A multi-year trend shows the percentage of offline Americans continues to shrink, down from 48% to 11% between 2000–2018. Not having a website, or worse, having a poorly designed website, means not reaching 89% of Americans.
As an entrepreneur, a website is one of the most affordable and powerful marketing tools at your disposal. Here’s what goes into good website design.
Must-Have Elements of Good Website Design
Own Your Domain Name
A significant error that small business owners make is assuming that they can save money by using free online website builders. It’s tough for potential clients to take your business seriously when the web address is attached to a host. For example, you’re a finance expert, and your URL is www.financeguru.freesitename.com. Further, an email address of financeguru@hotmail.com is not going to inspire the same confidence as john@financeguru.com would. Your own URL and email make your business look professional and trustworthy.
Catch and Hold Attention
Your website has to capture and hold a reader’s attention in 15 seconds. Therefore, you should focus on:
- Minimal text – enough to convey the message, but not so much that the message is overwhelming or repetitive
- High-resolution graphics – improperly placed, blurry graphics or stock photos that don’t convey the message will distract and annoy your readers
- A user-friendly interface – make the site easy to navigate, with a ‘contact us’ form on the site instead of just an email address, and on-site e-commerce if applicable
Encourage Return Visits and Social Sharing
Having a blog is one of those website elements that far too many small business owners overlook. Not only does your blog keep you connected with your target market, but it also gives them a reason to keep coming back to your site.
Your blogs should be optimized. When posting regularly, you rapidly increase the number of keywords on your site, which ranks it higher on search engine results. Your blog should also be well-written and engaging with social buttons so that readers can easily share your blogs.
Move with the Times
Websites from the 90s were groundbreaking at the time, but we consider them to be internet fossils now. The bright colors, rows of dancing animations, and line after line of text worked back in the day, but times have changed.
Technology has improved the way websites are created, so anyone relying on what worked for them when websites were first created, or even what worked five years ago, is getting left behind. Your site must evolve to keep pace with visual and UX experience trends.
Work with Outreach Digital Marketing and get a free website review. We’ll let you know how your website is holding up against today’s standards.
How Outreach Digital Marketing Helps
Outreach Digital Marketing offers a free evaluation 
of your existing website. Learn what is working for you, and what is working against you. Our web development team has years of experience in what makes a website stand out from its competitors. Contact us today and put our expertise to work for you.