5 Important Aspects of Small Business Website Design
Posted Aug 18, 2016 | Updated 8 years ago
When it comes to small business website design, deciding what you need and what you don’t can be tough. By nature, small business websites are, well, smaller than a major enterprise website, and they don’t have quite as much space to cram everything in. Because of this, many small business owners find themselves confused over what has a place on their websites and what’s better left out. To learn more about the elements of successful small business website design, read on.
Why Small Business Website Design is so Important
Small business website design can make or break a company. In many ways, small businesses actually have more on the line when it comes to their websites than large, established businesses. Here’s why: large companies have a lot of content, a lot of recognition, a lot of social followers, and a lot of power behind virtually everything they do online.
Small businesses, on the other hand, don’t – which means that there’s much more riding on the success or failure of their websites. When a small business website is beautiful, functional, and informative, it encourages customers to take the leap and do business with the company. When the website is bad, though, customers simply leave to do business with the company’s competitors.
In addition to appealing to customers, small business website design is critical for local SEO. According to Google, 50% of customers who initiate local searches on mobile platforms visit a local business within one day. This is a huge amount of traffic, and if your site isn’t showing up prominently (or at all) in local search results, you’re missing out on all those potential customers. Because of this, it’s essential for businesses with a local presence to focus on creating good small business website design.
5 Elements of Successful Small Business Website Design
Small business websites should be succinct, informative, and to-the-point, but they all need the following five things:
Contact information on every single page
According to research conducted by comScore, Neustar Localeze and agency 15 Miles, searchers who visit a local website are primarily focused on finding the company’s address and phone number.
Because of this, it’s essential to include your NAP (name, address, phone number) information on every page of your site. In addition to making it easier for users to locate essential information, this also helps you rank more efficiently in local search.
Geographically-targeted keyword inclusion
To rank well in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs), you’ll need to research and target local long-tail keywords. For example, if you ran a custom log home company in Bozeman, Montana, a great keyword might be “custom log home builder Bozeman.”
By integrating these highly specific keywords into your on-page content, service descriptions, and blog content, you can rank well in Google and help provide your users with more relevant and informative online information.
Plenty of customer reviews
According to BrightLocal, 88% of customers trust online testimonials as much as they would a personal, face-to-face recommendation given to them by a friend or family member. Because of this, it’s essential to include testimonials and reviews from previous customers on your site. This helps boost customer confidence and establish you as a reputable, capable company with a track record of successful projects.
A blog that gets updated frequently
According to HubSpot, B2B companies that blog earn 67% more leads than their non-blogging counterparts. What’s more, marketers who make blogging a main priority are 13 times as likely to earn a positive ROI as those who don’t! With this in mind, it’s clear that a blog is a great way to boost your leads.
Not only that, though, blogging is also a great way to rank higher in the SERPs. Every blog you create is one more page for Google to index. Over time, this builds up to a large body of content for your site, and a trustworthy authority metric for Google. Because of this, every local website that wants to rank well will need to build and maintain a company blog.
Visuals that grab reader attention
Visuals are an integral part of good small business website design. For best results, add them to blog posts, home pages, and “about” pages and keep them relevant to your company and message.
The Case for Good Small Business Website Design
While good website design is critical for all companies, it’s especially important for small, local businesses trying to get found online. Luckily, businesses that take the time to ensure professional-level small business website design are better able to cater to their customers’ needs and build a highly visible online presence!
As a small business, you can’t afford to have a poorly designed website. Luckily, Third Angle is here to help. Contact us today for high-quality assistance with your small business website design!