While it’s the norm for businesses to have a website nowadays, а creative web design company will set your website apart from the competition. It’s worth doing research about the importance of website for small business and investing your time into crafting a website that facilitates an excellent user experience. Today, we’re going to show you 14 benefits of websites for small businesses.
Make a Great Impression
Why your business need a custom website design? First impressions matter, especially when it comes to web design. If you want the best chances of converting a site visitor to a customer, great visual design is crucial. You only have a tiny window of time to appeal to your viewer’s eye before they make a snap judgment. In fact, research shows that it only takes the average user half a second to form an opinion about your site – and this directly factors into whether they click off or keep reading. You simply can’t underestimate the importance of a quality website for small business.
While, ideally, every portion of your website should be designed well, there are six areas in particular that draw the most attention from users. We’ve measured “attention” based on the amount of time that site users spend focusing on each element of the webpage: the logo (6.48 seconds), the main menu (6.44 seconds), the search box (6 seconds), the main image of the site (5.94 seconds), the written content (5.59 seconds), and the page’s footer (5.25 seconds).
These figures really show the importance of a quality website for small businesses. Think of your website experience like a round of speed dating. You’ve only got a set amount of time to hook in the user – so be sure to put your best foot forward.
How can a small business benefit from a website? Would you like to see your content rank higher in search engine results? One great way to climb the ranks is to incorporate great web design into your SEO strategy. If you don’t have a well-designed site, you risk wasting all of the organic equity that you’ve been building up. So, what SEO-friendly factors should be incorporated into websites for small business owners?
One major element for business that need a website is mobile-friendliness. Google has previously made it clear that they are prioritizing mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor for SERPs. And it makes sense – over half of all Internet traffic comes from mobile devices
Another benefit of website for small business that can help you get eyes on your content is a sitemap. Search engines have to crawl and index websites before the site can show up on SERPs. By providing a sitemap, you’re telling these crawlers which parts of your site are the most important. What’s more, sitemaps have inbuilt metadata that can be helpful for getting you higher up on the results pages.
For more ways to improve your site’s SEO-friendliness, check out this list of strategic SEO decisions. There are many ways to increase your site’s SEO integration – some are simple, but others require an expert eye. This is why your small business needs a website developer that can take every detail into account.
Why have a website for your business is important? If your site is confusing, badly designed, or just plain ugly, visitors might think that you are engaging in shady, illegitimate practices and that your services are a scam. You could be offering the best product in the world, but missing out on customers because of the lack of trust. Still wondering “Do I need a website for my business?” By having great web design, your visitors will feel safe and stay on the site longer, thus increasing the chance that they will convert to a customer.
Nowadays, the majority of consumers do a quick Google search before heading out to a physical storefront. This is a great opportunity for you as a business owner who asks “Why do I need a website for my business?” to show visitors your best products and services. Be sure to accompany each one with beautiful images and lots of written details. This way, viewers will enter your physical store and already have a great impression of your products. Here are a couple of examples showing the importance of a quality website for small business, in which the products are highlighted.
As mentioned before, most consumers use their mobile devices when searching for products. Obviously, this is a big reason why your business needs a custom website design.
But what can you do to increase the number of mobile visits to your website? The best websites for small business owners have these mobile-friendly features:
Quick loading times. Visitors are 32% more likely to bounce if your page load time is 3 seconds when compared to 1 second. And, if it takes 6 seconds to load, the figure skyrockets to 106%. Don’t undervalue the importance of a good website for business and its loading time.
Easily navigable. Your site should have a clear menu button in mobile form so that users can easily work through and search the site.
Zoomable images. Users prefer being able to tap on an image and see a high-quality, zoomed-in version, as opposed to pinching the screen, so take into account this importance of a quality website for small business.
People love to make connections and assign humanity to objects – and websites are no exception. When a visitor clicks onto your website and is greeted with an inviting and bright page, they’ll have the impression that your customer service representatives are welcome and open to users. On the other hand, if your site is outdated and clunky, visitors will assume that your customer service will be aloof and won’t value their users. Your website is the digital face of your business – do you want it to be a modern, enjoyable one, or an uninviting one? That’s why your business needs a custom website design. It’s important to contract a web designing team who can craft the exact atmosphere that matches your brand’s vision.
Importance of website for small business comes with the fact that you can cover a larger audience. For example: people with disabilities. It makes sense for your website to be accessible for people with disabilities – not just from an ethical standpoint, but from a business point of view as well. The more people who can comfortably use your website, the greater your sales conversions will be. In order to account for disabilities, your website’s content should be:
Perceivable. Users should be able to use screen readers and other forms of assistive technology to help them hear and see your content.
Operable. Users should be able to interact with your site’s content without needing to use a keyboard or a mouse.
Understandable. Your website should be clear and understandable to users with the most rudimentary reading skills.
Robust. Your content should be accessible via many forms of technology.
All of these play into the importance of a good website for business designers who understand accessibility guidelines. For more ideas on how to improve your site's accessibility, see the post on the right about using alt text to improve SEO and accessibility.
To attract a large audience and turn them into real customers, it is worth paying attention to make your business always available for customers. That is a reason why your business needs a custom website design. You should always be ready to respond to customer inquiries and answer their questions. But what to do if there is no way to constantly monitor the actions of customers? You need to anticipate them.
FAQ page. Create a frequently asked questions page to answer the most popular users requests about your products and services.
Chatbot. Add a chatbot with natural language to your pages to give quick answers to the questions and complaints.
Contact page. Update the information on your “Contact us” page and add a simple filling form.
How can you increase visitors' confidence in your business? Many people prefer to trust only proven companies that have already provided their services and successfully sold goods. And how can your customers check this? By using reviews, of course. That's the importance of a website for small businesses. You can put a block of customer testimonials on your website, but make sure these third-party testimonials are done correctly:
Integrate ratings from review sites to increase your company’s credibility.
Post only real reviews. Do not write good reviews yourself in order to increase the level of customer trust.
Place them on the homepage. If you’ve worked hard to get positive feedback from clients or the press, show it off.
Why a website is important for small business? Because you can put a lot of information on it. Including the geo-position of your store or office. Describe the route to you from the nearest subway station or bus stop, or place an interactive Google map so customers can easily find you. This can be useful if:
You have a real store or office. Even if you have several shops in the area, post information or create a separate mark on the map about each of them
You hold events. If you regularly hold in-person events, it's definitely worth putting information about how you can be found on the pages of the website.
You have moved or the area is unfamiliar to your customers. Your customers won't wander around the area looking for your office if you give accurate information about its location.
Importance of a good website for business includes the opportunity to help you build a consistent brand, thus facilitating better connections with your audience. If you neglect your brand, your sales will be negatively impacted, and it could even end up affecting your search rankings. If you’re ready to start implementing branding techniques, we recommend starting with:
Color scheme (you can evoke emotions with specific colors)
Fonts (keep your font families consistent across your web pages)
Company logo (it should be easy to understand and visually appealing)
Company slogan (keep it short and rhythmic)
By focusing on improving your branding, you can see better credibility, higher visibility, and a larger rate of conversions.
One huge reason why having a website for your businesses is important is that competing websites have gorgeously designed sites. As we mentioned before, sleek, intuitive sites are the new normal. You’re going up against some of the best e-commerce websites for small businesses. So, if you are wondering “Why do I need a website for my small business that’s well designed?” – consider this: without a prominent and visually pleasing online presence, you are losing much of your potential customer base to competing services.
Another reason why your small business needs a website? If you create a website - you can offer your services not only in the region where your store is physically located, but all over the world. With the appearance of the Global Net, small business owners have more opportunities for development and promotion. Don't underestimate the importance of a good website for business.
Why your business needs a custom website design? Optimized web design can create consistency across one page and throughout all of your site’s pages. If your site has different color schemes, fonts, and tones on each page, it comes across as unprofessional – and this will directly lead to a higher bounce rate. Build up your site’s consistency to keep viewers on your page for a longer amount of time; then, they’ll become more familiar with your business, and they’ll be more likely to become a customer.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a huge number of reasons why you should have a well-designed website for your business. This list barely scratches the surface! The main importance of a good website for a business is to rank higher on SERPs, provide a more satisfying browsing experience, and, ultimately, convert more visitors to customers. Are you ready to start taking advantage of web design benefits? Reach out to Direct Line Development for the best website design experience.
Are you seeking a local strategic partner in design, search engine optimization, or mobile and web development? We can help! Our team of professionals are ready to answer all of your inquiries.
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