These days, it seems like there are as many website designs as there are businesses.
Actually, that would make sense. Businesses are as individual and unique as their owners. And if they’re not, then they don’t stand out amongst the competition.
So, how do you make your business website stand out from the competition when you have no idea how to create a website?
Well, you have several options:
- Hire a web designer
- Use a business website design template and try to make it your own with some basic coding skills
- Use a simple small business website builder tool to build a custom site with no coding skills
The right answer for you will depend on your business’s particular needs for a website. If you need a lot of custom functionality or advanced features, you might want to consider working with a web designer. If your needs are fairly standard, but you want precise control, a few custom elements, and you have some basic coding skills, a business website template could be the best option for you.
For me, the no-coding, non-website building, small business owner, the easiest (and fastest) way to build a business website is to go with an easy-to-use website builder.
Business website designs and templates
There are a lot of business website design templates out there, many of which would probably work, but how are you supposed to choose the one that works best for your business?
While you can sometimes find independent website template designs, we recommend that you choose one from your website host. If you decide to build your website using a template rather than an all-in-one website builder, you’ll need to make sure that the templates you’re choosing from are secure, quick-to-load, and mobile-responsive.
After that, it takes some careful thinking about your business, your branding, and your goals, in order to pick the one.
Instead of focusing just on how you want your website to look, you should also carefully consider what your potential customers are going to want from your website. What are their questions going to be? What will their hesitations be? Determine the answers and then plan your website choice accordingly.
The more carefully you choose your design, the less work you have to do down the road when you start building.
What design, and structure, fit your business?
Sometimes it’s obvious when a website design isn’t going to work for your brand. If your law firm is known for handling touchy cases, you want to stay away from a design with a lot of fun animation, slick photo galleries, and innovative, colorful design elements. The opposite is true for — say — an illustrator.
Other designs that might look good enough for your brand might not have the functionality you need. If you need to convey a lot of information, a layout with a lot of white space might not work well on mobile. The key is to explore and preview several designs and templates before deciding which is right for your brand.
A customer’s point of view
The most important thing to consider is the customer, and how they will be interacting with your website. If your business is primarily brick and mortar and you only need a website to display your contact information and hours, then a one-page website might make more sense than a site with multiple pages that buries your contact page.
Before you start designing your website, imagine your ideal customer, or better yet, talk with past customers if you can. Ask them what questions they had when searching for similar products or services. You could also look at competitor websites and see what works for them and what you could improve on. If you have any pain points or unanswered questions searching their sites, make sure to move that to the top of your list for what you want out of your site.
The choice for your business site design is up to you!
Before you doubt yourself into thinking you can’t choose the right design for your business website because you have no idea what good design is, let me tell you that you’re wrong. If you look at a handful of websites, your favorite is bound to be the one with the simplest, most straightforward design, with all of your questions answered.
Click through the layouts that catch your eye and pass them through the filter of your (and your customers’) needs by answering these two questions:
- Does this template look like it fits with my business?
- Will any visitor be able to easily understand and use my website?
Your gut reaction is probably the best for deciding which template is right for your brand and your customers.
When in doubt, keep it simple
No matter what you choose, boil it down to only what you need. If you don’t need a gallery, or a store, or anything more than a simple three-page site, then choose that. If you know your customers want to read as much content as you can give them, then add a blog. Either way, the better fit a website design is for your business, the more useful it will be for your customers.
