Small Business Web Design and Marketing

Saturday, November 17, 2012

To the non-technical local shopkeeper, getting onto the internet with a small business web design in the first place can seem incredibly difficult but getting found online is even harder.

Because it's not just about having a website, it's making sure that your pages show up on Google and the other search engines for the search terms that best reflect your product or service.

So, you need to find out what your potential customers are typing into the Google search bar and then you need to make sure that there are pages on your site which position those words in the places that the search engine spiders can see them.

Header tags, metadata, alt tags are the main places that the bots sent out by Google and the other search engines will be looking for the clues that tell them what your website is all about so these must be completed with care as it is very tempting to keyword stuff.

But that's just making the page search engine friendly. It's not much good having a page full of words that only the spiders like, you have to think about the visual experience of your reader too. Because they're not just a reader, they're a potential client.

Use the right words in the correct order and they will be picking up the phone to find out more or even buy straightaway.

So you have to look at your website and give it an audit. Ask yourself four questions:

What is the first thing that will jump out at any new reader?

Is the content interesting enough to not only keep them on your site but also to encourage them to click on the other pages to find out more?

Is it patently obvious what service/product you are offering and the benefits that it can provide?

Is there a clear Call to Action (CTA)? An instruction to buy now or learn more with an easy to read phone number so they know exactly what to do?

The most beautiful website in the world is absolutely worthless if no one knows it's there or, if they do get there, they cannot work out what it's about or what they're meant to do.

Concept, Content, Call To Action, Conversion

Of course, it doesn't end there for the small business, web design and on-page SEO are just the things you can see - they deal with the content. The search engines decide the relevance of your website to the search term by analysing Activity and Back links, so the next thing you have to do is small business marketing using social media, back linking, bookmarking and paid advertising tools like AdWords and Facebook or Linked In Ads.

These will drive targeted traffic back to your site where your clear content and concise calls to action will result in sales.

Small Business Web Design - Vital Components

Small business web design should be interpreted as a website for small businesses but not as a small website. If the website does not generate any revenue and does not serve the purpose for its existence then it can be termed as small, but not otherwise. It is obvious that even a small business would like the website to perform and generate business.

A website can only be seen and read and because of this the text content and visual contents play a vital role in the success of the website. The website can be divided into different parts such as the home page, about us page, products/services page, contact page and a page about Privacy Policies & Disclaimers.

Let us see the relevance of these pages one by one.

Home page:

This is the face of the website. Everyone must be aware of the relevance of the face in the personality of a human being. This principle is apt for web design too. For a small business investing in a website is a big investment. For assuring the return on this investment the home page should be appealing, user friendly and marketing oriented. The home page should have links that take the visitor to the webpage of his/her interest. The images and videos should convey the business the website does. The home page should be designed in such a way that the visitor feels that the web site has been designed after considering his/her needs.

About us page:

This is the page that reveals the information about the company and its management. The background of the founders of the company is presented in this page. The objective and mission of the business is usually presented in this page. This page is very important of instating the trust in the organization. The visitors usually like to know the persons behind the business and want to be assured that the company exists in the real world and not just virtual.

Products/Services Page:

This is the page that is crucial for generating business. A website without this page could be considered a body without any arms. This page should clearly state the products and/or services being offered by the website. This page should clearly mention the features and price of the products or services offered. At times the embedding of images is mandatory because studies have proved that visual content is more effective than text content especially for converting the visitor into buyer.

Contact Page:

Would you trust as person or business that does not have a physical address? The answer should be negative and this is what that has big impact on the mind of the prospective buyer. Not mentioning the physical address, phone and email address gives a chance to the prospective buyer to doubt your identity. Do not let this happen especially when the success of your website is dependent on the trust of your buyers.

Privacy Policies & Disclaimers Page:

Every website is subject to the rules and regulations of some or the other country. To be legally safe one needs to have page about Privacy Policies & Disclaimers.

Copyright © 2011

Small Business Web Design

To make a small business a complete success in the online platform may be a challenge, but nevertheless prove to be a major success in the end. However, for that figuring out the right combination of design, technology and services is essential to put up a company's website, which is the representative of a business in the online market. Only a professional looking website with an aesthetic design, informational and engaging content, easily downloadable pages and user-friendliness of the site can create trust about the business in the minds of the visitors and eventually, build the company's reputation.

Here is a list of certain online tools related to small business web design, which is a must have. These tools make the upgrading tasks for a website way easier. From adding new pages to changing the design and updating the code of the site, these tools perform a whole range of useful tasks.

Firebug with Firefox

The combination of Firebug and Firefox is very useful. It helps in improving a website's code with greater ease, be it HTML or JavaScript. It can also quickly improve CSS and image handling. Fire Bug converts Firefox into a real-time editor and code analyzer web page and allows the site admin to change the code and also, view them in the browser instantly. This saves time that otherwise goes in refreshing the browser for every new edit in the code. If some additional plug-ins can be installed then speed bottlenecks and other such loopholes in the site can also be well analyzed and fixed.

CSS3 Generator

For those, who do not like typing codes, this is a very useful tool. This online tool lets the coder create real time CSS3 effects. All the coder needs to do is copy the CSS code that is generated in the website own pages and then paste it. Even someone who is new to CSS can create effects like Border radius, text shadow, multiple columns, box shadow and transitions with ease. Moreover, replacing slow-to-load images with CSSS3 makes the website faster and this also improves the SEO. ColorZilla Gradient Generator another tool similar to CSS3 which mainly works on colorful, flexible and artistic gradient backgrounds.

Design-a-web page

This is an online platform for designing web pages. It takes the site's content to convert it into professional, SEO optimized landing web pages. All these are automatically handled and this also includes the underlying PHP, performance, HTML, CSS and web hosting. The tool can be used for free trial for 7 days.