A website works much like a storefront in the digital landscape. In the same way a brick and mortar retailer would need to offer an appealing layout, convenience in navigating the store, and of course be easy to find – your website must do all the same and more. Deciding what the best website design will be for your business depends on a number of factors including the type of product or services you offer, and possibly even more important SEO optimization. Here are a few things to consider when creating your website design.
Before you get exciting and begin to brainstorm website design ideas, you’ll first have to need to find a place to put your website, i.e determine where you’d like to host your site. You’ll also need to research and secure a domain name. To determine the best possible web hosting site be sure that the platform offers the following:
- Storage: If you’re an ecommerce site with a large number of images you’ll need a lot of storage space. Even business professionals like realtors that will feature both photo and video footage will need to consider storage when creating their own real estate website design.
- Bandwidth: Be sure your hosting plan includes adequate bandwidth if you’re expecting heavy traffic.
- Storage: If you’re an ecommerce site with a large number of images you’ll need a lot of storage space. Even business professionals like realtors that will feature both photo and video footage will need to consider storage when creating their own real estate website design.
- Scalability: Should your online traffic spike, would your hosting provider scale your hosting services to accommodate for the increase? If not, your site could experience a crash.
Content Management System
If you’re willing to invest the time and are looking for a good website design site that offers flexibility and customization, consider using a content management system (CMS) like a WordPress website design site. A CMS allows you to update the content on your site without having to learn code or any advanced design principles that are best left to the professionals. There are also hundreds of WordPress tutorials and support networks to help you along as you go about building your webpage.
Content
After selecting your website building platform it’ll be time to start adding content. The type of content you need will depend on your goals for your website. For instance a law firm website design will likely feature blog posts consisting of legal advice, while a restaurant will need to feature menu items, opportunities to make reservations, and reviews. The content on your website might change as your business evolves, but some standard content that all websites should feature are the following:
- Your tagline – a description of your business in one simple sentence
- A call to action – This can be a sign up form or buy button.
- List of Products/Services
- Contact Information
- Content Matters
Your website copy should feature useful and accurate information regarding your business. Be sure that the text is clear and the language is natural and appropriate for your business. Once you have all necessary information detailed on the site, be sure keep your information updated and revised as necessary. When it comes to images don’t go overboard. Too many images can increase your page load time which will cause users to leave your site.
Website Design
Design for SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. A website with a healthy SEO score will rank higher in results from search engines like Google.
Although it may not seem like SEO is important in small business website design it can be a great way to increase your organic traffic. In designing a search engine optimized site be sure to do your research on keywords. You can do this by utilizing keyword finding tools. A word tracker is a keyword research tool that pinpoints relevant databases that will help you grab the attention of prospective audiences.
Less is more
To design a website that looks professional it should be clean and easy to navigate. Decide what information is most important to your viewers and focus on accurately conveying your message on the home page. Additional information can be placed on other pages and linked to the main page. Be sure that the site isn’t too busy and detracts from any important information or calls to action that you want your users to notice. Your message should be obvious and clear within the first 10 seconds of the user viewing your page. Limit the colors on the site to only those associated with your brand.
By keeping these basic principles and strategies in mind you’ll be able to create a strong web presence. If in the course of designing your own website you decide that you’re not up for the task, hiring a website design company is always an option. Call today at 713-287-1134 to learn more about our company and receive a free initial consultation from one of our project managers.
