Designing a website for your small business can be an exciting yet challenging task. Your website is often the first impression customers have of your business, so it’s crucial to get it right. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the best practices for small business website design, from choosing your domain name to publishing your site. We’ll also share examples of businesses that excel in each area to inspire you.
Step 1: Choosing your domain name
Your domain name is your website’s address on the internet, so it should be easy to remember and relevant to your business. Here are some tips:
Keep it simple: Avoid complex words and ensure it’s easy to spell.
Include keywords: If possible, include keywords related to your business.
Avoid numbers and hyphens: These can be confusing and hard to remember.
Check availability: Make sure your desired domain is available using a domain registration site.
Think cross-channel: Are you also looking to have social media accounts? A registered business name? An email address? Check if the same or similar name is available for those too so you can be aligned across all channels.
What's a good domain name?
We love Rent the Runway - the title includes keywords, clearly conveys what the business does, and has the same name across their social media channels too.
Step 2: Choosing your colour scheme and fonts
Your colour scheme and fonts should reflect your brand and be visually appealing.
Colours: Choose a primary colour that represents your brand, then select complementary colours. We recommend using the website 'Coolors' to help build out a whole palette from your one primary colour. Remember to check accessibility with the colour contrasts too (we use Colour Contrast for this)
Fonts: Use no more than two or three fonts, and ensure they’re easy to read and match your brand’s tone. If you're building into Wix, you have a lot more scope for your font choice and Google Fonts and Adobe Fonts are both great resources that offers potential pairings as well if you find a font you like. Or if you're building into Squarespace then that comes with pre-set font pairing examples you can choose from.
What does a good colour palette and font look like?
Warby Parker is a great example of a brand that users a clean, modern colour scheme and readble fonts, both of which match their brand identity. Check out their site here.
Step 3: Developing Your Website Strategy
You need to define the primary goal of your website. Whether it’s to sell products, generate leads, or provide information, your strategy should align with this goal. This goal can then help you to:
Set clear objectives: What do you want visitors to do on your site? How can you craft each page to work towards achieving this objective?
Decide your main call to action (CTA): Ensure every page has a clear CTA that drives visitors towards your goal. For example, if your primary goal is to get people to sign up to your course, you should have a CTA directing visitors to your course information page, or course sign-up, on every sub-page of your website.
What does a good website strategy look like?
A good website strategy will guide a user towards the action they want them to take. For example, the Mailchimp website is aimed at generating leads, and has CTAs like 'Sign up for Free' across every page of its' site, making it very easy for users to register for an account and begin using their tool.
Step 4: Writing your content
Your content should be engaging, informative, and optimised for search engines. Our top-tips are to make your content:
Clear and concise: Write in a way that’s easy to understand.
SEO-friendly: Use keywords naturally and include meta descriptions.
Engaging headlines: Capture attention with compelling headlines.
The right tone-of-voice: Establish what tone-of-voice is right for your brand. Are you formal or casual? Written for experts or beginners? Funny or serious?
What does good content look like?
We are big fans of Glossier. They have simple, friendly and effective content that speaks to their target audience. Their tone-of-voice is perfectly aligned to their brand, and is consistent across all channels, not just their website.
Step 5: Uploading Images
Images can enhance your website’s appeal, but they need to be high-quality and relevant. Too many images can also slow your website down, so make sure they're adding something if you include them. We recommend:
Professional quality: Use high-resolution images.
Optimise for speed: Compress images to ensure fast loading times.
Consistent style: Maintain a consistent style that matches your brand. If you're selling products, try to shoot them all on the same background or in the same style. If you're selling your expertise, consider investing in professional headshots you can use throughout your website.
What brands have the best imagery?
There's so many examples of websites with good quality images. Our favourites are Aesop, who use high-quality, beautifully styled images that give off a clear look and feel for the brand, and Patagonia, whose images all align with the brand's outdoor, adventurous spirit.
Step 6: Designing your website in a website builder
Using a website builder like Wix or Squarespace can simplify the design process. Especially if you're a small business, these website builders are much easier to maintain and update, and much cheaper to build, than a custom code website. To get you started:
Choose a template: You can buy or use a starting template that fits your business style. Whilst this may prevent your website from being completely unique, this saves you a lot of time from trying to design it yourself. Looking to stand out from the crowd? Check out our services to see how we can design you a fully custom website in Wix or Squarespace.
Customise: Adjust the templates colours, fonts, and layout to match your brand.
User-friendly navigation: Ensure your site is easy to navigate, and has all the key pages your customers would expect.
Step 7: Publishing Your Website
Before you go live, double-check everything to make sure it's ready.
Test on different devices: Ensure your site looks good on mobile, tablet, and desktop. On both Squarespace and Wix you can preview these different device views, but it's best practice to also test on physical devices, as there can be differences between browsers (for example an Android phone on Chrome vs an iPhone on Safari).
Check for errors: Look for typos, broken links, and other issues.
SEO check: Make sure all your pages are optimised for search engines.
Are you ready?
Creating a successful small business website involves careful planning and attention to detail. But using platforms like Wix or Squarespace can help you can design a website that not only looks great but also helps you achieve your business goals. And if you want to go a step further to really make your website stand-out, then use a professional (like us!) to help craft you a custom website. Contact us today to see how we can help.