Small Business Design Resources

Is It Time To Redesign Your Website?

I recently talked with a potential client whose entire website is based on Flash. Flash websites used to be extremely popular during the 1990s, but have since become pretty much obsolete, especially because it is very difficult to optimize these limited textual content websites for search engines. Take a look at this article to learn more about what is Flalsh and is it suitable for your business.

The client now wants a modern, content-rich, non-Flash website that search engine spiders can actually crawl. This is a very good reason to do a website redesign, which got me thinking about several more reasons why you should redesign your website.

Your Website Looks Old

The web is fast-paced. It is constantly updating and changing. Web users expect to see fresh, interesting design. They want websites that are user friendly, easy to navigate, and fast-loading. Above all, they want websites that catch their eye and make them want to stick around. Now take a long, hard look at your small business website and ask yourself: does it provide all of the above? If your website is older than five years and you’ve never redesigned it, chances are it has an outdated look and feel that is not going to appeal to users. And with so many options on the web these days, users can simply bounce off and go to the next website.

Outdated Content

Your website’s content needs to be constantly updated to stay fresh and interesting. Yes, content is king, which means you cannot just slap some content on your website and forget about it. The best way is to attach a blog to your website and keep adding new content for your visitors.

Search Engine Optimization

If you’re having trouble getting your website to rank well in search engines for your chosen keywords, even though you have optimized your tags and your content, you should consider a website redesign. Search engine spiders have a harder time crawling old websites than crawling new, modern websites.

Competition is Redesigning

Whatever your competitors are doing, you don’t want to lag behind. If they start using social media, you should do the same. If they are lowering prices or giving special offers, you should probably do the same. And if they are redesigning their websites, you should redesign yours too. Being the only old-looking website when the competition has fresh, modern websites will hurt your small business.

Low Conversion Rates

If you find that your conversion rates are low, or that people who land on your website quickly bounce off, there’s something about your website that is turning visitors off. A website redesign, whether changing design elements, functionality or content, is probably a good idea.

Outdated Design Elements

Some web design elements are considered outdated and should be changed regardless of any other consideration or problem. Flash, as pointed above, Frames and Tables were all used for web design in the past but are now considered obsolete and make your website difficult to maintain and to update. The same is true for features such as Intro Pages (those pages that load before users get access to the home page) – these are annoying to web visitors and could cause them to click away.

Remember that small business website redesign, where you hire a designer to redesign an existing website, is at least as complex as creating a website from scratch. Make sure you find a website designer that you are comfortable with and are able to trust. For more on choosing the right web designer, check out this article on What to Look for in a Web Designer.

What to look for in a Web Designer

There are tons of people claiming to be web designers, the following are specifics of what to look for and what to look out for when choosing a web designer to work on your business website.

Skills

The number one thing that you should look for in a web designer is for their web site. You can usually tell what skills they have by just looking at their own website. Some web designers make excuses that they’re so busy on client’s projects that they don’t have time to work on their own website. How can a web designer say that they can design your business website if they can’t make the time to design their own? If a web designer doesn’t have a website or has only one page that says, “coming soon”, LOOK OUT!

Style

Each business has a certain style, so you want to make sure that the web designer you choose can design for your business style. For example, if you own a skateboarding shop, you would look for a web designer that is capable of creating grungy and sporty designs. Check the web designer’s portfolio to see their style. If a web designer doesn’t have a portfolio, LOOK OUT!

Testimonials

Anyone can rave about their work, but can they back it up with customer testimonials? Look for authentic testimonials! These can be written, but must be accompanied with at least a full name. The best authentic testimonials are in a form of a video recording, voice recording, inside a 3rd-party widget or found on a 3rd-party website. When someone has the capability to edit the testimonials the testimonials become less trustworthy, so LOOK OUT!

Expertise

You started to look for a web designer because you understand the importance of a business website, but you either don’t have the skills and/or time to design it yourself. A web designer should be able to steer you in the right direction and provide suggestions/support along the design phase of your website. Hiring a student or someone who can just throw a website together, isn’t really beneficial for your business image. Look for a web designer who has the expertise to showcase your business online and design a website that provides valuable experience for your target audience.

Keep in mind that most web designers are not programmers and vise versa, but many work together on website projects. Ask about your needs; don’t assume that they should know how to do everything. One can’t be an expert in everything, so LOOK OUT for those that say they are.

Social Media Presence

A web designer should be out and participating in some sort of Social Media activity. They could be writing blogs, interact in forums, be active on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube or any other social media platform. The whole point is that a web designer should know and grow with the online media to be able to keep up with the constantly evolving website demands and techniques. You can do a search in Google for a web designer’s name or business and if you don’t see any social media references LOOK OUT!

How to Start a Website

I get many questions from small business owners asking about website basics. So much of what is written seems to be written by those, and for those, who already know what they are doing when it comes to having a business website. So let’s take a step back and review a few basics, because I know from talking to small business owners that there are many of you who will appreciate this information.

The two must have things to having a website live on the Internet for everyone to see are a domain name and a hosting account. Let me explain what those are and pointers on few other things that are needed to get your website online:

1. Domain Names
   A domain name is what you call your website. It is also referred to as an address or a URL. This is what the user will type in the browser to find your business. You must use a unique domain name that no-one else is using. The Internet is built using many large computers, called servers that know how to talk to each other using special addresses, called an Internet Protocol addresses or IP addresses. When you create a name like MyBusiness.com you need to register the domain name so that:
   • No-one else can use it
   • The internet servers will know how to find it by assigning an IP address to it

There are many organizations that will register the domain name for you, but we use and recommend startlogic.com.

2. Domain Name Extensions

By convention, a .com address is a commercial business and is the most widely used in the world. Other conventions used in the U.S. are .edu for educational facility, such as a university, .org for an organization such as not-for-profit organizations, and .gov used by government websites. After .com, .net and .org are the most memorable extensions. Different countries use different conventions, generally used to indicate their country. For example check out www.google.ca (Canada’s Google), www.google.com.mx for Mexico’s Google, and www.google.co.uk for the United Kingdom’s Google.

3. Hosting a Website

Some organizations only give you the name – they don’t give you a space for your website. Lets compare this to a P.O. Box. When you just get a domain name it’s like getting a P.O. Box address, you can’t actually move your stuff in there. The whole purpose to have a business website is to attract visitors to your products/services, for this hosting is required. Some companies will both register your domain name and host your website. However, domain and hosting providers can be different for one site. Again we use and recommend startlogic.com for your website hosting needs.

4. Building a website

Registering a domain name and signing up with a hosting provider does not necessarily mean you have a website live online. What you have is a space for your website to live online. Let’s take an example of a physical retail store. To have an actual brick and mortar retail store, you need to lease a space, so once you sign your lease you can move in your products and organize your store. Same goes for a website, domain name is your address, hosting is your space and now you need to build a website for your customers to view your products/services. There are two ways to build your business website. You can learn how to build your own or have a professional web designer do it for you. Building your own is the most cost effective way to put up a website but it means you have to spend time to learn something about building and maintaining it, that means taking you away from your business duties. Having a professional web designer create your website will assure you that your website is built right, user friendly and free you to work on your business.

5. Working with Design Leap

Choosing Design Leap to build your business website means you have a one-on-one relationship with a professional designer to guide you and answer all your questions while developing a business website that is targeting your ideal customers. This is the way to go if you’re looking to save time and money in the long run.