Tips for Building a Small Business Website

The number one rule for building a website should be Keep It Simple. You should have a website that looks professional and has useful content. When planning and building your website, put yourself into the shoes of a potential visitor. What do they need to know about your business? What do they not need to know? Is the website easy to navigate? Will visitors immediately know what kind of products and services you offer?

Avoid building a cluttered or home-made website. If your website doesn't look professional, it may give people a negative impression of your business. Many small business people try to build their own websites to save money. But a free website may hurt your business image. Or they may pay a web designer who doesn't do a nice design. The best websites tend to be both simple and attractive. They will often consist of:

• A masthead - this is the area at the very top of a webpage. It often consists of the company name or logo, a slogan and maybe some images.
• A navigation area - navigation should generally be right under the masthead or on the left side. Avoid putting navigation anywhere else because this is where people expect to find it. Avoid doing complex multi-level menus. They can be very hard to use.
• Text area - this is where you should put your text and images. Don't put too much text on the homepage. Put enough to give visitors a good idea of what products or services you offer. But don't overwhelm people with text. Put in one or more high quality images.

Avoid textless splash pages or flash intro pages. Splash pages are highly graphical intro pages. Designers love them because they get to be creative with them. Flash intro pages use Flash animation. I dislike these kinds of intro pages because they force visitors to do an extra click to get what they want. They may be an annoyance for some. Flash pages may load quite slowly, so it may take several seconds before people get an Enter Website link. It is like you have created a barrier to entry.

It is fine to build a homepage that is "fancier" or more graphical than your other pages. But don't use a splash page that doesn't contain text about your business. Many visitors will not click past your homepage, if they don't immediately know what kinds of products or services you offer.

Be concise and write short paragraphs. This will make it easier to read or scan through your pages. Using bold text and bullets will often make reading easier. Don't use promotional type language. Write in an informational style. Make sure you have a lot of white space or empty space around your text. Clean pages are easier to read.

When writing content, ask yourself what do my visitors really need to know? This should include information that will avoid unnecessary inquiries. If you are a landscapes designer and you won't do jobs that are less than $5000 put this on your website, so that people don't waste their time and yours with a telephone call. Also think about what visitors really don't need to know. Unnecessary content will just clutter your website.

There are online services that allow you to build and host your website. If you are very computer literate and have decent design skills, these website builders may work for you. Look into monthly costs. Depending on these costs, it may be cheaper in the long run to hire a web designer.

Finding good web designers may be difficult. Ask around and see if people you know can recommend someone. If you can't get a referral, you can look on websites like craigslist.org. Check the portfolio on the designer's website to make sure you like their work. Get multiple quotes. Ask for a contract, so you know what you are getting into.

Be careful about being too demanding about the look of your website. Many designers will do much better work if you leave the design up to them. After all, that is their area of expertise. A good designer will know a good and effective design from a bad design.