Web Development is a process of creating website or implementing changes to one already existing one. Similarly, website design is the process of developing a plan for an aesthetic website, which usually requires considerable research, thought and modelling. With the surge in internet usage, the web is the new ‘front desk’ of the world’s businesses. In retrospect, web design for small business is all about a positive user experience in order to facilitate calls to action. Furthermore, web design for small business involves the structure and elements of typical websites. For example, information architecture, navigation schemes, layout, wireframes.
Target Audience
Firstly, before you delve into web design for small business, it’s only wise to understand your audience. Clearly define your target audience and their needs. Who are your target audience CEOs, common folk, engineers, teachers, or IT directors? Are they novice, simpletons or savvy consumers of information on the Internet? Yes, you may have a decent understanding of your audience, but their consumer behavior on the web could be different. Clearly defining your target audience greatly influences all other decisions you will make. Generally, it will further shape and influence your design and search engine optimization (SEO) practices.
Goals and Purpose
When defining goals and purpose certain questions will arise. How much time will it take and cost? What is the first step I’ll take to identify the actual costs and timing associated with the website? How much information do I need to collect? Specifically, the first step to getting a website is typically a comprehensive proposal of requirements by a developer/agency. They help you define your goals and target audience and sometimes include a rough site plan is included. Helping you understand the overall organization of the future site and get an idea of section and pages.
Development Process
When starting web design for a small business, there will be about 8 steps in the development process. These steps are: Planning where you decide why you want a website and what to create. Then content: which involves creating the content you want. To design which involves creating a design for how you’ll display the content. Additionally, Construction which involves writing the code and uploading your content. Similarly Test which involves making sure everything works flawlessly. Furthermore, hosting which is simply choosing a domain name and a place to host your site on the web. Likewise, publicity which involves Building traffic via publicity the site. Finally, Review which involves reviewing the site at intervals it to make sure it succeeds.
Development Activities.
Website Development involves a set of specialist activities and stakeholders. For example, the project team, which could involve a project leader, a content producer, a designer, a developer. Additionally, an analysis of project risks, dependencies and assumptions and contingencies is necessary. Furthermore, periodic meetings are necessary to make sure all stakeholders are involved and updated. Though generally the most important constraints on website design for small business are budget and time. Specifically, one needs to consider a high-quality deliverable, High speed turnaround or Low cost. A compromise has to be made, it’s quite hard having all.
Content
Particularly first-time visitors come to websites looking for information. Thus, keeping your website fresh is critical to attracting visitors and building brand credibility. Old and out-of-date content reflects poorly on your business and drives visitors from a website. Look at it this way, your website is the first impression prospects get of your small business. And in the age of the internet, customer decision support is 90% based on content and information to make decisions. Content can come in many forms such as a testimonial in video format, or an audio podcast or as simple text with a photo.
Web Testing and Analytics
Website Testing is the evaluation of the conformance of a site to agreed set of guidelines. Furthermore, it ensures your website is capable of operating to a minimum acceptable standard. Since websites compete for ranking, things like loading speed and content play a big role. Additionally, analyzing the performance of your website gives you a baseline to measure the improvements. Furthermore, view which areas are producing positive results and which areas need improvement. Similarly, keep track of visitor trends and patterns so as to know what is working and what is failing. Which pages are most and least visited.
Organic is not completely free.
Generally, a common misconception is that organic SEO is ‘free’, nothing could be further from truth. Getting your website to rank highly involves a cost, from involving a copywriter or several SEO techniques. In contrast organic SEO does has certain advantages benefits over PPC (Pay Per Click) as anyone can pay for an ad. Though not everyone can get to the top of the natural ranks. Furthermore, more people tend to trust natural rankings over paid advertisements. Accordingly, to gain a good rank you need to have great relevant content with appropriate keywords. And it’s a long game but rewarding.
Conclusion
In conclusion, having a strategy is key as it enables your design to fulfil defined goals. Secondly, have a target audience which is clear. Additionally, your goals must be reasonable and actionable. They should focus on a particular area of activity and be measurable. Furthermore, they should be achievable when involved in web design for small business. Lastly, they should Realistic and timely (bound by a timeframe). Remember as you start the journey to design a website for your small business, it’s all about impressions and information. If you desire web design for small business, do kindly contact us.