Website Design for Small Businesses

Website design is crucial for any business and dictates the first impression that customers will receive when looking at your company. A well-designed website is essential to any business and to potential customers. Website design can be defined as the customers’ experience, the graphics on your website, and the code that runs your website. When you plan out your website designs there are some general guidelines that you can follow.

A clean and minimalistic website

When designing your website, you should not overcomplicate the web page. This gives the customer a negative experience since it is not something they would enjoy looking at. Today’s users want something that looks simple to navigate and takes less time to read through, so keeping the essential things on your website is a great start.

1. Spacing out your content is a great way to keep your website clean. For example, when writing out text, don’t write long paragraphs. Write the text in short form and something a customer can read quickly. Also, use white space to your advantage this allows the reader to better navigate through information.
2. Adding images/videos to your website is another excellent way to have a minimalistic website. Photos and videos are a great way to deliver information. They also provide a visual aspect to your website. This targets other senses in customers that are more appealing than reading only text, like visual and audio experiences.

3. Call to action, make a clear statement about what you want your website to promote. If you make it clear to the customer, plant the seed in their brain about what the goal is when on your website. That could be to buy a product or sign up with your services.

Visual Hierarchy

Visual Hierarchy refers to the placement and visual aspects of your website. It is essential to guide the user’s attention towards important information on your website.

1. Your text’s size and font play an essential role as to what you want to grab the viewer’s attention first. Large and bold can play a role in titles and headings, while you can use smaller text for descriptions and comments.

2. Placement of text/photos is essential as viewers will see a photo placed right in the middle of the web page then gravitate towards outside content. For example, e-commerce websites with a product on display may want to put their product photos on the main pages, and then as viewers move down, place description text to where they can read about it. They can also be used to fill white space throughout your webpage if needed.

3. Color can play a role in a viewer’s emotions. The combinations they are used in, so make sure that you are using the right colors that work with the message you are trying to send. Color is also important to the overall theme of your brand/business. Ask others about their immediate thoughts when they first look at your main web page and adjust colors if necessary.

Readable Content

Readable content is targeted towards writing your text and the general theme you want your writing to portray. Create an easy read for your viewers, where they don’t have to put in too much attention when reading.

1. Large letter size, rather than small text this allows easy to read content for your readers. Avoid small text as that can be straining for readers on mobile devices as well as users with difficult eyesight.

2. Limit the number of fonts; overusing different fonts can distract users from reading the content and ruin a sense of uniformity when there are too many different fonts. Choose a couple of fonts that compliment your webpage.

Easy Navigation

Many e-commerce websites have a common theme as navigation among these kinds of websites should not be too different from the next. You want your customer to know where they are when navigating your website and knowing where viewers can find stuff.

1. A menu is often used especially when you have many pages and links on your website; it’s good to have this for your viewers to reference.

2. A footer is also useful as it is the last thing someone looks at when they scroll to the bottom. So leaving contact information and such can be helpful for customers to learn more about your business and where to find you.

3. Mobile optimization is one of the essential parts of a website. Today, many users will find your website on their mobile devices, so making sure that viewers can use your website on the phone is critical. A mobile-friendly website will also affect your SEO and how your website will rank when searched.

These tips provide a basic guideline on how to get started with planning out a website for your brand or business. You can find inspiration by searching another website that you align with your goals. A website is crucial because it allows you to have a presence online and reach more potential customers. Many customers learn about a customer through their websites, and a well-designed website shows a trustworthy and reliable company. To improve your website design do not hesitate to reach out to us at stratdevdigitalmarketing.com or check out other web development los angeles agencies.