Of all of the tools in the small business owner’s marketing arsenal, your website is one of the most powerful. A well-designed site can be the critical difference that makes a customer choose to stay, browse and buy instead of moving on to a competitor’s page. Many small business owners hire web design professionals to create their site, but even if you choose someone else to implement your vision, knowing what you want ahead of time will help ensure the final product looks great and achieves its purpose.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating an eye-catching, user-friendly and effective website for your small business.
Branding
A strong brand identity is important because you want your website to look as professional as possible and instill confidence in potential customers, as part of your strategy to boost sales which are captured by your retail management software. Fortunately, the web offers small businesses the chance to look much bigger than they are through the use of clever branding and an attractive and prominently placed logo.
Make sure you use this same logo on the rest of your marketing materials, as well as on invoices and other business communications to create a consistent and familiar brand.
Simplicity
It has been proven time and time again – people don’t like websites that have too much clutter or require excessive clicking to find information. Much like a well-organized shop, a clean and clear site design allows customers to relax and enables them to locate what they are looking for.
Fonts. Make sure your choice of font and font size are focused on readability rather than just design. Remember that people with different levels of vision could be viewing your page and aim to be as inclusive as possible.
Graphics. Pictures are eye-catching and attractive, but resist the temptation to overload customers with visual images. Too many pictures can also make a site load more slowly. Experts suggest that you include a good mix of graphics and text on each page to better allow search engines to assess your site’s relevancy.
Text. Aim for at least 250 words of text per page, with keywords included. You can also make text as easy to read as possible by using bullet points, numbered lists and bolding to draw the viewer’s eye to the most important points.