6 Key Steps to Building a Website for Small Business
A small business website is essential for communicating with customers and building brand recognition. It can also help you nurture leads and close sales.
However, creating a great site can be challenging, especially for a small business owner who doesn’t have much experience or a lot of money. Luckily, some beginner-friendly website builders are affordable and easy to use.
- Identify Your Goals
Identifying the right goals for your website is essential to bringing in traffic, increasing sales and growing your reach. Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based.
A common website goal is to increase online traffic, which helps businesses grow their customer base and boost brand recognition. It also enables them to market to potential clients who may not otherwise know they exist.
In order to meet this goal, businesses must be sure that their websites are easy to find and use. They can accomplish this by making their sites search engine optimized and optimizing their content for keywords related to their small business.
- Create a Plan
The first step to building a website is to determine its purpose. This can be done through a simple questionnaire or by taking a deep dive into your business’s goals and needs.
Once you know the goal of your small business website, it will be easier to decide which features are essential and desirable. It will also help you to determine what you need to do to achieve those goals.
- Design Your Site
Designing your website is a crucial step in building your online presence and attracting new customers. Your site should be intuitive, easy to navigate and visually appealing.
To help you get started, here are some key tips for designing your site:
- Choose a theme or template that supports your business goals and style preferences.
- Create a menu:
A navigation menu is a great way to connect all the different pages on your site. It also makes it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for.
- Add Content
One of the most important aspects of a successful small business website is providing your customers with a user friendly experience. This includes making sure your site is mobile friendly, but also providing users with the information they need to make informed decisions. In addition to a well crafted site, there are numerous tips and tricks that will help you get your message across in the most effective manner possible. For instance, you could design a mobile app that will allow your team to communicate seamlessly with customers on the go. The best part is, you don’t need a technical background to get started!
- Create a Mobile-Friendly Site
One of the most important things you can do when building your website is to make it mobile-friendly. This will ensure that your site is easy to use on a mobile device, and will help you reach a wider audience.
A mobile-friendly site is one that adapts to different screen sizes, so users can view your content on a phone or tablet without having to zoom in or out.
It’s also important that your site loads quickly on a mobile device. This will give consumers a better experience and allow them to browse more thoroughly.
There are several tools available to test your website’s mobile-friendliness. Many are free and quick, making them a great addition to your testing process.
- Test Your Site
Website testing helps identify any issues that could affect your site’s performance. It can also help prevent your site from falling prey to hackers who can harm your business.
One way to test your website is to use free tools that offer speed tests across browsers, locations, and connections. Uptrends is a popular choice, and it’s free to test your site’s speed on desktop and mobile devices.
Website speed has a direct impact on how your customers interact with your site. A slow website will lose visitors and hurt your search engine rankings, which can result in fewer clicks and sales.