Major Points of the Article
How web design factors such as colour and readability can significantly grow your revenue.
Why navigation and mobile functionality is an important factor in website design for small business.
And, once the website is built, the necessity for ongoing SEO work in order to reach more potential customers in a cost-effective way.
When you start a business or have an existing one, one of the most fundamental assets you need, or have, is a website. This is a place where your customers and potential customers can see what, where, and potentially how you provide your product or service.
Previously, it was thought by many that you simply put up this website and that is it, however, that is no longer the case. Now websites can be your major lead generator, attracting and converting your potential customers while increasing your revenue and profits. Essentially, your website can add to your sales team. How great is that?
But... In order for it to be an effective website that contributes to your business, it needs to be designed well with great functionality.
In fact, in the business world, nearly 94% of first impressions are related to how a website looks. First impressions are everything!
Good Website Design For Small Business
And so here are 7 critical factors to consider when improving your website design for small business that creates revenue generating results.
1. Colour & Branding
While it seems very basic, colour is one of your most important factors when it comes to great web design. In fact, nearly 40% of people look at colour first when browsing a website and if it doesn't connect with that person, they often leave the website emotionless. Essentially, uninspired to take action with your brand.
In fact, it has been well documented that colours can inspire certain moods or feelings, so it’s important for your website’s appearance to match the mood or feelings you would like to invoke. As an example, below are some colours, their associated emotions, and some major brands that use this philosophy.
Once this is established you would want to create a brand guide for future reference for you and your team. This leads to the next factor...
2. Consistency
Within great web design is consistency, that is using the same to similar colours, fonts, and shapes. This is essentially (as mentioned above) part of your brand.
By incorporating consistency into your website, the flow is maintained and your potential customers will have a more enjoyable experience on your website.
However, if you break it, the viewer will stop... think... feel something is not right... and potentially translate that "something is not right" to the product or service you offer.
Essentially, you can lose a lot of potential sales through a lack of consistency.
3. Readability
Next on the list is readability, and while pretty colours that stand out are important, you have to make sure your website is easy to read too.
This is where fonts come in again, but also the writing style.
For example, while a small fancy cursive font may fit a store that sells antique furniture, is it readable to your average potential customer? Generally, not.
And while you want something that fits your brand, at the core of it, you have to make sure it’s functional and easy to read.
You also want to keep the language (writing style) you use pretty basic. Depending on the industry you’re in, some key terms and definitions are unavoidable, but don’t use unnecessarily complicated words when simple ones can get the job done just as well.
Add to this, the connection to SEO - Simple keywords and phrases are what people often search for in Google, which is what you want to match in order to start boosting your search rankings.
4. Navigation
Similar to readability, you need to also make sure your website is easy to use. This is a critical factor if you have lots of pages on your website.
Most, if not all, of your key information should be seen on the first screen that the user sees. Users’ attention spans are short, and they don’t like scrolling and searching for information. In fact, you have less than 6 seconds to grab the website visitor's attention, connect with them, and encourage them to stay on your website. Otherwise, they may never return.
So make the information easy and accessible for users - and if there’s too much information, make sure you guide the users to the right pages.
5. Mobile
So you’ve got your business with its brand colours, readable content, and a website that’s easy to navigate. But is it suited for mobile usage?
With phones becoming more advanced, your website also needs to be up to date. When searching for information, most people now use their mobile over a desktop, with nearly 60% of all overall traffic coming from mobiles.
This means that more and more people are using their mobile to not only search for information but also to look through your entire website on the go.
The key to making your site easy to use on mobile is the speed: if your page takes too long to load or there’s a pop-up window that the user can’t get rid of? They will leave and find another site.
Just simply check to see what your website looks like on a mobile and ask yourself:
is the layout correct?
can I navigate easily between pages?
is the font too small to read?
how else can it be improved?
6. Shareability
When you read something good, something you think others will enjoy, your first instinct is to show others, right? Share buttons do exactly that and act as helpful reminders.
For example, you can see our ‘share’ links at the bottom of this blog post for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as a ‘copy link’ button. If you have enjoyed this informative article we would love you to share it.
In fact, Linking to other websites will also help with your SEO - our next and final tip!
7. SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an absolute necessity for any business with a website as it boosts your traffic and reaches more of your potential customers.
It allows your business to get into Google’s good graces - and if done well, it will allow your business to appear above everyone else. It would be the first thing people look at when searching!
In fact, moving higher in the rankings also means moving above your competitors and gaining more market share to grow your revenue and business.
And, the opposite is also true. If you do not have an agency like ours doing your SEO, then your competitors who are using SEO will take over and gladly take your market share.
SEO is a defensive growth strategy involving on-site and off-site work, keyword research, content creation, continuous updates, link building and more... With all this in place, your traffic of potential customers will grow and is enormous.
So how great would it be to have a well-designed website that brings in more sales, revenue, and profits that allows you to grow and expand your business... If this is something you want for your business then we can help - Click Rabbit has a web design improvement service and ongoing SEO service that has created revenue generating results. To get started on yours simply schedule a time with us below.
