Website for Small Business: 10 Things to Keep in Mind

So, you have finally decided to launch a website for your small business?

That’s really great because over 2 billion people purchased goods or services online in 2020. Online sales also surpassed 4.2 trillion US dollars worldwide during the same year.

Launching a small business website, however, can be somewhat intimidating  for business owners who are taking their first steps with technology. Being the leading website design firm in India, we have decided to help.

In this blog, Techosquare will share 10 tips and ideas to keep in mind while setting up a website for your small business.

Here they are:

#1 Keep it clutter free

Prospects of many small businesses have crumbled under the weight of cluttered websites. Overly-busy design elements and lack of structure are the major reasons behind design clutter. Such websites make it hard for visitors to know where to look or what to interact with.

A small business website design should be simple yet captivating. It should come across as professional and trustworthy. Use ample negative space and keep away from the clutter of too many icons. In short, keep it neat!

#2 Make it mobile friendly

Mobile devices account for more than half of web traffic worldwide. To be precise, smartphones produced 54.8% of global website traffic in Q1 2021. You know what this means? Having a mobile-friendly website can help your small business reach a wider audience.

Ask your designer to build a responsive website for your business. Make sure it adapts and rearranges automatically when viewed on smartphones. A responsive (mobile-friendly) website also helps rank higher on search engines.

#3 Build a nice showcase

Great companies are built on amazing products and services. And amazing products and services get more attention and recognition when showcased impressively. Since modern consumers make an opinion about most products within a few seconds, make sure that the first impression is a memorable one.

Keep these tips in mind to showcase your small business and services:

  1. Use high quality photos
  2. Write ace product and service descriptions
  3. Categorize logically
  4. Use 30-60 second clips for introduction 
  5. Integrate customer reviews 
#4 Make it load quick

Gone are the times when slow and steady won the race. 2021 is all about ‘fast’. 47% of consumers expect a website to load in 2 seconds or less. More than 40% of people abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.

What’s surprising, your Google ranking will negatively get affected if your website speed is really slow. We suggest small businesses follow these tips to increase a website loading speed:

  1. Enable compression
  2. Optimize CSS, JavaScript, and HTML code
  3. Reduce redirects
  4. Remove render-blocking JavaScript
  5. Improve server response time
  6. Optimize images

Use Google’s Page Insights tool for performance check. If your rank is low, ask your designer and developer to pump it up.

#5 Follow Hick’s law

We bet a lot you guys have heard about the Hick-Hyman law. For those who haven’t, Hick’s law states that the more choices you present your users with, the longer it will take them to make a decision. Didn’t get it? Imagine choosing a candy flavor between 6 options and then between 24 options.

You will most probably struggle picking up a candy flavor among more variety than one with less variety. The same goes for your small business website. You can boost your conversions simply by limiting the choice you give to your users. To do that, follow these tips:

  1. Reduce the number of menu items
  2. Limit form fields
  3. Focus on call to action
  4. Only display social buttons for networks you are active on
  5. Stick to one goal per page

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#6 Keep it simple

Hans Hofmann, the famous German-born American painter, once said, “the ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that necessary may speak.” Team Techosquare believes that he’s 100% right. A simple, highly prototypical website design reduces the noise that gets into the working memory of your visitors.

It allows them to remember the important aspects such as guarantees, prices, images, and offers. Ditch the sidebar and root for single-column design. Use 2-3 color palettes for your website. Abide by plain yet familiar design tropes and layouts.

#7 Use proper domain extensions 

From the heading, you might have guessed what this point is going to be about. And you might have this question in your mind - does it really matter what domain extension we use? To a certain extent, yes, it does matter! It is used to assign a category or country code for a website.

For example, “.com” in techosquare.com is the domain extension and it signifies that our website is for commercial use and global in nature. You can use country-specific domain extensions like .uk, .us, or .in if you are a small business thinking of targeting local customers.

Country-specific domain will raise the confidence of website visitors and assure them that they are at the right place.

#8 Implement website maintenance plan

A website maintenance plan is as important as regular servicing for your car. Just like a visit to the service center helps you enhance the performance of your vehicle, a website maintenance plan will help you operate your website smoothly and make it run at its full capacity.

  1. Confirm that all your webpages are loading flawlessly without errors
  2. Ask the developer to take store backups
  3. Make updates to website software and its plugins
  4. Routinely check performance of contact and inquiry forms
  5. Run security scans to keep away malware and hack attacks.

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#9 Create and publish premium content

Content for a website is what crispy meat is to your Big Mac. Content is crucial to the success of any small business website and critical to attract visitors. It can also help you convert visitors into customers.

Although there is no secret formula for writing premium content, these are some tips that can help you improve quality of your website content: 

  1. Write a head-turning headlines
  2. Create a hook that grabs readers attention
  3. Focus on at least one key message
  4. Write in a unique voice
#10 Go for scalability

One of the factors that your website’s success depends on is scalability. Opt for a website technology that doesn’t limit expansion for your small business website. A scalable ecommerce website solution like Swiftkart can support expansion to match the pace of your growth.

Scalability makes it easy to integrate new features, undertake unique design changes, and maintain performance as you grow. It is probably the most important aspect to keep in mind while launching a new small business website!

Above are some useful website tips and ideas to keep in mind for small businesses. Keep in mind that a great website promises ace user experience and functionality, while being easy to follow at first glance. Aforementioned insights are helping small businesses make their website more effective, compelling, and profitable in 2021.

Thinking of developing a highly functional and eye-pleasing website for your small business? Schedule a free consultation with a senior web developer to discuss your goals.

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