Advice from entrepreneurs: good small business websites
- Published
- in GoForth Institute Small Business Training
We asked experienced entrepreneurs to offer their best pieces of advice for effective small business websites. Here’s what they had to say:
- Once you have your contact information easily accessible for customers — respond promptly when they contact you.
- Design your website to be search engine friendly — if you don’t know how to do this, get help.
- Keep your web pages up to date. Going to a website just to see that the information hasn’t been changed since 2012 can deter potential customers.
- Prepare for high traffic times — be sure that your website can handle traffic loads.
- Set a maximum size for each page, and make sure that you keep content within these guidelines.
- If you’re going to offer online payments or transactions, make sure to choose your provider carefully to avoid customer service and security issues.
- Also, if you’re having your webpage designed by someone, take your time choosing a company or person. Take a look at their past work and determine whether or not they’ll be able to provide what you’re looking for.
- If the website is important to your company, don’t bother with free services that create web pages for you. It’s important to have your own domain name.
- Test your site! Make sure the links work, the pages load, the text is legible, the colours match, and it’s easy to get around.
- Make sure the website is well-integrated with your business — consistent with your company image and updated frequently.
- Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the web accessible to people with disabilities — make sure your website meets WAI’s accessibility standards.