Effective marketing strategies can be the difference between success and failure for small businesses, so creating a website is essential in order for your startup to be taken seriously and distinguish itself from competitors. So, here are some essential website tips for start-ups and small businesses.

Your business needs a design that is both professional and memorable and this can be a tricky balance for your designer to achieve. Luckily there are some things you can focus on which can help the process move smoothly.

1. Look good

This might seem obvious but people tend to have short attention spans so how good your website looks will influence how long prospective customers will spend on your site. Consider your presentation, if you’re unsure check out your competition to see what you’re up against and use professional creatives to ensure that your customer’s first impressions are great ones. Keep your website design and structure simple to help it to load faster.

2. Clarity

Focus on announcing your business quickly and clearly and provide all key information to make it easy for the customer to get in touch. Make sure they know who you are, what you do, why and how they can contact you and when.

3. Call to Actions (CTAs)

Your page should have a clear objective and make it easy for the customer to know what to do next. Call to actions are the buttons you want your prospective customer to click, such as the sign up or buy now buttons. Make sure these are easy to find on the page and have your designer use design techniques to draw the eye to them.

4. Responsiveness

More than 50% of traffic is generated through mobile phones now so it is important that no matter what device they are using, your site should be displayed correctly and people should be able to get in touch easily.

5. Online presence

Marketing is key when it comes to your online presence. Make sure your website is SEO friendly by making it easy to read, navigate and maintaining design and consistency. Have a promotions strategy by using social media and SEO campaigns and make them work for each other to drive traffic to your site and engage them with relevant content.

6. Local catchment

Target your local market before you target the world. Use your content and updates to refer to the area you’re in and let everyone locally know what you’re doing. This relates back to SEO and social media – make the most of your local target market by building an audience online.

These days it’s easier than ever for small businesses to have a website. Websites increase your visibility to new and current customers, verify the existence of the business and enhance customer experiences.

So if you’re a startup looking for a new website, get in touch with our experienced, knowledgeable staff by calling 0208 44 44 757 or email us via the Contact Us page.