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The 4 fantastic fundamentals of a stunning small biz website
Posted by Kelly Nguyen
Last updated 28th September 2018
reading time
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With so many options on the market from downloadable themes to completely customised designs and build, it can be confusing when knowing what to focus on to make your small business website a success.
Even when you've made a choice on a starting route, you'll often find a mismatch between price, quality and speed.
We know that breaking things down into manageable chunks is always helpful. We'll explore the 4 fundamentals of what makes a great website design process for growing businesses.
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The 4 fundamentals to rememberYou are not a designerYou are not a designer
Or at least it’s not likely you are!
Although there is variety in design online and a number of tools that promote endless layers of design flexibility, it is important to remember design for business’ sake. This typically means getting a good balance of creativity and consistency if you are looking to generate business from your website.
Often, the struggle is between “What design do I like best” and “What design is right for my customers”. Being courageous and ready to test out different variations of designs (even those that don’t conform with your personal preference) can help you reach more customers when you get it right. This step can be harder if you are working with a web design company who may charge for each design route you want to test.
Finding a way of applying your brand (typography, colours, styling choices) in a way that makes good business and marketing sense can be difficult. We tackle this challenge directly in our platform so that regardless of which design route you take, your brand isn’t lost in the process.
You are not a developerYou are not a developerAnd if you are not, you’ll probably need to rely on the experience of a professional website agency or platform (or maybe both).
There are things to consider with your website code and you may want to ask your development partner about how they manage the important factors:
- Speed (how will you get my website to load fast)
- Security (how will your prevent against attacks and hacks)
- Scalability (will my website work as my business grows)
- Support (how will you provide help when it’s needed)
A well-built website should cater to both humans and search engines alike, and provide a seamless experience from when you create web pages to when a customer sees them on a computer or mobile device.
No-one knows your business better than youNo-one knows your business better than youWhich is why even if you’re not the most creative writer, the first attempt at content should always come from the members of your team who know the business (or the respective parts of it) best. Your website should be an extension of what you’d say to customers face-to-face, so it seems natural you start the content process internally.
Once you’ve jotted down your ideas, even if in bullet point format, you can then pass these on to a copywriter to add a little marketing magic to what in essence is a well-structured foundation of your business.
We’ve seen great success for small businesses who even voice-record what their business is all about i.e. their services, their history and approach to delivery. This way of working is even preferred by some copy specialists who can base the content they create on more than just words, but also the tone of voice and passion you’ll portray when explaining things.
Your website is so much more than a brochureYour website is so much more than a brochureYour website should serve many purposes but just being a repeat of your printed flyer is not one of them!
When you treat your website like a member of your workforce, you’ll start to see positive gains. Using landing pages and CTAs to boost sales and marketing efforts, a careers manager as part of your recruitment process or even a common questions section or live chat as a means of customer support – the possibilities are endless.
The most successful small businesses have websites that:
- pull in traffic from various sources including search and social media
- generate enquiries on the site via an effective use of forms, CTAs and landing pages
- close more business by offering sales education content and automation to nurture leads
- boost user happiness via tools like an FAQ manager, live chat and social monitoring
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Are you applying the fundamentals?
Do you feel your website takes into account the foundations mentioned above? Is there any area that you could work on improving to boost your online business success?
We'd be delighted to hear your thoughts on what may be working well for you and how you've applied the fundamentals to your own business - reach out with a comment below.
Kelly works in our Customer Success team. She brings a wealth of marketing and web experience to the table which she uses to help Sites Done Right customers get the most out of using the platform. Outside of work, Kelly loves travelling and reading.
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