Collect data about:
- Who your customers are
- Their preferences
- What kinds of content do they enjoy
- How they become customers after visiting your site
Using this information, you can create a business website design that meets the needs and interests of your audience. It will help you attract and retain customers effectively.
2. Look for design inspiration
It can be overwhelming to start with a new website design for a small business. So, take some time to check and gather inspiration from other websites. Look at what stands out to you and what you’d like to improve on your own site.
Pay attention to elements like layout and appearance. Take a thorough look at the sites to find visually appealing and high-quality content that can inspire your site design.
3. Use consistent branding
Make sure your website design for small businesses reflects your brand consistently. Use the same fonts, colors, logos, and other visual elements online as you do offline. This creates a unified brand identity that makes your business more memorable and trustworthy.
Creating a branding guide is also helpful. It serves as a reference for maintaining consistency as you update your website. With a branding guide, you can make small design changes while still keeping your brand’s overall look and feel intact.
4. Keep the business website design simple and clean
To make a great website, the rule is to keep it simple and clean. A basic design is better than a complicated one. Some people think that adding lots of stuff to a website will make it amazing, but that’s not true.
A complex design won’t attract visitors. If your website is hard to look at, people won’t enjoy it. Even if your content is good, if customers can’t find what they need easily, they won’t stay or buy anything.
But if your website is simple and clean, it can attract visitors and keep them interested. It helps them focus on the content without distractions. The trick is to start small and then improve your website bit by bit.
5. Keep mobile users in mind
Remember mobile users when designing your website. Nearly half of all internet traffic worldwide comes from mobile devices, as reported by Statista. Google data suggests that 50% of mobile users prefer visiting a business’s mobile site.
So, it’s important that your small business website looks good and works well on both desktop and mobile screens. Customize your mobile site to meet visitors’ needs directly.
Think about why they’re visiting your mobile site and what they’re likely searching for, then make it simple for them to find that information. Keep the layout simple and easy to use, without too much clutter. Also, make sure your images load quickly so they don’t make your site slow.
6. Use white space
White space refers to the empty areas on your web pages without text or images. Despite seeming counterintuitive, white space can improve your website’s visual appeal and user-friendliness.
It makes content easier to read and navigate while highlighting important areas like call-to-action buttons or contact information. By using white space generously, you can create a clean, uncluttered website that’s easy for visitors to navigate and engage with.
7. Make sure the website has a fast page load speed
Page load speed simply means how fast your website pages load when someone clicks on them. It directly impacts customer behavior because if a page takes too long to load, the customer might bounce.
Moreover, page load speed affects your website’s ranking on Google. To maintain fast page speeds, optimize your website for speed. Consider factors like the number of plugins, image size, and your hosting provider. Regularly monitor and test page speeds to identify and fix any issues promptly.
8. Focus on user experience
When designing your small business website, prioritize user experience (UX) above all else. UX refers to how easy and enjoyable it is for visitors to use your site.
To improve UX, focus on simple things like using,
- Clear fonts
- Designing for mobile users
- Creating engaging content
Regularly test your website to catch any issues and fix them promptly. For better search engine optimization (SEO), consider both technical aspects and design elements that appeal to your target audience.
9. Make your website design secure
Apart from looking good, your website design for small businesses should also be safe to use. Customers value the safety of their personal information, so it’s important to reassure them that their data is protected on your site.
Use security measures such as maintaining an up-to-date SSL certificate. This small file adds an extra layer of protection by encrypting sensitive data like credit card transactions, logins, and browsing activity.
Having a current SSL certificate is vital as it enables the HTTPS protocol, indicated by a padlock symbol in the browser’s address bar. Without HTTPS, Google may label your site as insecure, leading customers to leave.
10. Obtain feedback from others and make changes
Getting feedback from people you respect can help you make your website better. Knowing what people think and if they find it easy to understand can help you make decisions and improve.
Don’t be afraid to ask for advice from others. Get feedback from experienced designers and regular users to understand how people will like your product.
If you get some negative feedback, don’t let it bring you down. Instead, use it to improve and inspire you to make even better things in the future.
Conclusion
Business website design directly impacts your conversion and profit. So, when creating a new website, remember to follow the 10 tips we have highlighted in this article.
It will help you create a functional as well as visually appealing website. However, remember that it all boils down to user experience. So, keep your target audience in mind when designing your website.
