How to Build an Effective Small Business Website
Building a smart, effective small business website begins with investing the time to know what to do and what not to do. There are a multitude of different areas where companies make common mistakes, including inserting too much text, a bad visual design, poor or no CTAs included, and a lack of keyword targeting. Every site is going to go through growing pains, yes, however you can save yourself time and money by getting to know the basics.
#1 – To Hire a Web Designer or to Do it Yourself
The first step to building a small business website is to decide whether this is something you want to attempt on your own or if you choose to hire someone else. Cost is a big consideration, as web design expenses can add up quickly if one does not where to spend. The unfortunate reality is that most of the business owners who try to do it themselves end up not producing the results they have the potential of having. Be it a simple site or something more complex, hiring someone ensures you get experience and knowledge on your side. Also – and this is a biggie for many business owners – it saves time. Keep your focus on running the business and oversee the larger decisions when it comes to your website, letting someone else do the heavy lifting for you.
#2 – It’s Way more Work than you probably think
Even with the most experienced of web designers, there’s always something unexpected that will eventually rear its head resulting in more time and effort having to be dedicated to a website. By having outside help on hand, you can literally save hours of your time trying to work some of these issues out. Even better, by hiring a web design company or a single web designer, they should be able to point you towards analytical tools that help in seeing where your site is succeeding and where improvements are required. The nature of having a website is one where continued improvement is a necessity.
#3 – Defining what you Need
Depending on your category of business, some elements may be more appropriate than others to include. For example, enticing, interactive graphics are not really needed for a contractor business. For a news site, including a comments section is recommended and a share bar. For an ecommerce site, product descriptions are going to be important in addition to potentially a lot of back-end work to ensure everything is running smoothly. By consulting with a professional web designer, you get their input in what is best to input into a site design.
#4 – Creating something Amazing
By constantly improving on your site’s design and conversion capability, over time, you should be seeing increases in site traffic and revenues. In today’s landscape of marketing and advertising, even in local markets, having a website and social media marketing plan is key to a business’ long-term success. No matter what category of service you are in, tap into a whole new set of customers by setting up a website and accompanying marketing plan.
In the end, creating something amazing does not happen overnight. It requires time, effort, financial investment, intelligence, and luck. In the long run though, you will be thankful you invested everything you did to get set up.
