Essential Web Design Trends for Small Business Websites

Generally speaking, most websites for small businesses follow the same basic format. These sites require SEO so they can rank well on Google. They also need to have an “about” page, information about their products and services, contact details, terms and conditions, an FAQ section, and often a blog that is filled with articles that the website’s visitors will find helpful, such as buying guides, maintenance tips, and so on.

 

Of course, the design will be different from one website to another, as it should appeal to a particular demographic. A website for children’s toys, for example, should look whimsical, fun and carefree, while a legal or banking website should look serious and professional.

 

So if you’re running a small business and you plan on building a website, here are some design trends that will most likely be popular for a long time:

 

Mobile-friendly. You don’t need to see the statistics to know that people these days use their smart phones and tablets more often than they use their laptops and desktops. People use these mobile devices to surf the Web nowadays and as a business, you can’t turn your back on such a large potential customer base. They’re not just using it for Facebook, but they’re also using their mobile device to buy online.

 

So you need a website that also takes into account the smaller screen and navigational styles of mobile devices. That way, potential customers won’t have a hard time browsing on your web pages.

 

Quick loading time. Forget about adding videos or animations on your homepage. The real trend you need to worry about is how Internet users simply give up on web pages that are slow to load. And when that delay happens during a transaction, your customer will just as likely click out. More than half of all online shoppers say that slow loading time is the main reason they abandon a purchase. In fact, a delay of 2 seconds leads to an 87% abandonment rate.

 

Above the fold. You can’t always expect your online visitors to scroll down or to click on another page. So what you need to do is to feature your website’s most crucial information prominently on the screen. An image of the product, its main benefits, and a clear call to action should be visible right away.

 

Clear navigation. Regardless of whether you use arrows or extra-large fonts for navigation tools, you really need to make sure that your visitor knows what to do exactly when they’re on your website. Even if you’ve created a website that has managed to convince a visitor to subscribe to your email list or to buy your product, that won’t mean much if he doesn’t know where to enter his email address or where the order page is.

 

Web design trends come and go. But we’re confident that the trends we’ve listed here won’t go out of style anytime soon, at least not in the next few years.