Website Designer for Small Business: 5 tips to increase your impact

Having a high-performing website for your small business is really important.

You put so much work into your small business, you want this work to be reflected online. Your website needs to be doing you justice and wowing your audience.

As a website designer for small business clients, I often see a disconnect between the standard of the work someone does in their small business and the standard of design that represents this business – specifically website design.

Website design is so powerful in creating the correct perception of your business.

What a website designer for small businesses actually does

The majority of clients I’ve worked with over the years are small businesses so I want to give you an insight into what I actually do.

Years of website design expertise

Having over 7 years of experience as a professional web designer, I worked on all kinds of different projects with different requirements and functions. So I’ve come across lots of different technical requirements. Small businesses who work with me have a trusted partner that they can hand over the often scary tech stuff to. This frees up their minds and lowers their stress levels, so they can focus on their area of expertise within the business.

A website that is designed to stand out

As well as being a website designer, I am also a brand designer. This may seem like a small detail that you can take for granted, but it has a huge impact on how I design my clients websites and what their results are. Whether you have your branding done already or you’d like to work with me on it too, I have a very strong eye for design details and make the most of every visual aspect of my client’s websites.

Having strong branding implemented throughout your site is the difference between creating an instant emotional connection with your ideal clients or blending into the sea of your competitors.

Creating an emotional connection make your website (and therefore your business) memorable. Blending in can often lead to you having to compete on price to be seen as a positive choice.

The brand and website I designed for my clients Fiona helped her double her revenue in her second year of business! Check out all the details here.

5 website design tips to increase your impact:

In the 5 points below I go into detail of what I recommend most small businesses improve on their websites.

1. Make your website stand-out from your competition and become memorable

Maybe you’re thinking…

• But what does ‘stand-out’ actually mean?
• How do I implement ‘stand-out’ in my business?
• Is ‘standing-out’ going to actually make a difference to my business?

The best and most under-utilised way to stand out in any industry, in my opinion, is to invest in your Branding Design.

This might be something you’ve heard before and tried to avoid, but hear me out. Branding Design encompasses every visual aspect of your business and ensures that you have a unique visual look that expresses your brand ethos and values.

Since Branding is so powerful and takes time to get right, it is a big investment that small business owners need to consider. Once you’re ready to step up to the next level in your business, getting Branding that is right for your business and your website will take you such a long way.

Check out my past client’s experience of improving her branding and how it helped her book more ideal clients here.

2. Make buying from your website easy

Sometimes all it takes is a pair of outside eyes on your site to highlight to you that the buyer journey for your customer on your website isn’t actually as easy as you think.

A strategic website designer will easily be able to spot unnecessary hoops you are making your customer jump through. People are busy and if they are impressed by your business they want to be able to buy from you as quickly as possible.

This isn’t just for product-based businesses, it also includes service-based businesses. For service-based businesses, you want your clients to be able to make a buying decision on your site as quickly as possible. This means making it as easy as possible to book a consultation call or take the next steps with you.

Don’t be shy on your website…

When I’m working with a small business on their website, I often hear them say things like:

• “I don’t want to be too pushy on my website”
• “I would like the design to be really minimalist and subtle”

I approach this dilemma that a business owner might be having by reminding them that the most important purpose of their website is to sell their business.

If you’re going to sell your business anywhere, sell it on your website!

I understand the impulse to not want to be too ‘salesy’ or ‘annoying’ on their website, but if you go too far the other way you may as well ask people to leave your website and buy from someone else.

It’s all about getting the balance right and making your customers lives easier. You’re not forcing people to buy from you by having clear calls to action in important areas of your site for example, you’re making sure the right people will be even more inclined to engage with your business because of how hassle-free you made the buying process. Remember that!

3. Encourage people to stay on your website

If people aren’t encouraged to stay on your website, they simply won’t. We need to capture your audience’s attention quickly and keep it.

This is achieved first of all by breaking down the content of each page of your website into different sections. This means each paragraph of text or topic will be clear and easily digestible for the site user.

Capturing and keeping someone’s attention isn’t about throwing every piece of information about your business at them the second they land on your website. This will only overwhelm them and this is the last thing you want.

The best things to do are:

• Break down content into clear sections
• Make each paragraph or topic easy to scan and digest
• Prioritise the most important information first
• Guide users to explore the website more with clear calls to action
• Help visitors move naturally from one page to the next

A great example of a website that does this really is my client kanso.ie. Check out this blog post where I break down the decisions that went into building a brand that gets booked by global clients.

4. Get email addresses from your website’s window-shoppers

No matter how easy you make the buying decision on your site or how engaging it is, there will always be a large percentage of people who are merely curious about what your business provides and are not ready to buy yet.

This is nothing to worry about and happens in every industry. The key is to be prepared for this and capitalise on window-shoppers curiosity. The most effective way to do this is to collect their email addresses.

You will have come across the idea of an email list while you’ve been brushing up on your marketing skills. There’s a lot of talk about them for a reason.

It’s a great way to be able to directly reach these people again, without the will of an algorithm in your way.

Also once someone subscribes to your list (in a GDPR compliant way of course) you ‘own’ this information in a way. Unlike how a social media glitch or crash might mean you lose followers, you will have access to your email list’s contact info no matter what email marketing platform you move to.

I usually suggest my clients set up a free account with Mailchimp, if they currently don’t have an email list and they want to start somewhere. With a free Mailchimp account, you can set up an email to go out to a new subscriber when they sign up.

This is where I attach the freebie/lead magnet/reason you give someone to sign up. This can be anything that you think will be helpful to your audience and move them one step closer to becoming a customer.

Freebie/Lead Magnet examples for your website

• Pdf How-to guide
• Mp3 recording of something helpful. Think of it as a mini podcast episode
• A video – it could be a tutorial or a detailed walkthrough of what to expect when working with you

5. Show your credibility on your website

Like I mentioned before, I don’t want you to hide your light under a bushel. This isn’t going to do you or your small business any good!

• Go back into your emails and Instagram DMs/comments and gather all the positive feedback you’ve ever gotten from customers.

Get permission to share them publicly and do just that, share them publicly!

When your website designer asks you for testimonials for your website, you’ll be ready to go. They’ll have more than enough testimonials to sprinkle throughout the site in strategic places, to easily sell what you have to offer.

Also if you have been gathering Google Reviews for your business, even better! It’s great to have reviews on a public platform like this that also helps improve your Local SEO.

Maybe a site like Trustpilot or Tripadvisor makes more sense for your industry, but whatever it is share it with your website designer so they have the option to share some if not all of the best things people have said about your business.

The next steps for your small business website

Go back to the start of this blog post and use it as an example to analyse your own website. What do you think strangers who come across your website would think of your small business?

It doesn’t have to be a scary job (although I know it can feel that way), it will just highlight what improvements you need to make. And hopefully, with the rest of the information I’ve shared, making improvements to your website will be clear and easy.

If you’re ready to work with a professional website designer and are interested in having a chatting with me, you can book a free call here.

Looking forward to hearing all about your small business!