10 Essential Tips for Successful Website Building and Design

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For small business owners, mastering website building and design is essential. Today’s consumers tend to evaluate a business’ web presence before deciding to patronize it. In other words, you need a strong website.

Don’t worry if you’ve never designed one before. The following website design tips will help!

Business Website Design Tips: How to Make the Right Impression on Customers

Choose a Website Builder

Creating a website for your business doesn’t need to be an intimidating task. Because most people don’t have website design experience, many small business owners create their own websites with website builder tools such as Squarespace or Wix.

Research your options to find a website builder that’s ideal for your needs. Because different website builders offer different features and have different pricing plans, you may want to test out a few via free trials to find which one you’re most comfortable with.

Optimize for Mobile

Did you know that mobile internet browsing has been more popular than desktop browsing for several years now? Account for this when making website design choices.

A page that functions reliably and looks visually appealing on a desktop computer might not have the same impact on a small phone screen. Before launching your business website, test out both the mobile and desktop versions to confirm both offer a pleasant and intuitive experience for your potential customers. In addition, when choosing a website builder, look for one that allows you to create a mobile version of your site.

Consider Branding

Your business’s brand is the unique identity that sets it apart from the competition. A brand may consist of many elements that might appear on your website. Examples include (but aren’t necessarily limited to):

Your color scheme
Typography
Logos
The tone and language of your written content

Ensure every element of your business website is on-brand. To achieve this goal, you’ll need to use a website builder that allows you to customize color schemes, typography, and other such elements.

Create a Map for Your Business Website

A website that offers an ideal user experience doesn’t merely look pleasing to the eye. It’s also easy to navigate.

Be aware that research shows people tend to leave websites relatively quickly when they’re unable to find what they’re looking for on a given site. To guard against this, create a site map before actually beginning to build your website.

A website map is essentially a plan for all the pages your website will consist of and how they will link together. For example, at the top of your website map, you may have your homepage, along with a description of the content that your homepage will feature. Below that, one of the pages might be a services page, which describes the general services you offer. This page can link further to several pages for specific services.

Drafting a website map is like writing a script for a video project: Take the time to get it right first, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time in the long run.

Focus on Minimalism

Don’t make the mistake of bombarding website visitors with too much visual stimulation on any pages of your site. Instead, use formatting elements (such as headers, bullet lists, etc.) to break up your content, and use images strategically instead of overwhelming a visitor with images. Focusing on minimalism will help you design a site that’s reasonably easy for a customer to read.

Look Closely for Errors

Most of the advice here applies to general “big picture” website design choices. However, it’s also important to pay attention to all the small details.

Specifically, keep an eye out for typos and other such errors. Even a seemingly minor mistake can give a lead the impression that you don’t run a professional operation. On the other hand, if all your content is error-free, you’ll be more likely to convince a guest that you are a professional who offers quality products and services.

Include CTAs

You may want website visitors to take certain actions depending on what pages they visit. For example, if someone visits a product page, ideally, they would purchase the product described on the page. Or, if they’re on a services page, they would ideally contact your business to schedule a consultation at the very least.

Every time you design a page for your website, think about the action you want a visitor to take. Design a call to action (CTA) accordingly.

A CTA should be an easy-to-spot element that encourages guests to contact your business, place an order, etc. Include cats wherever appropriate and design them to stand out while still matching your branding.

Maintain a Relatively Consistent Layout

The exact layout of one page on your website may not mirror that of another. For example, a page describing one of your products may contain sections that your homepage won’t necessarily contain.

That said, to the best of your ability, the general formatting of your pages should remain consistent. This will help you further cement your brand and ensure a pleasing experience for someone navigating your site.

Make Contact Information Easy to Find

Frontload your contact information on any relevant pages. You don’t want to lose a potential customer simply because they couldn’t find out how to get in touch with you. Generally, you should strive to include contact information in various strategic sections of your website.

Improve Your Website With Video Content

Your website doesn’t merely need to consist of written content and still images. You could also include video content when it makes sense to do so.

To return to a previous example, perhaps there are pages on your site in which you describe your products. You could easily enhance such pages with videos showing how these products are used. This may make a stronger impression on a lead. Be aware research has shown that video content is very effective at capturing and keeping an audience’s attention.

Website Building and Design for Small Business Owners: A Key Priority

Your business needs a website in the digital age. Keep these website design tips in mind when creating your site, and your odds of making a positive impression on everyone, from new leads to longtime customers, will be much greater!

Generate Video Content for Your Website With Powtoon

Just as you don’t need website design experience to create an attractive website, you don’t need video production experience to produce impressive videos for your site. Powtoon makes video production easy and affordable thanks to templates and other features. Sign up today to get started!

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Hanna Abitbul

Hanna is Powtoon's Content Marketing Strategist. She joined Powtoon as a copywriter in 2019, after graduating from university with a specialized degree in marketing and business. She continues to inspire people to create incredible video content with blog posts, videos, guides, and more. Hanna's passions include reading, singing, and caring for animals (#proudvegan). Nothing makes her happier than waking up to her two black kitties who, contrary to popular belief, are good luck!