Establishing an online presence is important to the future growth of a small business. Doing something as seemingly simple as creating a website can bring in new customers and keep established ones loyal by allowing them to be engaged with your product. The development of a website can be as simple as following some of the do it yourself templates offered online for free or you can pay for professional web development.The choice is yours. Whichever website design method you choose, keep these four features of a great website in mind.
- User-Friendly: No website design can be labeled a success if people find it to be too frustrating to actually navigate. A simple layout is generally the best, one that consumers will operate intuitively. Websites that convert to sales are those that make it easy for a person to find exactly what they want. Part of the user friendliness of a site is how appealing it is to the eye. Jarring colors or flickering graphics make many users leave abruptly, diverting business that could have contributed to the bottom line of your business.
- Responsive Design: For those unfamiliar with this term, a website design that is responsive is one that works on any device, from smartphones to traditional desktop computers. The rate of internet use on mobile devices surpassed that of desktop devices in 2014, so a responsive design is absolutely vital. Without it, you are missing over half of your potential market.
- Quality Content: A good website always includes valuable, well-written content. Valuable means that the information is usable and relevant to the reader. It must be current and updated often in order to keep people engaged. The level of writing must also be good, without spelling or grammatical errors.
- Functionality: The most basic feature of a great website is that every part of it works. From the on site navigation to the external links, everything operates exactly as the user expects. Ensuring functionality should be common sense, but most people can easily think of an example of a website where the links were broken or parts of the site did not work correctly, proving that common sense is not common.
Website design influences the ability of a business to be profitable. Great websites really help drive sales and customer retention, so neglecting yours is damaging to your profitability. Start researching your options today on how best to create the best website for your business.