We understand the struggles you face as a small business owner when it comes to understanding the layout and functionality of your website. In fact, when designing your site, you may not even have considered the value of questions such as:
- Why should your website be mobile-friendly?
- Why should you have your name, address and phone number in a specific location?
- How is being a local service provider different from a local product seller?
Believe it or not, there is actual behavior science behind how customers use websites and how to promote offerings. To match the solutions customers are looking for, you need to go beyond a static website, especially to grow your business and stand out in a crowded market.
While many small businesses know the value of a great website, many still fall short. It’s essential to understand how your website can make — or break — your business.
Use great imagery
If a picture is worth a thousand words, the impact of images in the first few seconds on potential customers is crucial. Images are a great representation of your brand and set the tone of your website and business. Are you a friendly business, a professional expert or a high-end boutique? Use fantastic imagery that not only is great quality but also represents your brand.
Provide a quick and practical introduction
Which explains this business better: “A local real estate agency that brings results to our clients” or “A specialty firm looking to disrupt a broken industry” — Huh? The second example does not say what the company does, and it doesn’t explain whose interests it looks out for. Don’t let customers bounce after a quick scan of your home page. Tell them who you are and what you are going to do for them.
Demonstrate that you are easy to do business with
At some point, you’ll find you’re losing customers. Is it empty shopping carts? Incomplete contact forms? Hidden contact information? The easier you make your navigation and ability to initiate contact or buy a product, the more you will meet your digital goals.
Declare the reasons that you are the best choice for your audience
Look for your unique selling points and promote them prominently. This is especially important if a customer is in the evaluation phase of their purchasing journey. For example, think about how many years you’ve been in business, certifications or licenses your business holds, competitive pricing, and more.
Include bullet points
Attention spans are short these days. You might have visitors that spend seconds on your website, so you need to give them information quickly. This could be why you’re the most qualified service provider, how your product will enhance their lives, or whatever makes you stand out.
Display customer testimonials
Try to go beyond the generic “they’re the best” reviews to mini case studies of how you solved a customer’s problem. If you have testimonials that are specific, they are more likely to make you look like a solution provider, and you will appear more genuine.
- “They fixed my air conditioner within 24 hours, and now it’s working great.”
- “They took away the busy work so we could concentrate on running our business.”
- “They were able to find us lower rates and save us money.”
- “I love our new car, and the buying process was so easy and quick!”
Indicate a clear call to action
The main goal of your website is lead generation and sales. Therefore, your website design should include ways to move customers through the sales funnel and give them an easy way to make the journey from awareness to purchase. Examples include:
- Add-to-cart buttons
- Contact us now
- Sign up for your free estimate
- Send us an email
- Get exclusive offers with social media
- Receive discounts with emails
Understand the basics of SEO
Search engines want to provide users with the most useful answers to their queries in the most helpful formats. Remember that of the millions of websites on the internet, to appear in the first 10 search results, a search engine must be able to discover your content, interpret it and store in its server.
Therefore, your website must be conducive to search engine optimization (SEO) so that you can compete with other businesses in your niche that are optimizing for the same products or services as yours. When search engines were just starting, about a decade ago, it was much easier to game the system and implement tricks that go against webmasters’ quality guidelines. But that won’t work now. SEO is a grind, and your website as a whole must be worth it to be on the top.
In addition to being optimized for SEO, your website needs to be mobile-friendly. This is important because Google, the search engine giant where about 90% of searches happen, is now into mobile-first indexing. Google is predominantly using the mobile version of a web page for indexing and ranking because over 80% of web search queries are happening on mobile devices.
Present simple, customer-friendly navigation
Can customers easily find your products or services? Are they easily led from one page to another? Your website’s beautiful aesthetics won’t do much good if it lacks a clean informational architecture, or navigation that doesn’t require users to think very hard to find something on your website.
Your business name, address, and phone number must be placed together on your website along with an inserted Google map. It gives you leverage for local search intent and makes it easier for customers to find that information.
It’s also important for search engines to be able to follow your website navigation. Search engines must find it easy to crawl and interpret your content. Are you heavily relying on search forms? Placing a search box on your website and believing that search engines will be able to find what your visitors are searching for is not a good idea. Please remember that search engines cannot use a search box.
Include fresh, quality content
Search engines and your customers love fresh content. Avoid forced and generic content; you want to bring value to your customers by providing the most relevant, helpful content that fulfills your audience’s search intent. Remember, your website is generating leads and sales and is a central part of your growth strategy.
Effective website design will likely grow your business more than any other business strategy you invest in. An outside agency can harness all of these opportunities by maintaining a content calendar, discovering fresh ideas, and suggesting trending solutions that will enable search engines to find you. Professional website design services are well worth the investment, so you don’t lose visitors, leads, or sales. Contact our website development team to get started.
