Website Design Tips for Small Businesses

Business website design tips

Whether you want to improve your website’s design or you’re just starting to build your website, these eight tips will help you design an appealing, functional website that keeps customers and prospects engaged.

1. Create a plan for your website design.

When creating or redesigning a website, your first step should be to develop a detailed plan of what you want to do, how to do it, and how each website element will help serve your customers. 

To get started, you’ll need to pinpoint your target audience and map out a customer journey from start to finish. Customer data informs each design step and determines what your website should offer. For this step, you should gather solid data on the following: 

• Who your customers are
• What they like
• What types of content they respond well to 
• How they were converted from website visitors to customers

• 2. Remove unnecessary elements from your website design.

  Modern website web design services for small businesses is clear, crisp and efficient, so rid your website of anything clunky and unnecessary. Consider removing the following features: 

  • Animations
  • Overly wordy copy
  • Extraneous stock images
  • Meaningless jargon and promotional language (e.g., “next generation,” “robust,” “innovative”)

  Today’s busy customers have short attention spans and don’t want to wade through pages of fluff content to find what they need. Meet customer needs with a straightforward website design that helps them quickly solve their problems.

  3. Include social platform buttons in your website design.

  Your online presence should be a cohesive unit, with your website as the hub. Consider including buttons on your website that link to your social platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Ideally, place them in a footer that travels with the customer as they click from page to page.

• 4. Make your website homepage scrollable.

  More people than ever are visiting websites via tablets and mobile devices, so a scrollable homepage means your website is accessible to more users.

  Additionally, a scrollable homepage is modern and engaging because you can animate website elements to pop up or move as the user scrolls to them. This design adds an element of interest without being overpowering or distracting. 

  Organize your scrollable homepage into sections to make it easy to navigate. It should include the following sections:

  • About page and introduction
  • Services overview
  • Products and product features
  • Testimonials
  • Case studies and success stories
  • Resources
  • Contact information

  5. Don’t be afraid of white space in your website design.

  White space is no longer something to avoid. Use white space (or blank space of any color) thoughtfully to help break up pages and make your content easier to read by prioritizing essential text. White space can also help you determine where to place other page elements.

  6. Optimize your website design for mobile devices.

  According to Statista, mobile comprises nearly half of all worldwide web traffic. Additionally, Google data says 50% of mobile users will choose to visit a business’s mobile site over downloading an app, and 59% prioritize the ability to shop via smartphone when choosing a brand to purchase from. 

  It’s clear that businesses must make their websites mobile-friendly. Ensure your website is mobile-responsive and looks just as good on smaller screens as it does on desktops. Tailor your mobile sites to respond directly to visitors’ needs. Consider why they’re accessing your mobile site and what they’re likely looking for, and make it as easy as possible for them to get that information. 

  7. Include an SEO strategy in your website design.

  SEO is vital for any business’s online presence and should be considered at every step of creating or redesigning your website. Consider what content is relevant and interesting to your customers, and build your SEO strategy to cater to that content. 

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• 8. Make your website design secure.

  Customers are highly concerned about and protective of their personal information. Do everything you can to give them the peace of mind of knowing their data is safe on your site. 

  Website security measures include having a current SSL certificate. This small data file binds a cryptographic key to your business and secures credit card transactions, data transfers, logins and browsing. A current SSL certificate is essential because it creates the HTTPS application protocol and the padlock symbol in a user’s search bar. If your website doesn’t have an HTTPS application protocol, Google will often flag your website as not secure and direct the customer away.

  What makes a good business website?

  A good business website incorporates various elements that make the user experience seamless. Some crucial elements to prioritize in your website design include: 

  1. Good business websites have easy navigation. 

  Most users come to your website with a goal, such as finding an item’s price or contacting customer support. You want to make it as quick and easy as possible for them to complete that goal. A confusing website where users must click around and search extensively creates frustrated customers likely to leave your site for a competitor’s.

  Your navigation should be clear and self-explanatory and include broad headings with related subtopics. If you have many pages, consider using breadcrumb navigation along with menu navigation so users can easily backtrack to a higher level.

  2. Good business websites incorporate responsive design. 

  Responsive web design services for small business focuses on making websites look good and function well on any device. More users are accessing web pages via smartphones and tablets, so a responsive website that works well on various devices is crucial. 

  A mobile-optimized website creates a positive viewing experience by resizing pages, adjusting menu formats and incorporating dropdown tabs. 

  Search engines also consider mobile website layouts when crawling sites, so if you want to appear higher in search engine results, ensure your website is mobile-friendly.

  8. Make your website design secure.

  Customers are highly concerned about and protective of their personal information. Do everything you can to give them the peace of mind of knowing their data is safe on your site. 

  Website security measures include having a current SSL certificate. This small data file binds a cryptographic key to your business and secures credit card transactions, data transfers, logins and browsing. A current SSL certificate is essential because it creates the HTTPS application protocol and the padlock symbol in a user’s search bar. If your website doesn’t have an HTTPS application protocol, Google will often flag your website as not secure and direct the customer away.

  What makes a good business website?

  A good business website incorporates various elements that make the user experience seamless. Some crucial elements to prioritize in your website design include: 

  1. Good business websites have easy navigation. 

  Most users come to your website with a goal, such as finding an item’s price or contacting customer support. You want to make it as quick and easy as possible for them to complete that goal. A confusing website where users must click around and search extensively creates frustrated customers likely to leave your site for a competitor’s.

  Your navigation should be clear and self-explanatory and include broad headings with related subtopics. If you have many pages, consider using breadcrumb navigation along with menu navigation so users can easily backtrack to a higher level.

  2. Good business websites incorporate responsive design. 

  Responsive web design focuses on making websites look good and function well on any device. More users are accessing web pages via smartphones and tablets, so a responsive website that works well on various devices is crucial. 

  A mobile-optimized website creates a positive viewing experience by resizing pages, adjusting menu formats and incorporating dropdown tabs. 

  Search engines also consider mobile website layouts when crawling sites, so if you want to appear higher in search engine results, ensure your website is mobile-friendly.