If you’re looking for small business web development help, look no further. These tips will help you with your business’s web development strategy.
Having a website is important for any small business owner, but there are a few that are behind on the trend. A website for a small start up could help make or break a business.
Far too many small businesses fail five years after launch. A lot of these problems can be traced to weak cash flow or not having enough customers.
A lot of people rely on the internet to make buying decisions. Not having a website means you could be missing out on attracting more customers to your business.
Small business web development doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, and the results you get from having a site will be more than worth whatever you spend.
Small Business Web Development Basics
As a small business owner, you wear a lot of hats throughout the day. You may be busy with other management concerns, but now it’s time to learn a bit about marketing yourself online.
You don’t need to take a course in graphic design or HTML to have a decent website. As long as you follow a few principles, you can have a great site that can attract new customers.
Ready to make a stellar website? Let’s start with what you need to know to have a site you can be proud of.
Have Your Visual Assets In Order
Having a well-designed and visually appealing website is crucial in small business web development. Your website is going to be the first thing a lot of people associate with your business, and you need to make a good impression.
Your logo should have a strong presence on your website. Including it in the header or footer of each page is a good way to incorporate it into the site. Having it link back to the home page can also help with navigation.
Ideally, the website’s coloring should match your logo. A website and logo that share similar colors can help with branding. If you want to go in a different direction, go with colors that compliment the logo but don’t outright match it.
Adding pictures of your business and products are also a must. If you want to have a professional looking website, consider having a professional photographer come in to take pictures.
Think About Layout
Website design has gotten a bit more nuanced since the days of one-page websites. You need to put thought into where content will live on the site, and how it’ll be displayed.
Having a good navigation menu can help ensure that people are able to find their way around your website. Be sure to make it visible at all times, and consider making a “sticky” nav that can follow people while you scroll.
You should also try to keep your pages as clean as possible. Pages with a lot of text and pictures are difficult for people to read, and can slow down loading times.
When you’re formatting text and laying out the rest of the site, it’s important to try to keep things as scannable as possible. People don’t have long attention spans, you’ll need to grab their attention as soon as you can.
Consider Content
When people land on your site, you’re going to need to give them a reason to stay. Compelling content can help pique people’s interest in your website.
Don’t just focus on giving them store hours and contact information. Help them learn why they should choose to do business with you.
Tell them about the founding of your company and the ideals you stand for in your about us page. Weave in sentences about your long standing expertise and devotion to quality in your business description.
Blogging is also a great way to bring people to your site and share good content. Think about how your industry expertise could help a website visitor, and write an informative blog post.
You should also know that content doesn’t have to be limited to text. Videos, infographics, and event audio are all great forms of content.
Don’t Forget Different Screens
When most people think about small business web development, they think about making a desktop website. Desktop sites are important, but they aren’t the only way people will look at your website.
A lot of people use mobile devices to go online, and the sheer amount of screens they could be looking at is astounding. Someone may be looking at your website on their smartphone, someone else could be using a tablet or iPad.
Having a website that’s mobile responsive will ensure that people can properly access your content regardless of what they’re viewing it on. It can also help with SEO rankings.
Google views mobile responsiveness as an important factor in ranking websites. If their bots don’t see your site as optimized for mobile, you could show up less in search results.
Don’t neglect your mobile customers when you delve into small business web development. Make sure to have a mobile version of your site people can easily access and navigate.
Incorporate SEO
Search Engine Optimization (otherwise known as SEO) should be an important part of your website development process. Designing your website with SEO in mind can help ensure that customers find you and that you rank well in search.
Incorporating SEO into your small business web development strategy can be simple. There are a few small things you can do with content that can help boost your rankings.
Make sure to use keywords in your content, and to also put them in H1s and H2s when it’s appropriate. Only use keywords then they make sense and don’t overuse them, overuse could lead to keyword stuffing.
It’s also helpful to interlink content when appropriate. Mention other products and services in your content and link to them when you can. These methods are simple to do and can do wonders for SEO.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, small business web development can be easy when you approach it the right way. Now you’ll know what it takes to make a great website when you start to make your own.
If you’re ready to start building your website, be sure to contact us so we can help.
