Search
Related Links
Small Business Website Design Strategies
For a small business a website can have a massive impact on
whether that small business thrives or dies out. There are
several very important differences between a website built for a
large business and a website built for a small business. It's
important that a small business and the website design company
who builds the website for that small business are aware of
those differences so that the website has the greatest positive
impact.
First of all don't try to look and act like the big boys. If you
are a small business please do not plaster your site with
platitudes like "family owned since 1642" or "customer service
is our specialty" blah blah. IBM and Coke can get away with
having pretty sites that blather on and on using all kinds of
corporate jargon but a small business cannot do that. Here's
why...
Big companies are already established brands. They can rest on
their laurels now; at least they think they can. A small
business website needs to grab the visitor by the throat with
some hard hitting headlines and copy and get busy proving its
case because before visiting that website it's likely the
visitor has never heard of that small business.
Think of it like a courtroom. The small business is on trial
it's products and services are suspect from the get go. That
small business needs to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that it
can provide the best value over its competitors. What's worse is
that you only have about 8 seconds from the time the visitor
hits the homepage to the time they click the back button to hook
them into your sales copy.
The number one difference here is the copy. A small business
website needs to be a life support unit for its unique selling
proposition or USP not a contestant in this year's flashy foo
foo web design award contest. Win customers not awards. Forget
the animation and music and go easy on the images. What a small
business needs is a lean, mean conversion machine.
Studies show the visitors don't even consciously register images
until after they have absorbed the copy on the page. Makes sense
because what they came for was information not the old
receptionist at the desk on the phone pictures that we have seen
over and over again. They want to know who the heck you are and
what you can do for them and make it snappy!
It's brutal but that's the way it works. A small business that
knows this and applies this to their website has a huge
advantage over those who don't. So if you are a small business
owner and need a website keep this article in mind or if you
have an existing website take a look at it and reevaluate it's
effectiveness in light of this information. Small changes can
have dramatic effects on sales conversion.
About the author:
Article is submitted on behalf of Charles Preston, who is
President of Click Response, a website marketing and design firm
where you can get http://www.clickresponse.net>affordable search engine
optimization that works.