Small Business Website Design Best Practices & Examples

There are a lot of interesting and attractive fonts to choose from—but are they readable and easy to understand? A good tip is to pick a font that aligns with the look and feel of your brand. To find inspiration, choose fonts and font pairings from Canva Font Combinations, Fonts In Use and Google Fonts.

For example, Chanel’s Couture font is used on its logo and other textual elements. The visual consistency ensures visitors have a consistent UX when browsing across the page.

Chanel

Color can alter people’s perception of your home page. A study from Loyola University in Maryland found color increases brand recognition by 80%. To maximize its effectiveness, stick to your brand colors and implement a consistent color scheme throughout your marketing materials and landing pages.

For example, Cadbury’s landing page is purple, which is reminiscent of the globally recognized product packaging of the British confectionary brand.

Cadbury

People won’t be able to see, touch and try the actual product on the online realm. To attract customers’ attention, upload high-quality product pictures. With the right images, you can make your products stand out and make viewers stop and stare.

Tesla’s home page has captivating images of its cars, solar roofs and accessories. This ensures viewers can imagine themselves using the actual product—even if they’re only seeing it from behind the screen.

Tesla

There are more than 7.1 billion mobile users across the world. Of this number, 50% of smartphone users are more likely to use a mobile site when browsing or shopping instead of downloading a mobile app. These numbers show that mobile optimization is crucial if you don’t want to lose out on a big number of customers. To get started, include large clickable buttons, responsive templates and scrollable content designed for consumers.

Partake Foods’ home page has delicious images of its cookies, as well as a call to action (CTA) that mobile users can click to grab their delicious delicacies.

Partake Foods

A stunning website will make people stop and stare but don’t forget to integrate a call to action (CTA). A call to action prompts users to take the next step or action to complete their shopping experience. If you’re looking to sell a product or service, it’s one of the most important elements that will lead to website conversion.

Playbook introduces the product on its home page as a tool that helps users “organize, share and collaborate on creative files.” After getting introduced to the product, you can click the pink “Create Playbook free” button to try the actual product.

Playbook

Once you’ve placed all the necessary landing page elements, think about the white space (or blank space). Place empty spaces around the website elements so viewers have visual breaks when processing the information. Done right, you’ll be able to divert viewers’ attention to important elements. Plus, you’ll be able to avoid overcrowding and cluttering your landing pages.

For example, Apple’s product photos are surrounded by white space, so viewers are naturally drawn to its iPhones.

Apple

As you navigate through a website, evaluate whether you can easily find the information you need. Otherwise, visitors will end up leaving the page. A good tip is to integrate a simple navigation style on the website header.

For example, Avoriaz ski resort has a website with an immersive 360-degree image of its hotel. There are also buttons for its packages, accommodations, contacts and a menu on the right-hand side which makes it easy for tourists to explore what the destination has to offer.

Avoriaz

Hick’s law states that when users are bombarded with choices, it’ll take longer for them to make decisions. In web design, this means it may be difficult for visitors to make a decision such as subscribing to an email or buying a product. Having a simpler page makes it easy for visitors to make a choice.

The Shopify home page only asks visitors to enter their email address to start a free trial, so they can opt in and accept the offer.

Shopify

Headings persuade customers to perform a desired action. They also make it easy for people to skim your landing pages and find the information they need. Plan the placement of the headings to convey the products and services your business offers.

Adobe Creative Cloud’s home page has a main heading about its 60% off deal for students and teachers. Meanwhile, the subheadings highlight its updated Creative Cloud plan, Creative Cloud Photography and free trial on Adobe Acrobat.

Adobe Creative Cloud

Visual hierarchy refers to the organization of the design elements on a page. Some examples include the placement of the images and text. Not only does it let users know where to divert their attention, but it also dictates how the information will be delivered.

In this example from Hyer, you can see that the brand name “Hyer” is the top and most prominent feature of the visual hierarchy—followed by the phrase “Personalized Aviation” which is its main service. After being drawn to the main headings and images, your eyes will naturally divert to the CTAs “Book an Aircraft” and “Book a Shared Flight.”

HYER Aviation

Testimonials show that your product or service delivers what it’s supposed to. According to BigCommerce, 92% of consumers read online testimonials and reviews when buying a product. In addition, a business that earns ten or more reviews gets a 15% to 20% increase in traffic. These results show that including them on your website will increase the chances of customers converting.

Salesforce’s customer success stories page has testimonials from top companies including AGI, Loopio and SkipTheDishes. The bite-sized quotes show how its solution has helped enterprise-level companies achieve their goals.

Salesforce Testimonials

Having a stunning website can attract customers—but it’s the ability to deliver personalized experiences that will make them stay. Personalized features such as behavior-based product recommendations, targeted offers and geo-targeting allow small businesses to deliver content that aligns with a user’s wants and needs. According to Accenture, nearly 60% of consumers want real-time offers and promos.

Amazon’s website offers personalized messages inspired by a customer’s browsing history. As you browse through various products, you’ll also be recommended items customers bought together with the product.

Amazon Product Suggestions

There’s no right or wrong placement for CTAs—but a slight change in placement can yield significantly better results. In the example below, Unbounce moved the CTA from below to above the pricing grid to increase the click-through rate. The variation resulted in a 41% increase in conversions.

Unbounce CTA Placement Testing

A good small business website must be accessible to everyone. It must be able to accommodate individuals with auditory, cognitive, visual or motor disabilities.

Here are some characteristics of an accessible landing page:

• Contrasting colors: Choose contrasting text and background colors to make it easy for visually impaired people to read the text.
• Keep navigability in mind: Individuals with motor impairments rely on the keyboard to scroll through the page. To make a site accessible, examine whether website users can navigate through the page by selecting the “Tab” key.
• Alt text: Individuals who rely on dictation software won’t be able to see the actual image on the page. As a result, include an alt text for every image to make sure visitors will be able to know the image’s content even if they can’t see it visually.
• Add video captions: Add captions or translation options for videos so visitors can understand the dialogue in the video. If you cater to an international audience, consider adding translated captions too.

The background on Patagonia’s home page has contrasting text and background colors that make it easy to read. Upon clicking “Watch Preview,” there’s an option to watch the video with captions.

Patagonia

Having a beautiful website won’t immediately lead to high conversions. You need research-backed information on the ideal color, design and placement via A/B testing to communicate your value proposition.

For example, Groove created a sales page that had a dismal 2.3% conversion rate.

Groove Landing Page I

The team collected feedback from marketing experts and customers, then used the information to rebuild its landing page. As a result, the newer version with improved visuals and copy doubled its conversion rate by 4.7%.

Groove Landing Page II

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There’s no need to be an expert to create a high-converting and stunning small business website design. As long as you know the right tips and tricks, you’ll be able to create beautiful landing pages that convey your brand’s personality and message. Additionally, if you’re new to small business website design, it can be a good idea to use a website builder, such as Squarespace or Wix, which makes the process very easy–even for the absolute beginner. For more information, check out our article on the best website builders for small businesses.