Small Business Website Design Tips

Have you recently visited a website that just frustrates you? Too busy, too much going on, can’t find the right link and the content doesn’t help? To avoid making the same mistakes many business owners make with their hastily build pages, consider the following tips for website design and functionality:

1. Content of Value – every page, all the time. Review your website and  write down the 2-3 most important things of value the page offers to your site visitors. Then, get ride of everything else that confuses the message. The goal is develop each so it is useful and interesting to your target audience.
2. Testimonials are an excellent mechanism for demonstrating your credibility. And, on the Internet you only have a few seconds to establish it. Make sure you include testimonials and you make them visible. Also, include links back to your customers website and/or social network profile (i.e., Facebook Fan page, LinkedIn company page, etc.). You can also include a headshot  of the person providing the testimonial, if approved by your customer.
3. Avoid distractions such as blinking or scrolling test, animated GIFs or auto loading sounds. If you want to include music and other dynamic content, make a video and post it on your site. In this manner, your site visitor gets to control the experience (play or stop the video as they wish).
4. Get to the point quickly and minimize the number of clicks it takes your site visitors to view the info they are seeking. Menu design is very important here. Limit the number of items on the “top” menu; dropdowns are fine if you have a lot of content to offer. And, always include a menu on all of your pages with, of course, a link back to the home page.
5. Keep your text content under 600 pixels wide. Newspapers are printed in columns for a reason, it makes them easier to read. Also, make sure your style sheet includes adequate line spacing (know as leading) so it is easy to read quickly.
6. In general, it takes a person twice as long to read a sentence in ALL CAPS. Use it sparingly on short headlines or within a paragraph to express a point of interest to your reader.
7. Website usability studies suggest the best link color is blue; make your links obvious and consistent on every page of your website.

What do you recommend? Leave a comment with your suggestions – thanks.

Greg Magnus, Richmond SCORE
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