Small Business Tips: Creating Your Own Website

First Financial Bank
Even if you don’t sell products and services online, having a website for your small business may help grow your customer base. Here are some tips for creating your own small business website.

According to PixoLabo, only 64% of small businesses had a website in 2020. In 2021, about half of small businesses increased their online presence in response to the COVID pandemic, yet 35% of small businesses are unable to see how a website adds value to their operations.

Of those small businesses that have an online presence, almost 80% anticipate revenue growth over the next three to five years. Considering the current challenges facing small businesses, having a website is a necessity that is essential for survival and growth. Here are some tips for how to create a small business website.

1. Identify Your Goals and Expectations

Before you start researching how to create and design a website for your small business, take some time to outline your goals and expectations. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Do you want to expand your small business for online sales?
  • Do you want a way to stay in touch with customers?
  • Are you looking for ways to expand your market beyond your local area?
  • Do you want to increase revenue? Maximize your profits? Improve customer satisfaction?
  • What is the unique value proposition of your small business?

2. Tell Your Story

“Tell your story” is one of the best website tips for small business ventures. This is an area where small businesses have an advantage over large companies. Most small business owners start out with a personal passion or interest. Sharing this with your website visitors helps them understand you and your business on a deeper level. A well-written small business story for a website includes:

  • Information about the owner
  • Motivation behind starting the business
  • Values of business operations, as well as goods and services
  • Vision for growing the business

3. Create a Customer Journey

An effective small business website design takes a customer on a journey. Think about the customer journey of a website the same way you would as a customer coming into your brick-and-mortar location. Customers visit your website to learn about your small business, find goods and services that meet their needs, gather information, and get help from experts when they need it. When you are creating a small business website, look at the design from the perspective of a customer. Go through the entire customer journey from start to finish, and pay attention to:

  • Aesthetics
  • Customer flow
  • Access to staff for assistance
  • Ease of use for purchases

4. Be Mobile-Friendly

Your small business website needs to be mobile friendly. In today’s world, everyone has a sophisticated piece of technology in their pocket. The average user will only wait three seconds or less for a website to load on a mobile device before moving on to another website. Your small business website design needs to load quickly on desktop and mobile devices. Work with a web design professional to ensure that you create a mobile-friendly website for your small business. You can also find resources online that help you build an attractive website on your own, using CMS software (aka: “Content Management System” – the type of software that you use to build a website – like WordPress.) There are also easy website builder software like Squarespace that work like putting together building blocks that have already been designed and you pick the colors, fonts and which blocks to include.

5. Share the Most Relevant Information First

On average, website visitors spend a little more than two minutes on a site. You have a small window of time to capture their attention, engage them to learn more about your small business, and motivate them to purchase your goods and services. When you are designing the home page of your small business website, put the most relevant information first, such as your unique value proposition. You want to share enough information to get people interested, but also make them curious about your company.

6. Show “Behind the Scenes”

Once you attract customers to your small business website, the next step is to keep them coming back. Adding products and services may help, but giving them a “behind the scenes” look at your operations is another way to do this. It’s as easy as sharing photos and short stories of your normal workday and processes.

7. Learn About SEO for Small Businesses

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a website design concept that helps you get found on Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines. Today, Google is the big gorilla in this search engine world, so you’ll want to build to meet their requirements. SEO is as much an art as it is a science, and the various search engines often change up their algorithms to rank websites. Work with an SEO expert to ensure that your website is designed to rank within the top search results. Here are some basic tips for SEO for small business websites:

Grow Your Small Business

Creating a website for your small business is more important now than ever. With a little planning and preparation, you may be able to attract new customers, increase your revenue, and expand your market space.

Want to learn more about a small business who uses their website to drive more business? Check out this article. Want to chat about your plans to expand or launch your business? Give us a call at 800-562-6896.

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