Small business owners should consider building an online presence, including a business website. A survey found that 73% of small businesses had a website in 2022 and that 86% of those without a website said they planned to build one. A strong website gives a small business more visibility and credibility – and provides an opportunity for customer engagement – all of which can increase sales.

Below, we'll explain why websites are important and how to plan, design and build a small business website that will attract customers.

What's in this article?

• Why websites are important for small businesses
  
• How to create a small business website
  

Why websites are important for small businesses

For small businesses with websites, it is easier to engage with customers, make online sales and collect data on current and potential customers. Let's take a closer look at the various reasons why websites are important for small businesses.

Online visibility and accessibility

• 24/7 presence: A website is constantly available to customers, enabling them to find and engage with a business whenever they want to. Customers expect immediate, round-the-clock access to information and services.

• Reach beyond local boundaries: A website allows a small business to reach a wider audience beyond its geographic location.

Credibility and professionalism

• Trust and legitimacy: A professional website is often the first indicator of a business's legitimacy that customers see. Potential customers might question the business's credibility if they can't find a business website.

• Security: For e-commerce businesses in particular, a professional website reassures customers that it's safe to enter their payment details.

Marketing and branding

• Controlled narrative: A website allows a business to control its narrative and brand image. It's a platform to explain the value that the business delivers, share customer testimonials, and showcase products or services effectively. Along with allowing customers to make online purchases, showcasing products and services is the main reason why companies create websites.

• SEO and online discovery: Websites are necessary for search engine optimisation (SEO). A well-optimised website increases the likelihood of appearing in search engine results, thus attracting organic traffic and potential customers.

Customer engagement and support

• Information hub: A website serves as a central hub for information about products, services, contact details and hours of operation – making it easier for customers to get the information that they need.

• Customer support: Websites can provide various forms of customer support – including live chat, FAQ or a contact form – to improve overall customer experience and satisfaction.

Sales and revenue growth

• E-commerce capability: Businesses that are selling products can add an online shop to their website. This generates e-commerce opportunities and expands the business's sales channels for revenue growth.

• Reduced overhead: Compared with a physical shop front, a website can be a more cost-effective way to reach customers – especially for businesses that don't require a physical presence.

Data collection and customer insights

• Analytics: Website analytics tools can collect valuable data on visitor behaviour, preferences and demographics.

• Targeted marketing: The insights gained from website analytics allow small businesses to create more targeted and effective marketing campaigns.

Competitive advantage

• Staying competitive: In many industries, a website is necessary for small businesses to stay competitive.

• Innovative opportunities: A website provides a platform with innovative marketing strategies for implementation, such as content marketing, online advertising and social media integration.

How to create a small business website

Small businesses that are considering whether to create a website should start by thinking about their goals for a website and what types of customers they want to attract. They then need to choose the right platform, domain name and web host. Here's an overview of how to create a small business website.

Planning your website strategy

Creating a website for a small business begins with crafting a strategic plan that builds the foundation for a successful online presence. There are several important steps to create this plan:

• Define your website's objectives: Start by defining what you want your website to achieve. Are you trying to sell products, generate leads, provide information or improve customer support? Your objectives will guide every other decision in the website-creation process.

• Understand your target audience: Know who your website is for. What are their needs, preferences and online behaviours? This knowledge will inform the design, content and functionality of your website to ensure that it resonates with your audience.

• Analyse competitor websites: Look at what your competitors are doing with their websites. Identify what works well and what doesn't. This research can inspire your own website design and functionality, helping you to stand out in the market.

• Decide on branding elements: Your website should reflect your business's branding, including logos, colour schemes and tone of voice. Consistent branding across all channels builds recognition and trust with customers.

• Plan the website structure: Outline a basic structure for your website. This includes determining the number of pages that you'll need and their purpose (e.g. Home, About us, Services/Products, Contact). A logical structure will improve the user experience.

• Set a budget: Determine how much you are willing to invest in your website. Costs can include web design, hosting, domain registration, maintenance and content creation.

• Consider future scalability: Think about how your website might need to evolve. Choose solutions that are scalable and adaptable, enabling future changes to the website size, functionality or content.

• Establish a timeline: Set a realistic timeline to develop and launch your website. This will help you to manage the project effectively and commit to a go-live date.

• Decide on DIY or professional help: Depending on your skills and budget, decide whether you'll build the website yourself or employ professionals. Each option has its advantages and drawbacks. For example, using professionals is often more expensive, but it can result in a more professional final product.

Choosing the right platform for your website

The platform that you choose for your small business website will affect its usability, scalability and overall functionality. Here are the different types of platforms, as well as key considerations for assessing them:

Types of platforms

• Content management systems
  Content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal are popular choices. They provide flexibility, a range of features and customisable options. These can be ideal for those who want to have control over their website, without a need for extensive coding knowledge.

• Website builders
  Website builders, such as Wix, Squarespace and Weebly, are user-friendly, providing drag-and-drop features and pre-designed templates. They are suitable for beginners or businesses that need a simple, visually appealing website quickly.

• E-commerce platforms
  If your primary goal is online sales, consider platforms such as Shopify, Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) or BigCommerce. These are designed specifically for e-commerce businesses, and include features such as shopping baskets, payment processing and inventory management.

Considerations

• Your technical skill level
  Your comfort level with technology should guide your choice. CMS platforms allow for a greater level of customisation, but have a steeper learning curve. Website builders are more user-friendly, but they might provide less flexibility.

• Customisation needs
  Determine how much customisation your website will need. If you require specific features or a customised design, a CMS might be a better choice. If a standard website is all you need, perhaps consider a website builder.

• Scalability
  Consider how your website might need to grow in the future. Some platforms are better suited for scalability, higher traffic and more frequent content updates.

• SEO capabilities
  Make sure that the platform supports strong SEO practices. Features such as the ability to edit meta tags, use search-friendly URLs and integrate with Google Analytics are important.

• Integration options
  If you need your website to integrate with other tools, such as CRM systems, email marketing software or social media platforms, make sure that the platform supports these integrations.

• Security features
  Security is especially important for e-commerce websites. Check what security features are offered, such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates, regular updates and backup capabilities.

• Cost implications
  Analyse the cost associated with each platform. Some may have higher up-front costs, while others might charge monthly fees or take a percentage of sales.

• Mobile responsiveness
  Customers are increasingly using smartphones for web browsing. You should check that the platform offers mobile-responsive templates.

• Reviews and testimonials
  Look for reviews or testimonials from other small business owners. These can provide an insight into the platform's reliability and customer service.

• Platform testing
  Many platforms provide free trials. Take advantage of these to explore the features and usability of the platform before making a decision.

Registering a domain name

Your website's domain name should be short, simple and easy to remember. Here's what to consider when choosing and registering a domain name:

• Choose a memorable, relevant domain name: Your domain name should be easy to remember and spell, and should also be relevant to your business. It should reflect your brand and be intuitive for customers who are seeking your products or services.

• Research availability: Use domain registration platforms, such as GoDaddy, Namecheap or Squarespace, to check the availability of your desired domain name. Have a number of alternatives to hand in case your first choice is taken.

• Select the right domain extension: While .com is the most widely recognised extension, many others also exist, such as .net, .biz and .org, as well as industry-specific ones, such as .tech or .fashion. Choose an extension that fits your business type and location.

• Keep it short and simple: A shorter domain is generally preferable as it's easier to type and less prone to typos.

• Avoid hyphens and numbers: Hyphens and numbers can complicate your domain name and make it harder to communicate verbally.

• Consider long-term branding: Think about how your domain name will fit with your brand in the long run. Changing your domain later can be complicated and can harm your brand recognition.

• Check for trademarks: Check that your chosen domain name doesn't infringe upon any existing trademarks to avoid legal issues.

• Register your domain: Once you've chosen a domain name, register it through a reliable registrar. Consider registering similar domains to protect your brand.

Selecting a web host

Web hosting services provide the infrastructure required to maintain a website and make it accessible online. Here's how to evaluate web hosts:

• Determine your hosting needs: Your choice of hosting depends on several factors, such as the size of your website, the volume of traffic that you expect to have and the level of technical control that you need.

• Understand different types of hosting:

  • Shared hosting: Suitable for small- to medium-sized websites. It's cost-effective, but it shares resources with other websites on the same server.
    
  • VPS (virtual private server) hosting: Allows for more control and dedicated resources. Good for websites that are growing or that have a moderate amount of traffic.
    
  • Dedicated hosting: Provides an entire server for your website. This option is more expensive, but it provides maximum control and performance.
    
  • Cloud hosting: Provides scalability as your website grows. You pay for the resources that you use and it's generally reliable.
    

• Look for reliability and uptime: Choose a host with a reputation for reliability and high uptime scores. Your website needs to be accessible at all times.

• Consider speed and performance: Website load time is important for user experience and SEO. Select a host that is known for fast performance.

• Assess customer support: Check if the hosting provider is able to deliver excellent customer support. A 24/7 support system is ideal, especially if you're not technologically inclined.

• Review security features: Look for hosts that provide strong security features, such as regular backups, malware scanning and firewalls.

• Evaluate scalability: Your host should be able to accommodate your website's growth and increased traffic over time.

• Compare prices: Compare pricing plans of different hosts. Be wary of hidden costs and know what's included in each plan.

Designing your website

Your website design will ultimately determine how customers perceive your website and your company. Here are some best practices for the design phase:

• Establish a user-friendly layout:

  • Navigation: Design your website with intuitive navigation. Menus should be easy for visitors to find and understand, guiding them to the information that they need.
    
  • Hierarchy: Use a visual hierarchy to direct attention towards important elements. This includes using headings, bullet points and spacing.
    

• Emphasise responsive design: Make sure that your website design is responsive, meaning that it adjusts to different screen sizes and devices easily. This is a necessity for reaching a broader audience.

• Choose an appropriate colour scheme and typography: Select colours and fonts that reflect your brand's identity. The colour scheme should be pleasing and accessible, and the typography should be readable.

• Incorporate high-quality images and graphics: Use high-quality, relevant images and graphics to improve your website's appeal. Visual elements can convey information quickly and effectively, but do bear in mind load times and optimise images for web use.

• Focus on user experience (UX): Design with the user in mind. The user experience should be smooth and engaging, encouraging visitors to stay for longer and explore your website. This includes intuitive navigation, an uncluttered layout, fast load times and clear calls to action (CTAs).

• Implement branding elements: Use your brand's logo, colour palette and style consistently throughout the website. This consistency strengthens your brand identity and helps with brand recall.

• Optimise for accessibility: Verify that your website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. This includes using alt text for images, allowing for navigation with screen readers and using high-contrast colour schemes where necessary.

• Integrate social proof and trust signals: Include elements such as customer testimonials, certifications and awards. Social proof can greatly increase credibility and trust with your audience.

• Prioritise loading speed: Test and optimise your website's loading speed on a regular basis. This includes optimising images, leveraging browser caching and minimising the use of heavy scripts. Loading speed is an important factor in user experience and SEO.

• Plan for scalability: Design your website with future growth in mind. It should be flexible enough to accommodate new content, features or functionality.

• Seek professional feedback or hire a designer: If web design isn't part of your skill set, consider hiring a professional web designer. They can bring expertise that will improve the effectiveness of your website substantially.

• Check consistency across pages: Each page on your website should have consistent design elements. This uniformity creates a cohesive look.

• Involve stakeholders: Seek feedback from various stakeholders, including team members and potential customers, to verify that the design meets the needs and expectations of a wider audience.

Creating strong content

Interesting content will draw potential customers to your website, enticing them to buy your products or services. Here's how to create strong content:

• Create content with your brand voice: Develop a consistent brand voice and tone that resonates with your target audience. Whether it's professional, friendly, informative or casual, infuse this voice into all of your content.

• Focus on your audience's needs and interests: Write content that addresses your audience's questions, needs and pain points. They are more likely to perceive this type of content to be valuable and engaging.

• Prioritise quality and relevance: All content should be well-written, accurate and relevant to your audience. High-quality content engages readers and establishes your business as a credible and authoritative source in your industry.

• Create a content hierarchy: Structure your content to guide users through your website. Use headings, subheadings and bullet points to make information easy to scan and digest.

• Use varied content formats: Diversify your content with different formats, such as blogs, videos, infographics, podcasts or case studies. Different formats can cater to diverse audience preferences and can help to explain complex topics more effectively.

• Include calls-to-action (CTAs): Guide your visitors towards desired actions with a CTA. Whether it's signing up for a newsletter, downloading a guide or making a purchase, CTAs should be clear and persuasive.

• Keep content fresh and updated: Update your website with fresh content on a regular basis. This could mean adding new blog posts, updating product information or revising key pages to keep them up to date.

• Tell your brand's story: Use your content to tell your brand's story. Share your origins, mission and values. Storytelling can create a deeper emotional connection with your audience.

• Incorporate customer testimonials and reviews: Customer testimonials and reviews can boost credibility. Include these elements where relevant to provide social proof of the value of your products or services.

• Make content shareable: Add social sharing buttons and encourage visitors to share your content. This can increase your reach and bring more traffic to your website.

• Engage with visual and interactive elements: Break up text with relevant images, videos or interactive elements. These can improve user engagement and make complex information easier to digest.

• Implement storytelling techniques: Use storytelling techniques to make your content more compelling and memorable. This includes using real-life examples, creating relatable scenarios or weaving narratives that illustrate your points.

• Incorporate professional editing and proofreading: Get your content edited and proofread professionally to avoid errors that can undermine your website's credibility.

Integrating key features and functionalities

Integrating the right features and functionalities into your small business website can improve the user experience, efficiency and overall effectiveness significantly. Here's an overview of what you should consider:

• Contact information
  Display your contact information prominently, including phone numbers, email addresses and physical location, if applicable. Consider adding a contact form for easy communication.

• Social media integration
  Include social media buttons to promote sharing and connect with your audience on different platforms. Consider integrating your latest social media feeds onto your website.

• E-commerce capabilities (if applicable)
  For selling products or services online, integrate e-commerce features such as a shopping basket, product pages, a secure checkout process and a payment gateway.

• CRM integration
  Integrate your website with a customer relationship management (CRM) system to better track and manage customer interactions.

• Analytics and tracking
  Implement tools such as Google Analytics to track visitor behaviour, traffic sources and other important metrics. This data is key for knowing your audience and optimising your website.

• Email sign-up and newsletter integration
  Include an option for visitors to sign up for newsletters or email updates. This is a valuable tactic to build a customer database for ongoing marketing efforts. Integrate your website with email marketing software to capture leads and nurture them through automated email sequences.

• Testimonials and reviews
  Showcase customer testimonials, case studies and reviews to build credibility and trust with potential customers.

• Trust badges
  Display any certifications, awards or endorsements that your business has received.

• FAQ section
  An FAQ section can provide quick answers to common questions, saving time for both you and your customers.

• Accessibility features
  Implement features that make your website accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. This includes text-to-speech functionality, keyboard navigation and high-contrast visual options.

• Multilingual support (if applicable)
  If your audience is global, consider providing your content in multiple languages.

Optimising for search engines

Search engine optimisation, or SEO, can boost the visibility of your small business. Good SEO can attract organic traffic by placing your website high in the relevant search engine results, especially if it's near the top of the first page of results. Here's how to optimise your website for search engines:

• Keyword research
  Identify relevant keywords that your target audience uses to search for products or services such as yours. Use a tool, such as Google Keyword Planner, Semrush or Ahrefs, to find keywords with a good search volume and relatively low competition. You can also focus on long-tail keywords for higher chances of ranking and to attract more qualified traffic.

• On-page SEO
  Optimise individual pages by incorporating target keywords naturally into titles, headings, meta descriptions and content. Check that each page has a unique title and description.

• High-quality content
  Create content that is informative, engaging and valuable to your audience. Google favours content that is helpful to users. Update your website with fresh content on a regular basis.

• Mobile optimisation
  Make your website mobile friendly. Google prioritises mobile-responsive websites in its search rankings.

• Page load speed
  Optimise your website's loading speed by compressing images, using cache tools and minimising the use of heavy scripts. Use tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights for recommendations.

• Internal linking
  Use internal links wisely to help search engines understand the structure of your website and to distribute page authority throughout it.

• External links and backlinks
  Gain high-quality backlinks from reputable websites. Backlinks are a strong ranking signal for search engines. Avoid any dubious link-building practices that could harm your SEO.

• URL structure
  Use descriptive URLs. Ideally, URLs should be easy to read and include relevant keywords.

• Image optimisation
  Use alt tags to describe images, incorporating keywords where appropriate. This improves accessibility and provides search engines with context.

• Local SEO (if applicable)
  For local businesses, optimise for local search by including local keywords and backlinks, registering with Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) and adding your business to local directories.

• SSL certificate
  Use SSL encryption to secure data transfer on your website. This is particularly important for e-commerce websites. Security is a ranking factor and it also builds trust with visitors.

• Structured data markup
  Use a schema markup to provide search engines with detailed information about your website's content. This can improve the appearance of your website in search results with rich snippets.

• Voice search optimisation
  Optimise for voice search by including conversational keywords and phrases that people might use when speaking rather than typing.

• Regular SEO audits
  Conduct regular SEO audits to identify and fix any issues, such as broken links, errors in the XML sitemap and duplicate content issues.

• Analytics monitoring and adapting
  Use tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor your website's performance. Adapt your SEO strategy based on the insights gathered.

Testing and launching your website

Before making your small business website live, it's important to test it thoroughly to make sure that it functions correctly and provides a positive user experience. Here's a quick look at the testing and launching process:

• Functional testing
  Check all the features of your website – including forms, checkout processes, searches and any interactive elements – to make sure that they work as intended.

• Browser compatibility testing
  Test your website across multiple web browsers (such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge) to check if it displays and functions correctly in each one. Browser compatibility is important for reaching a wider audience.

• Mobile responsiveness testing
  Verify that your website is responsive on various mobile devices and screen sizes. This includes testing the navigation, readability of content and accessibility of key features.

• Load testing
  Conduct load testing to see how your website performs under different levels of traffic. This can identify and solve potential issues with website speed and performance.

• Link and navigation testing
  Make sure that all internal and external links work correctly and that the navigation menus function as expected. Broken links can impair the user experience.

• SEO review
  Perform a final SEO check. This includes reviewing title tags, meta descriptions and alt tags, and making sure that all content is optimised for targeted keywords.

• Security checks
  Confirm that security features, including SSL certificates, are installed and functioning properly.

• Compliance checks
  Make sure that your website complies with local legal requirements, such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (if applicable), privacy policies and cookie consents.

• Content review
  Do a final review of all content for spelling, grammar and accuracy. Make sure that all images and multimedia elements are properly formatted and optimised.

• User experience (UX) feedback
  Gather feedback on the user experience. This can involve asking colleagues, friends or a focus group to navigate the website and provide feedback on their experience.

• Pre-launch backup
  Create a backup of your website before launching. This acts as a safety net in case any issues arise during or after the launch.

• Setting up analytics
  Verify that tools such as Google Analytics or other tracking systems are set up properly to monitor website traffic, understand user behaviour, track conversions and identify areas for improvement.

• Launch plan
  Develop a launch plan that includes a schedule, marketing activities to promote the launch and a plan for monitoring the website's performance immediately after going live.

• Going live
  Once testing has been completed and you are satisfied with the website, proceed with the launch. Update your domain settings if needed to make your website live to the public.

• Post-launch monitoring
  Monitor the website closely for any issues in the days following the launch. Pay attention to website performance, user feedback and any unexpected bugs.

• A/B testing
  Conduct A/B testing on different elements of your website on a regular basis – such as CTAs, page layouts and headlines – to increase conversions.

• Feedback loop
  Establish a process for collecting and acting on customer feedback to continuously improve the user experience.

• Regular updates
  Keep your website platform and plugins up to date to protect against vulnerabilities.

• Staying up to date with trends
  Keep up with the latest web design and digital marketing trends to ensure that your website remains relevant and effective.

A small business website should evolve with your business and the changing demands of digital customers. Applying these best practices is a great way to engage customers, build your brand and drive growth.