Good website design can influence customers to stick around and make a purchase, whereas poor design can drive them away from your brand permanently. No matter the size of your budget, you can level the playing field with larger enterprises by utilizing the eight web design best practices featured in this whitepaper. Download the whitepaper now and discover the eight essential elements that comprise a professionally looking small business website.

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8 Best Practices for Small
Business Web Design
Level the playing field with larger enterprises by taking your online
presence to the next level with these eight strategies.

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Why Focus on Web Design?
Businesses today must have an
online presence. Websites are a marketing
necessity for most companies today and are
an essential platform for informing customers
about products and services offered. They also
provide businesses with the opportunity to
share messages and generate sales.
71% of enterprise purchase decisions in
the U.S. begin with research conducted on
a search engine1. 89% of consumers turn to
Google, Bing or another search engine for
information prior to making purchases2.
Your customers are demanding you have a
website and online presence, no matter if
you’re selling to businesses or consumers
directly. Whether your business has an out-of-
date or under-performing site, or you’re
considering launching a new website from
scratch, you need to make sure you’re focused
on the best practices for your small business.
Your website’s design says a lot about your
business and brand. It can influence customers
to stick around and make a purchase or request
more information, or it can drive them away. To
level the playing field with larger enterprises,
consider these eight best practices for your
small business.
1. “Digital Influence Index,” Fleishman-Hillard, 2012.
2. .”How Marketers Will Respond to More Intelligent
Searches Will Determine Their Success,” DAC Group,
2011.

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Hire a Professional and Employ Easy Navigation
Not all web design companies are created
equal. Even companies with a wealth of
experience may not be a fit for your goals or
business. Many sites today are built using a
content management system (CMS) which
allows for easy adding, editing, and updating
without extensive knowledge of HTML. Small
businesses looking to have a truly dynamic
design with great functionality should consider
hiring a professional.
40% of users will abandon a web page if it
takes more than three seconds to load3.
64% of shoppers who are dissatisfied with
their site visit will go somewhere else to
shop next time.
A professional web design company or creating
a custom website in a popular CMS can help
you create a user-friendly site that isn’t too
flashy or difficult to navigate, for both the user-
end and editor-end.
Easy navigation needs to be a focus. As the
stats above show, a slow load time or a poor
site experience can drive customers
elsewhere, including to your competitors.
Creating a site on your own may lead to over-
design, under-design or a less than stellar user
experience.
Today’s consumers demand a fast, engaging
and secure online experience. Whether your
small business is looking to open an e-
Commerce store or build a branded website to
showcase the services you offer, make sure you
spend a good deal of time focusing on the user
experience, from visual design to navigational
flow.
Can a new customer or first-time visitor to your
site find what they are looking for within three
seconds? A professional web design firm that
has worked with businesses similar to yours, or
with companies with similar goals, can provide
you with site navigation setup guidance and
recommendations. Areas on your site that
should be easily found via your homepage are:
• Your “Contact Us” form
• Your “About Us” page
• Your products/services offerings
• Your blog, if applicable
Have your website professionally developed,
then ensure maintenance of the site is being
taken care of. You’ll want to edit and update the
page often to keep it current; make sure you
work with the designer so that you’re able to do
so without much difficulty.
3. “eCommerce Web Site Performance Today,” Akmai, Aug. 2009.

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Keep Customers Happy: Opt-Ins and Interruptions
Interruptions from pop-ups and opt-
in email-newsletters are unlikely to keep
customers coming back to your small
business’s website. While banner ads and
email newsletters often provide valuable
information to users, e.g. trending news or
related products, too many can negatively
impact the customer’s experience. Limit the
interruptions and you could begin
experiencing more conversions. Some
downsides to pop-ups are:
• Interrupting and disturbing content
readers,
• Pop-up subscribers tend to have lower
engagement,
• Possible negative branding.
However, pop-ups aren’t all bad. With the right
techniques, filters and offerings within the pop-
up, these can prove valuable in increasing
email subscribers and profits. Banner ads and
email subscribe requests need to be
targeted, simple and easy to exit.
Another possible interruption that could appear
on your site are auto-play audio tracks and
videos. Many prefer not to have a business site
auto-play the media they feature.
Even if a user subscribes via your pop-
up, it doesn’t mean they want to be opted-in to
all your company email messages. Relevant
content delivered at the right time, whether it’s
through on-site optimization or an email, is a
must.
Limit and test your use of interruptive
promotions, such as email pop-ups and banners,
and avoid un-targeted, opt-in email
segmentation.

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Consolidate Strategies and Reporting Channels
Your content, SEO, site optimization and social
strategies should be consolidated into your
overall web design and user experience
strategy. SEO (search engine optimization)
should be a part of any company’s online
strategy and so should social media. Featuring
icons or text that showcase to users where
your business can be found online can keep
the conversation between those customers
and your business going.
While strategy integration may not seem like
much of a challenge, consolidating your
reporting channels likely is. Businesses want to
be able collect, process and analyze, and
distribute the data they are able to collect
through their website.
As you build out your website, make sure you
have a discussion about how data will be
collected and reported. Your web designer
should be able to help you set up a Google
Analytics profile or show you where you can
find data within the CMS you’ve chosen to use.
Big Data isn’t a problem for you to get your
hands on if you set up the collection strategy
and process right from the start. If you’re
redesigning a website and not setting a brand
new one up, determine whether or not you’re
past data results will still be available and
whether or not the same strategies will work with
the new website you’re business is developing
and designing. Organized data and
consolidated reporting channels are a must and
can’t be ignored during website design and
development.
Small business owners spend 3 hours per
week on managing company websites, blogs
and social media accounts4. 33% of midsize
businesses currently use and 28% plan to
use BI solutions, among small businesses,
just 16% currently use and 16 % plan to use
BI solutions5.
Web analytics can help you determine what
content on your site and what elements of the
design are keeping customers coming back and
which are driving the customer away. If you
spend more than those 3 hours per week
optimizing your site and online presence, think of
the advantage you’ll have over competitors.
Having business intelligence and web analytics
tools can help you make better decisions about
what to feature on your site and even what to
feature in stores. As you design a website for
your business, make sure you’re taking into
account the data collection and analysis
opportunities.
4. “Small Business Survey,” Intuit, Nov. 2011.
5. “2011 Small and Medium Businesses Routes to Market Study,” SMB Group, Sept. 2011

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Integrate Customer Contact Points
As mentioned on the previous page, your
strategies should be consolidated. In doing so,
you may find that your customer contact
points, from the “Contact Us” form to your
Facebook page, aren’t integrated as
seamlessly. Customers prefer connecting with
businesses through a variety of methods such
as:
With the customer experience at the forefront of
your web design considerations, take a look at
the chart on the left. Your website design can
impact the quality of the customer service you
deliver. Your site content, online assistance
capabilities and social presence are all elements
to take into account with the design of your small
business.
Integrating these points of contact and
making yours readily available for interested
customers are key components of a successful
web design.
Many larger companies offer social sign-in
for users on their site or live chat and
support for customers visiting their website.
Consider the points of contact your
customers will have with your business and
how you can incorporate each into the
design of your small business’s website.
Remember, not all vendors will be the best fit for
your business. Knowing which elements are the
most important, from SEO to data collection, can
help you rule out providers. If you want to
integrate customer contact points, make sure
you include where customers can reach you
online and through social media at the very
least. Live chat and web assistants often call for
a bigger budget.
Better Human Service
Integrate More Channels
Enriched Content
Web Assistants or Avatars
Other
Support Social Communities
• Blog posts and on-site content
• Social media networks
• In-person interactions
• Phone conversations
The Most Requested Customer
Service Improvement from
Customers6
6. “The Cost of Poor Customer Service” by Genesys Global Survey, 2009

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Summary
These eight best practices for small business web design
can help you level the playing field with larger organizations.
Focusing on the user experience and the data your business
can gain from a strong design are great places to begin your
redesign. Before you move forward with a website design
project, you’ll want to consider how often site content will be
updated, how many pages and sections you’ll need, your
ultimate design goals and how you want to achieve those.
Hiring a professional and/or doing research into how your
site can be the most successful is a must.
Visit Business.com for more information about web design.