Don’t get trapped by overthinking all the little things for your small business web design. Too often, folks try to cram so much information on the front page of their site, that they forget to do the 2 most powerful yet straightforward things necessary to get more visitors to your page, and more customers from those visits.
2 Small Business Web Design Must-haves
Doing the necessary technical things–like javascript minification, using a CDN, or sitemap xml–to make your site run smoothly are important. There are 2 features every small business web design’s home page needs–but so many fail to have–that will set them apart from their competition.
1. Tell Your Visitors What You Offer
Too many websites fall into the trap of telling people too much right away on their home page. A small business’s home page needs to succintly and unambigously tell people exactly what they offer.
Let’s try this challenge:
Go to Google and search for “web design agency near me”. Now, go to a few websites and take a look at the first things you see on their webpage. Chances are most of them will have mesages like
- “Full Service Agency”
- “Experience Innovation”
- “Interactive Web Design”
Can you tell what those agencies offer from tag lines like that? Not in any concrete way, no.
The Good
Perfect Recall is a great example of a clear message. They tell us right away what they offer: “Share important parts of your Zoom calls, as bite-size clips”. The message is clear. The phrase is not ambiguous. I know instantly what Perfect Recall does.
The Bad
Air has an ambiguous message: “Collaborate Creatively.” There are dozens of collaborative products–why should I choose Air? A clear tag line like “Manage your brand content so you can focus on creativity” would be more effective.
Don’t be ambiguous. Don’t be wordy. Don’t use imprecise terms.
Tell your visitors exactly what you offer.
2. Tell Your Visitors What They Should Do
You’ve told your visitors what you offer. Now you need to tell them what to do with that offer!
Your web design needs a clear message, a clear call to action, an obvious button that definitively tells them the action they should take.
Let’s go back the “web design agency near me” search you did earlier. How many of them had buttons with these phrases on them?
- Get Started Now
- Let’s Chat
- Contact
- Work with Us
Quite a few, right? Probably most of them. But those are directionless calls to action! What does “Get Started Now” mean precisely? Does “Let’s Chat” mean a phone call… or a chat window… or an email form? When you “Work with Us”, are you going to meet them in person… or have a zoom meeting… or just get a quote via email? None of these actions leave your visitors with an understanding of the exact action they should take.
Let your customers take decisive action. Make it clear the exact action they should take! That’s why these calls to action are much more effective:
- Schedule a Call Now
- Make an Appointment
- Buy Now
- Download Our Free Checklist
Don’t allow your client’s thoughts to wonder what your call to action means. Let them know exactly what needs to be done!
Don’t Confuse your Visitors
The first message your small business website communicates to visitors needs to be clear and succinct. They should NEVER be left wondering what your business does, or what action they should take!
