Great small business websites have these 5 things in common

Taking the plunge to design (or redesign) your small business’s website is no minor decision. You’re spending a significant amount of money, and you’ll be putting in a significant amount of your own time & effort ensuring that everything from the interface design to the content is “just right.”

But how do you know that the end result of the effort and expense will be something you’ll be proud to show your current & potential customers?

Here are 5 of the biggest factors that the best small business sites have in common. Make sure your site covers these bases and you can be confident that it’ll help your business rise above the competition.

The best small business websites feature…

1. A professional, strong logo

   We’ve conducted an extensive scientific survey and according to our results, there is a very strong chance that you – yes, you – have a bad logo. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the majority of small businesses we encounter have a logo that is screaming, crying, nay, begging to be replaced. Bad fonts, bad colors, meaningless generic icons, dated visuals, drawn on a napkin… there are a lot of ways a logo can go wrong. But the great small businesses, especially the ones who successfully grow their businesses through their online presence, have invested in high quality, professional, custom logo design. Their logos are memorable, unique, and eyecatching. They make smart use of color and space. They show creativity and thoughtfulness in their designs. Their typography and visuals don’t date them. They listened when someone told them “less is more” and also listened when their web designer said, “no, your logo should not be any bigger.”

2. High quality original photography

   Great small business sites understand the power of visuals and eschew the use of stock photos – especially cliche stock photos (if we see one more businessman handshake photo, we’ll hurl). Original, professional quality photography is worth its weight in gold. It gives your brand personality & humanity, connects authentically with users on a more personal level, and makes a lasting impact that keeps your business top-of-mind and distinguished versus your more forgettable peers. Users know stock when they see it – and then they tune out and forget what they’ve seen… often forgetting where they saw it in the process.

   The majority of clients we serve are located in the Lehigh Valley PA and NJ, and the good news is that there are a wealth of talented, reasonably priced photographers in the region who can shoot your location(s) and staff and give you a huge visual advantage over your clip-art addicted competitors.

3. A local SEO program

   If you’re going to develop a site without a plan to actively market it, put the money towards magic beans instead. It’ll be equally effective. No web initiative should be undertaken without allocating an ongoing (and adequate) budget towards promoting the site online, with the goal of drawing quality visitors who will submit qualified inquiries. The most effective small business websites partner with a guru (like us) who uses tools like Google Local, Google Plus, content marketing, online PR, link building & more to build the site’s reach – starting locally & expanding geographically to encompass the business’s service area.

4. A clean, intuitive web design

   Call us biased, but this is a deal breaker. Many small business sites suffer from being overly cluttered, confusing to navigate, difficult to read, and/or difficult to get in touch. They use cookie-cutter templates, overly complicated designs, dated design features, or boring text formatting. But the best small business sites are smarter than that. They use clean layouts with great use of color and visuals, great legibility, eye-catching text formatting, and easy-to-navigate site menus. They prioritize their messaging and provide clear paths for users to engage with the site and ultimately take action.

5. A mobile-optimized experience

   At this point, you really can’t live without it. But it doesn’t have to cost a fortune or be astonishingly sophisticated – even if your mobile site is only a single page that caters to a mobile user’s priorities, that’s OK.

   The important thing isn’t just that the design is optimized – the point is to optimize the content and organization of the site for the mobile user too. Your mobile visitors may have very different desires and priorities compared to your desktop/laptop visitors. If you run a widget store, your traditional users may mostly use your site to find out detailed information and specs on all the widgets you sell, whereas a mobile user may be far more concerned with where your store is, and whether it’s open right now.

   So put yourself in a mobile mindset, determine what matters most to your mobile visitors, and find a way to give the, the red carpet treatment – even if it’s done on a shag carpet budget.

If your site can claim each of these with confidence, rejoice! You are awesome and deserve a moment to bask in the glow of our adoration.

But if your site has a few holes on this list, give us a shout. We’d love to help bring you to the next level.