What must a basic website include and what should I look for when choosing a design package? Here’s everything you need to know.
When sifting through starter website package offerings, it can be difficult to know where to start. There are just so many elements to consider.
Once you’ve ruled out doing it yourself, you’re then hit with the daunting amount of business website packages offered online.
This is why we’ve put together a checklist of what your site should include, and what you should be looking for when choosing a website package for your small business.
What should a successful starter website package include?
Your website doesn’t have to be elaborate or cost a bomb to be successful with your audience. From strong design and branding to getting found in search, nailing the following five elements will certainly get you on your way to a great website – no matter its size.
1. Sleek design and style
First and foremost, the design and style of your website. Before your audience even reaches the content of your site, you want to draw them in with the aesthetics of your page. Remember that beautiful websites don’t always require an intricate design.
We love the clear and uncomplicated design of D.Morris’ site, sticking to a simple colourway and font. As with this example, you simply want your site’s style to sit both in line with your brand and be welcoming and relevant to your audience.
2. Carefully crafted content
The content on your site should clearly reflect what you do and communicate what your services or products are, who you are, and what value you can provide for your audience. Just keep it simple. Don’t make your audience do the digging to find out what you do, or they’re likely to leave the site altogether.
Whether you’re looking to build a multi-page site or a one-pager, ensure that your brand’s messaging travels seamlessly across the whole site. The last thing you want is for the copy to ruin your brand identity.
3. Excellent user experience
It’s all well and good having a beautifully designed site and great content, but not if it’s a pain to navigate.
If a one-page site is what you’re going for, think about how your user will want to interact with the page. Would it make sense to allow them to jump through content with anchor links, or skip to the top or bottom of the page?
Make sure that all your calls to action are clear – especially contact ones. You want to make it as easy as possible for your audience to convert.
Alternatively, if a multi-page site is where you’re heading, you’ll also want a clear sitemap and simple menu navigation to all your pages.
4. Seamless SEO
Once you’ve got a beautifully built site, you’ll want to make sure your audience can actually find it. This is where the wonderful world of SEO comes in.
We all know the importance of keywords to help you rank in search results, but this is just one element of SEO that’s necessary for your site.
Site structure, content and speed are extremely important to gain online visibility for your business – and that’s just on-page SEO.
5. Trust indicators
So, you’ve got your customers to your site – what next?
Well, your content goes a long way to helping to keep them there, but you’ll also want to build trust.
One of the best ways of doing this is via customer testimonials of your services or reviews of your products. With 93% of customers consulting online reviews when considering a product purchase, it’s not something you want to forget when designing your site.
If you choose the right agency and website starter package, you may even be able to integrate your Trust pilot reviews on your new shiny site.
What you should look for when choosing small business website packages
When it comes to choosing an agency to design your site, you’ll want to make sure you select a website starter package that’s right for your business. Here are a few things you should be looking for:
• You want your site built from scratch and bespoke to your company’s needs.
• As we mentioned earlier, your site should be built on the principles of SEO.
• While you might want to start with a one-pager, you want the ability to adapt and change as your business grows. Make sure the agency can offer flexibility, with a phase 2, 3, 4 etc. as your website and your business expands.
• With nearly 60% of all online searches coming on mobile, your package should include responsive design.
• Ensure that your design package has a fixed price and that everything you need is included in that fee. Don’t let your agency fool you into extra costs.
• Once the dust has settled, you want to make sure you have someone you trust and can ask questions if something arises. Therefore, always make sure your agency provides continued support for you and the team.
Find a website starter package
If you need any help building a website, we’re here to help.
Even if you’re a small business with a limited budget, we offer slick one-page sites to get you started. We also offer payments plan to spread your investment and can work with you to scale your business.
For a free quote or just a quick chin-wag about all things website-related, to find out more, get in touch with us today.
