I have a very vivid memory of my first small website build when I first got out of college. The year, 2001, the web builder at the time…Microsoft Notepad.
Fast forward over 20 years and the website builders for small business on the market today are literally endless. And while you can certainly find FREE or even CHEAP solutions out of the box, more often than not the end result is less desirable from a marketing standpoint.
Yes, you can make a good looking site quite easily today. But HOW a website is built matters…A LOT.
If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you’re probably a small business owner or even looking to be one. Either way, in this day and age, your online presence is extremely important. Don’t take my word for it, look at 1 billion other searches on the topic that say the same.
In small business today, having a great start out of the gate can literally make or break you. Not only is it important for driving new business, but how you capture and build those relationships is important as well.
As a small business owner myself, and with over 20 years of web design and SEO experience, I feel I can see both sides of the fence. I will do my best to explain. So let’s continue…
Don’t Cheap Out Here - Find the Right Website Designer for Small Business
Take a moment and think about how many people you know, right now, that can design a website? I’m not just talking seasoned web designers, I mean people you know that have talked about “building a website” before?
I’m assuming a lot. And the common misconception of web design, is just because building one is easy today, doesn’t mean it’s going to do anything for you.
I get it, money is tight. As a small business owner, usually startup capital isn’t as high as they’d like (actually too common). So you figure, I know a guy or a kid, or etc. that can build me one for CHEAP! You know the old saying, you usually get what you pay for…
So in my opinion, as a small business owner of many businesses and an online marketing specialist, I feel you should look at your small business website design seriously.
So where does one start?
Well, as much as I’d love to put a long sales pitch here about my company, I will skip it. We do great work here, no doubt, but I’d be ignorant to say we’re the only firm on this planet that doesn’t deliver as well.
The first step in looking for a small business website designer is to simply start searching Google. Those web firms, in their space that know what they’re doing, usually shine here. And while some fly-by-night shops can occasionally show up high in the results, their reviews are usually sub-par or even nonexistent (red flag).
Most serious web firms, or website designers you should consider, will have at least a 4.5 star ranking or better on Google. That’s my opinion, reviews matter nowadays.
Average Cost of Web Design for Small Business
This is a loaded question, after all. There really isn’t a magical number for a small business website cost. The simple reason is each market varies, especially when it comes to living expenses in said area. A small website build in Los Angeles, for example, will differ for a price then somewhere in the Midwest.
With that being said, you should really expect to set away $5,000 to $10,000 to get your small business website built. In many cases, firms will also handle your Google Business Profile management as well (but more on that later).
Some firms are less but again, you get what you pay for. One is ranking high on Google for keyword phrases surrounding your demographic and target market, the other is on the 3rd page. Statistically speaking, the traffic volume and lead capturing potential is exponentially different from one website to the other.
Here’s who you should really watch for…the BIG, nationwide players. They will stick you in a contract, with a cheap template site, and a HUGE ad budget to generate any traffic to it. While you often get a cheap website up-front, if your bill is in the hundreds or thousands per month, RUN!
The honest truth is a well-built website doesn’t need big advertising budgets to rank well, especially if they’re ranking well organically already. And many of these big-box web firms will pocket ½ or even ⅔ of your advertising budget, all in the name of “management”. Don’t believe me? Ask and find out for yourself, you’d probably be surprised.
SEO (search engine optimization) still matters today. I love reading articles that say otherwise, because they’re usually the ones who quite simply can’t get it done in the real world scenario.
You need to show up for searches in your niche…PERIOD.
Elements of a Successful Small Business Website
In order to have a successful small business website today, you want to have the right ingredients. I will break down what’s vital in online marketing these days.
Ease of Use
Sounds obvious, right? I see this problem ALL THE TIME, and I’m sure you have too. You go to a website and there are 100 things going on, or it’s full of wasted marketing pitches that STILL don’t tell you what the site is about.
K.I.S.S. still applies to web design, more today than ever. And if the goal of the website isn’t being accomplished, on almost every visit, you’re wasting money and opportunities.
Mobile-Friendly
I still can’t believe I’m talking about designing mobile friendly websites in this day and age. Being mobile friendly has been the hype for a decade, nothing new.
What many still don’t know or realize, is Google is a mobile-first index. To put it simply, how your site is built for phones is typically how you’re ranked on their results. While this is kind of old news, I still see sites performing horribly on my phone!
Fast
3 seconds…that’s the goal to load your website on a device. Any longer, and it can hurt you in many ways statistically and even being penalized by search engines.
Now that’s a pretty tough benchmark for A LOT of bloated website builders these days. You don’t want to spend a lot of time and money on a website, only to find out it’s so slow. Most hit the BACK button before it even loads. Truth is, I see this A LOT.
Designed to Convert
The Internet lately has become a better place because more website designers are hindering to this simple rule…put a contact button where you need it!
Have you ever been to a site, and wasted way too much time looing for a phone number or how to contact? This is a prime example of poor web design practices.
A site SHOULD be built to basically answer a series of questions with well thought out answers, and what the user should do next. MOST websites don’t do this, look around, see what I mean???
A website should get the user to engage with the website, whether that’s a phone call, email, sale, etc.
Tie Into Your Google Business Profile
First off, do you manage your Google Business Profile? If not, or you don’t know what I’m talking about…please do yourself and get informed. It’s SO IMPORTANT to small business owners that it’s another one of those make or break portions of your marketing.
The Google Local 3-Pack
The holy grail of Internet Marketing nowadays is to show up in the 3-pack for local searches for your product or service in your area. People on the Internet have really short attention spans nowadays, and they want to talk to someone NOW.
Fact of the matter, is if you’re not showing up high in the search results for what you offer here, you’re missing out on A LOT of business.
Does it Talk to Your Website?
This isn’t exactly the most technical term of website design, but it’s important. Is your website designed to work with your Google Business Profile? This is another one of those uber important steps that shouldn’t get missed with web design, yet often does.
I could write a whole article on optimizing for that, but this is another prime example of where it’s important to have the right individuals managing your small business website.
Best E-Commerce Builder for Small Business
I could write another documentary but I will put it simply, Shopify.
I’ve used them all and as I write this, I still feel Shopify is the leader. It’s really easy to use, is flexible (for the most part), and through various apps you can add-on more functionality as needed.
My advice for small business E-commerce is similar to other industries; you still get what you pay for. You can find a theme and make it all work, right out of the box, but that doesn’t guarantee success.
It take A LOT of variables to add up to make a difference when it comes to SEO & web design today, so at a bare minimum, I would hire out the SEO side of things.
But as a small business web design builder for E-commerce, Shopify is still king of the hill, and for good reason for it’s ease of use and affordable pricing.
Just remember, however, that with Shopify, you’ll probably want to use them as your merchant account. Otherwise, they’ll tack on another 1%. I always note that right out of the gate to all my E-commerce customers, if they want to use an alternative merchant.
Small Business Web Design Recap
There you have it, a not-too-windy article on how to get started with website design for your small business. My family has started many businesses over the years, and all of them have benefited from their online presence in one way or another.
We also specialize in fishing guide website design, as well as hunting, as we're outdoorsmen ourselves. We know this niche extremely well, and we're good at it.
There’s no simple trick to success online, if there was, everyone would be doing it. But it really is an overall process to getting your vision into a workable art form that makes your phone ring. That’s the most technical, yet simple way of defining what your website marketing is trying to accomplish.
Want to talk about how we can help your small business online marketing? We love chatting about ideas and strategies!
