Three decades ago, people used physical directories, like the Yellow Pages, to find businesses and their contact details. However, these days, people use search engines.
And, with 4.5 billion active internet users worldwide, it’s very likely that your target market is searching for you online. In fact, 1 of every 5 potential customers will stop considering your business if you don’t have a business website.
Benefits of having a website for small business:
=> Allows potential customers to find your business quickly.
=> Establishes credibility and builds trust within your prospects.
=> Act as a hub for initiating your brand’s marketing campaigns.
=> Lets visitors learn more about your business
A website not only helps small businesses promote their brand and sell their products and services, but it also helps them gain a competitive edge. Hope these compelling reasons have made you realize the website’s importance. But what should a small business website design look like? What should be its key components?
If you are a small business owner, you may find these questions a bit difficult to answer. That’s why 60% of small business owners think having a website is a daunting task. Please don’t worry we are here to help you with inspiring small business website designs with essential key components.
Essential Components of Small Business Website Design
=> Organized navigation bar
=> Eye-catchy home page
=> Friendly about us page
=> Easily accessible Contact detail
=> Mobile-friendly version
=> Robust Customized CMS
=> Add Social proof
=> Analytics integration and conversion trackers
=> SSL Certificate
Sticky and Organized Navigation Bar :
Having clear site navigation helps your visitors easily find the information they are looking for. Not only visitors, but clear site navigation also helps search engine crawlers to index your website pages easily.
Every important page of the business website should directly be linked to the home page. Website architecture should be designed in such a way that any page of your website should not be two clicks away from your home page.
Example: A Grade Painters
The A Grade Painters website is one of the best examples of small business website design having a very user-friendly, well-organized navigation bar.
Service-Based Architecture:
The small business website design should be based on who your target audience is. If you want to sell products online, then you need to have all the essential features of an eCommerce website.
While designing a website, the focus should lean toward a better user experience rather than over-the-top visuals. Heavy design elements can distract your visitor’s attention and also slow down your site.
Here are three design principles that every general-purpose small business website design must follow:
=> Mobile responsive design
=> User experience optimization
=> Effective Call-to-action
Example: Native Union
Native Union has all the features essential for a small business website with a mobile responsive, clean design, effective call to action tempting visitors to take the desired action. Service-based architecture provides an excellent UX for their target customers.
Aesthetically Appealing Home Page
As your website is the digital face of your business, it should have the potential to impress visitors within the first 10 seconds after landing on your website. Because within that 10 seconds more than 90% of visitors make an immediate decision about you and your brand. So, A good small business website should not leave scope for guessing, it should have the right pitch and aesthetically appealing visuals and other essential elements (logo, promo message, tagline, and more) to clearly convey what’s on offer as soon as a visitor arrives.
Example: Entrance
Entrance is the real estate business website, which puts standout photography at the center of its website design. With a horizontally sliding deck of images that take over the whole screen, it makes sense that the website uses amazing unobtrusive white typography. Websites’ sleek, professional layout is such that will stop visitors in their tracks.
Easily Accessible Contact Details
Accessible contact detail not only allows your customers to reach out to you quickly but also helps them identify you as a legitimate business. Depending on your services, you can place your phone number, email, address of your physical location on every page.
To make your contact detail accessible:
=> Use a separate contact Us page with a contact form.
=> Place all your social media account links at the footer of your website to boost social sharing.
Example: La Vara
La Vara is a financial service provider, their website and contact us page is a good example of how you should present your contact information.
Mobile Responsive Design
As the number of mobile searches surpasses desktop searches, over 60% of visitors prefer to open websites on their smartphone devices. So it now becomes essential than ever before to have a responsive web design for small business websites.
Example: Andersson Wise Architects
Andersson Wise Architects uses photos to display their skills, which is natural for an architect’s website. In their desktop version, the menu is small and unobtrusive and the homepage immediately makes it clear what the studio is known for.
In its mobile device, the menu shifts to the top of the screen. The images shift one below another, making this website easy to use no matter the device type and sets a great example of responsive web design.
Robust CMS and Backend Infrastructure
Managing a website can be a hassle, but a good CMS can make it very easy to update and make small changes to your site all by yourself. Choosing the right CMS is one of the most crucial steps for your website’s performance.
Small business website design company provide customized CMS in their website design packages which are designed specifically for your business. You can ask your web design agency for the same.
Example: VC Living
VC Living is a wholesale furniture seller having a B2B eCommerce website powered by customized CMS. It’s straightforward to upload new products, manage inventories, and track sales with the customized CMS.
Add Social Proof
In this competitive era, winning customer trust is another important battle to fight, where social proof is the more effective tool. Social proof is an essential part of any small business website design. 85% of customers consider social proof as one of the most trustworthy factors as personal recommendations. So, your business website design should highlight elements like customer testimonials, reviews, client videos, awards.
Example:
Premier Painting is a painting company’s website that utilizes social proof very well. How well, they highlighted client testimonials on the home page. Their website set a great example of how a small business should present its social proofs and get the most out of it.
Analytics and Conversion Tracking
Integrating appropriate conversion tracking tools to the backend of your small business website will let you answer these questions easily.
=> How many people are coming to your website?
=> Where are they coming from?
=> Are they potential customers or just random surfers?
=> How long are your visitors staying on your website?
=> Which pages are getting the most visits?
=> What is their termination point?
Monitoring your website performance and optimizing it based on your customer behavior data can easily put your small business ahead of its competitors
SSL Certificate
Having an SSL Certificate makes your site more trustworthy. If your site doesn’t have an SSL certificate, Google Chrome will show a “Not Secure” sign beside your site URL. It will not only create a credibility issue but also lower the SEO ranking of your website. After getting an SSL certificate your site URL will change to HTTPS. SSL is used to ensure the security of user data, the data transmitted between your visitors and your server will be encrypted.
How Much a Small Business Website Design Cost?
The cost to develop a website varies depending on the features of the asset including its size, functionality. The average cost of a small business website may range between $2,000 and $15,000.
But If you are expecting more complex and feature-rich websites then it will obviously cost you more. Some small business website design companies or digital agencies also provide small business website design packages of different ranges, you can check them as well. It’s better to talk with a web design company about your requirements to get an accurate figure. Here we have factors affecting your web design cost.
Factors Affecting Your Small Business Website Design Cost
=> Domain registration
=> Website hosting
=> Security certificates (SSL)
=> Site design
=> Number of web pages
=> Added functions
=> Content management
Professional website designing services can help your business by creating attractive, engaging, and functional websites. The average cost of a website designer is well worth the investment as a professional business website enables you to recoup your investment many times over.
Conclusion:
A business website is the online home of your brand — it should give at least an insight into what you sell and why your company exists in a very easy but effective manner.
The most effective small business website design can influence site visitors into making a purchase or relationship with the brand.
Above Highlighted essential components for a small business website will certainly help you while coordinating with your web designer and let them clear what are your expectations from your business website.
Wondering What your small business website should look like?
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