I am often approached by businesses looking to redo their small business websites design with a \u201cminor upgrade\u201d or they are requesting a \u201csimple\u201d website.\u00a0 Well, the definition of \u201cminor\u201d and \u201csimple\u201d is always relative.\u00a0 Most of the time, \u201csimple\u201d really means \u201cnothing too busy\u201d, which is a good approach to creating a web strategy.<\/p>\n
Most small business owners believe upgrades are simply aesthetic forgetting that there are many business principles that need to be considered when creating a small business website design.\u00a0 First and foremost, your website is a sales tool and it must be integrated into your overall business and marketing goals.\u00a0 If you can grasp this, then developing a small business website strategy becomes easier.\u00a0 In the end, you want a visitor to your site to translate into a sale, how they do that, is how well create your web strategy.<\/p>\n
Your website is your 24-7-365 sales person.\u00a0 So, I\u2019m surprised how the simplest design-principles and content-management practices are overlooked.<\/p>\n
In the end, neglecting your website means you are neglecting potential customers.<\/p>\n
Do a quick audit of your website to test and see if these 5 principles exist.\u00a0 If they do, you\u2019ll have a better chance of keeping visitors on your site and converting them into a sale.<\/p>\n
Make your contact info plainly available to the site visitor.\u00a0 Depending on the look-and-feel of your site, the location can be in a few different spots, but generally speaking, above the fold is a good start.<\/p>\n
Make sure all of your hyperlinks are linked to a page!\u00a0 Broken links are the most annoying thing for a site visitor; you will lose customers because of it.\u00a0 Test your site often and make sure all links work as promised.\u00a0 There are many free sites that offer dead-link check-ups.<\/p>\n
Make sure your page load time is fast.\u00a0 Load time is the time it takes for your page to load and for the site visitor to see all the content, usually in seconds.\u00a0 Poor load times are great excuses for site visitors to leave your site.\u00a0 On average, site visitors wait 4 seconds for the page to load before clicking away.\u00a0 The biggest contributor of load times is large image files, ideally keep them under 20Kbs, but between 20-50 Kbs is acceptable.<\/p>\n
Make sure your content is up-to-date.\u00a0 Information you provide your site visitor needs to be relevant and updated; otherwise, they\u2019ll find another website that will give them what they want.<\/p>\n
Make sure your font-styles and colours are consistent with your company\u2019s brand guidelines.\u00a0 More and more, the trend is moving away from your website being an open canvass to illustrate abstract colours and graphic art.\u00a0 That\u2019s not too say it shouldn\u2019t be creative.\u00a0 It needs to be consistent throughout the site to make it easy for the site visitor to navigate.\u00a0 At the most<\/span><\/strong>, you shouldn\u2019t have more than 3 fonts and distinct colours per page.\u00a0 Otherwise, you\u2019ll distract the site visitor from your content.<\/p>\n
![\"Reality](\"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Logo-R.png\" "\\"Logo-R\\""){kind=logo}
<\/a>Reality Business Consulting (RBC)\u00a0 <\/strong>(www.realityconsulting.ca) is a Toronto Web Design and Small Business Marketing Company that helps small businesses grow by designing profitable, creative and practical small business marketing plans and web marketing strategies, including WordPress small business website design. Having already successfully co-founded a technology and eCommerce company, as the principle of Reality Business Consulting, I understand the challenges and needs of a small business.<\/p>\n