Everyone knows a website is essential for any business, big or small. However, it’s not enough to just have a website. Even if you're a small business, there are ways to build a website at the quality level of a Fortune 500 company's web presence. A well-designed and optimized website helps establish your brand, attract new customers, and generate leads.

Keep your small business from falling behind due to a lackluster, unpolished, unprofessional website! Considering 75% of site credibility is due to its design, it’s all the more essential to have a quality website. 

In this blog post, we’ll list the steps to create a high-performing website that can compete with the best of them, all while staying within your small business budget.

Why you need a Fortune 500-quality website for your small business

Your website is how potential customers usually first encounter your brand. It’s essentially a window into your business. Potential customers can easily view what small businesses have to offer through a website. Without one, small businesses that sell online may be invisible in the highly competitive online market. 

But having a website isn’t enough to make businesses stand out. It must be of high quality to attract and retain visitors. With a sleek website, you can make a good first impression on visitors.

A top-notch website is not just for large corporations. Small businesses can also benefit from having a website that meets the same standards. By creating a polished website, small businesses can compete with larger corporations and their services and attract more customers.

A high-quality website is a game-changer in growing your business. It can help you create a lasting brand impression on potential clients. Consequently, this allows you to better generate leads and build trust with your customers.

Defining your small business website goals and budget

Start defining your goals and budget for your website. What do you want your website to achieve? And how much do you need to make this happen? For instance, you may want your website to act as an online store for digital products, generate leads, provide customer support, or establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry. Having a clear set of objectives will help you prioritize important features and optimize your website's performance.

Budget is also an essential consideration because, as a small business owner, you likely don't have unlimited resources. You need to assess how much money you can allocate to website development and maintenance, knowing this will affect other features: the time frame, scope of options, design choices, design tools, and quality of the website. 

You want to create a website that stands out and performs well. But you also want to ensure you’re not spending too much at the cost of your small business’s profitability.

Conducting competitive analysis and keyword research for small business websites

To maximize the success of your small business website, it’s essential to understand the online landscape of your industry. This involves conducting a thorough competitive analysis to identify any gaps or opportunities in the market. By studying your competitors’ small business websites and online strategies, your company can gain valuable insights into their strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to develop a more effective online presence.

The competition you have in your industry will impact the kinds of features and designs that users will look for on your website. You want a site design that is both innovative and user-friendly, providing value to potential customers.

Keyword research is another essential aspect of developing a successful small business website. This involves identifying the most relevant and valuable keywords for your small business websites. It also involves analyzing the search volume and competition for different keywords, allowing you to target the keywords with the most significant potential for conversion and traffic.

Keyword research will help you tailor your content and SEO practices to best reach your target audience. By doing so, you can ensure your business website appears at the top of search engine rankings for relevant search terms. 

Building a high-performing online store or site with SEO best practices 

Search engine optimization is important in having a high-performing website. SEO is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). The higher you rank, the more likely people discover and click on your landing page or website. 

Did you know that a lot of people search for product pages and services online before making a purchase or visiting a physical location? By ranking well in SERPs, you increase the chances of converting those visitors into paying customers.

There are several best practices for small business SEO. Following on-page and off-page SEO practices is one. On-page optimization involves optimizing your website’s content, structure, and metadata to enhance its relevance and visibility to search engines, while off-page optimization involves building high-quality backlinks to your site to improve its authority and credibility. 

Another important strategy is to identify and incorporate relevant keywords into your website's content. This involves using keywords strategically in creating your website's copy, meta descriptions, and other elements.

It's also important to ensure that your website's technical structure is optimized for SEO. You need to optimize your site for fast loading, use descriptive URLs, and ensure your navigation bar and entire website is mobile-friendly. Note that search engines prefer websites that are easy to navigate and use. That’s why you must optimize your site for user experience as well.

By following SEO best practices, you can improve your website’s ranking and visibility in search engine results. The result? You increase your chances of attracting new customers and generating leads!

Designing a website that builds trust and generates leads for small business websites

Professional look

A website that looks dated or unprofessional can turn potential customers away. That’s a great example of why it’s crucial to design a company website that is visually appealing and reflects the business's strong branding and values. Make sure to use clean lines and other engaging design elements to create an eye-catching home page.

User-friendliness

In addition to a visually appealing website, it is essential to have a user-friendly website. A website that is easy to navigate and has clear calls to action can help generate leads. Your visitors should find what they’re looking for effortlessly. Moreover, they should be able to contact your business easily. So consider having a chatbot, contact forms, or social media links on your professional services or commerce site to make it easier for visitors to get in touch.

Secure

Another critical aspect of designing a website that builds trust is having a secure web design. If a website does not have an HTTPS certificate or includes outdated and unsecured features, visitors may not trust the website with their personal information. A website that is secured with an SSL certificate is crucial for building trust with site visitors and can help keep delivery information and the business safe from cyberattacks.

Responsive

Your small business website design must also be responsive. More and more people browse the internet through mobile devices. So having a website design that adapts to different screen sizes is essential. 

A responsive small business website design can help improve the user experience and decrease bounce rates. Additionally, it can improve the website's SEO ranking. 

Small businesses should also focus on designing a website that is optimized for all devices. So make sure your small business website design looks good on desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile.

Maintaining and measuring your Fortune 500-quality website on a small business budget

After building a high-performing, trust-building, lead-generating website for your small business, keeping it up to Fortune 500 standards takes consistent effort. Your website will require regular maintenance, updates, and ongoing optimization to remain competitive in the digital marketplace. This takes time and a budget, but it’s an essential part of your marketing strategy.

To maintain your website, you’ll need to keep up with software updates, security patches, and any necessary bug fixes. You’ll also want to update and refresh your content regularly, as search engines reward fresh, relevant content. Moreover, regularly run website speed tests to ensure your site loads quickly, as slow load times can cause users to abandon your site.

In addition to maintenance, it’s important to measure the success of your website. Using website analytics, you can track website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. Use this data to inform your ongoing website improvements and optimization efforts. Remember to establish realistic and measurable goals to ensure you’re making effective use of your website as a marketing tool.

While maintaining and measuring your business website may seem like an ongoing effort, it’s well worth the investment in the long run. A high-quality website that consistently generates leads and allows your small business to compete with larger corporations in your industry is an invaluable asset. By following best practices for website maintenance and optimization, you’ll ensure your small business website remains a highly effective marketing tool for years to come.

Create the best small business website today

A credible, professionally designed website can make a strong first impression on potential clients, nurture leads, and drive conversions. Use B12 to launch your user-friendly site with brand consistency and all the tools and features you need to sell and offer professional services. Get started launching yours today with an easy drag-and-drop editor.