Today we have a large assortment of ecommerce platforms available that one can choose from to set up their business online. The more the choices you have the harder it gets to pick the right one that fits your specific business.

That’s why we have decided to focus on 4 E-commerce platforms that we believe are most suitable for small businesses. 

• Shopify
• BigCommerce
• Squarespace
• Big Cartel

4 Best Ecommerce Platforms for Small Business

All these platforms come with features to quickly set up an online store to sell products and receive payments. Some of the platforms have more integrated tools to manage activities like product shipment, inventory management, marketing and customer engagement.

Shopify

Shopify is a Canadian company founded in 2006. Their ecommerce platform is very robust and supports a combination of both online as well as point of sale requirements. As their tagline goes – “with Shopify you can sell online, offline and everywhere in between.”

The Basic Shopify package costs $39 per month ($29 if billed annually) and it includes everything that is needed to create your store, ship products and process payments. It also includes 2 staff accounts.

The next level plan called Shopify comes with more features like professional reporting and 5 staff accounts.

Irrespective of the package plans, Credit Card transaction fee applies to all payments unless using Shopify payments. 

It is recommended for businesses that want to quickly set up an online store. The features are very intuitive and it does not require a lot of technical skills. 

BigCommerce

BigCommerce was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. It is another very popular and powerful Ecommerce Platform that comes with a substantially large range of tools. These tools enable you to set up your online store and manage other important aspects like shipping, payment, marketing and customer engagement. Professional reporting tools are available under all package plans.

The Basic BigCommerce package starts at $39 per month ($29 if billed annually) and includes all the features to set up the store and manage its day-to-day activities like payment, shipping, marketing and customer engagement. There is no limit on the number of staff accounts.

As the business expands, you are required to upgrade your package plans. Unlike in Shopify, your packages are closely tied to your store income.

There is no credit card transaction fee charged under any plan no matter what system is used.

BigCommerce is recommended for businesses that are growing very fast. They offer a lot more built-in features that are scalable as the business grows.

Squarespace

Squarespace was founded in 2003 and is based in New York City. It is known for its ease of use and its ability to easily drag and drop elements to create and update pages even without having to write a single line of code. Due to this feature, it has gained a lot of interest in the past few years especially with users who want to have a quick online presence without spending an arm and a leg.

The Basic Commerce package starts at $36 per month ($27 if billed annually) and provides a good storefront system with advanced analytics. It also eliminates all transaction fees charged in the lower plans.

Squarespace offers a free 14-day trial to evaluate what it has to offer. The trial version gives access to most of the premium features. Therefore, you can build out a complete website on the trial version to get a feel of it.

It is recommended for building creative websites as it offers the best design templates available at an affordable price.

Big Cartel

Big Cartel was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is an ecommerce platform developed by artists for artists. It is usually used by artists to sell their artwork. It is very easy to set up and free to get started. You can sell up to 5 products with the free account. If you need to sell more products, then you need to sign up for their paid plans. The personal plan at $9.99 per month allows for 50 products and their diamond plan at $19.99 allows for 500 products.

Big Cartel is very basic and comes with simple template designs.  Therefore, any kind of customization beyond what is provided involves coding. So, it is suitable for beginners who are happy with selling a few products without any customization.

Big Cartel comes with simple ecommerce features to sell products online and receive payments. You have a section to track your orders. If any advanced features are needed, then Big Cartel encourages the use of third party plugins and Apps.

Big Cartel is recommended for artists that want to sell their artwork online or for any small businesses that have very few products to sell and are not looking to expand their business.

The Bottom Line

If you are a small business there are a number of ways for you to get started with setting up your online store. Shopify is quick to set up and requires few technical skills, BigCommerce is for businesses that are rapidly growing, Square Space is the easiest to design with and Big Cartel is for artists or small businesses that only have a few products. 

At Black Kite Marketing we make it a point to be versatile and work with a variety of website building platforms. We have experience working with e-commerce platforms, restaurant ordering platforms as well as content management systems like WordPress. 

If you need help building and managing a website for your small business call us at (516) 259-1813

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Having a website will mean you can sell products to your regular customers and find new ones locally or globally. Small business owners sometimes hesitate to build a website because they are unaware of their options. This is where choosing the right website builder comes into play.  

Whether you are building the website on your own or hiring a web design company you need to make sure your site is elegant, fast and fully functional to enhance the user experience. A good website will increase your brand reputation and the customers’ trust in your business. 

Nowadays, you have plenty of options when it comes to website building.  The tools we will cover in this article  are ideal for small businesses with limited budgets. Whether it’s an eCommerce store, a local brick-and-mortar, or a service-oriented business these tools will help you build the perfect website for your small business. 

Limitations of Free Website Builders

When you search the net, you will come across several website builder tools, some of which are free and some charge. For a start, if you are on a tight budget, you could go ahead with the free software, but as your business grows and competition increases, you may want to move on to a premium website builder using the help of a professional website design and development service. 

 Here are a few disadvantages of free website builders which can impact your business. 

• You cannot have the domain of your choice. Your domain name will include the free site builder name that you use in it. 
• You will not have complete control over your site.
• Millions of users subscribe to their free templates, so having a unique website is not possible, which can hurt your business.
• The themes, templates, and other add-ons require payment.
• They may stuff your site with commercials.
• You get a limited number of pages, features, etc. 
• No guarantee of customer support.

4 Best Website Builders For Small Business

1. WiX  

WiX is a cloud-based website builder with website building and hosting services. It is ideal software for small businesses and individual professionals like designers and photographers. It has over 200 million registered users globally and is available in 17 international languages.

Pros 

• User-friendly drag-and-drop site builders
• Over 500 readymade templates, even in the free version.
• Easy to use and doesn’t require coding skills or technical know-how. 
• Several tools for mobile-site building
• Several useful web-store features
• Good customer support

Cons

• Although it allows you to create a custom eCommerce store, you have to pay for most options if you are looking for a professional store. 
• Their SEO features are inferior when compared with WordPress. 
• Not an easy process to migrate data. You may require professional help.
• The premium plans come at a low cost when you buy an annual subscription. You have to pay more for every third-party add-on app. 

2. Squarespace

Squarespace is a compact website builder best known for its stunning designs. The popular platform provides simple drag-and-drop features making it easy to begin your online presence, manage your site, and even set up an online store. Between its affordable pricing and intuitive interface, Squarespace offers an excellent package for individual professionals and new business owners. 

Pros

• You can create a unique, high-quality website with limited design and technical skills.
• The platform provides several SEO tools 
• With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can easily customize the templates to your use.  
• Use the templates to create an eye-catching blog, an eCommerce site, a portfolio, or all three. Ideal for responsive designs on mobile screens. 
• It offers free SSL, unlimited storage, and bandwidth in all its plans. 
• Fully integrated eCommerce on most plans

Cons

• No telephonic customer support.
• Upgrade from Squarespace version 7.0 to 7.1 requires a rebuild of the site
• They allow a 14-day free trial but do not have any free plans. 
• They charge a transaction fee on all sales except for those on their commerce plans.

3. Shopify

Shopify, with over 1.7 million merchant stores, is the most popular software for eCommerce stores. Since its initiation, its primary focus has been to help sell online; it keeps updating all the advanced eCommerce features that most others do not. It allows you to sync your social media business page with your Shopify store for more sales. It is one of the best options for small and medium businesses ready to grow big without looking for free or cheap website builder offers. 

Pros

• Shopify has a drag-drop tool that allows you to customize your store the way you want without the need to be a technical expert. 
• The platform has a 24/7 support team to assist you if you need help. You can contact them via email, live chat, or hotline numbers.
• Shopify offers multiple payment processing options, including third-party platforms. 
• It supports a variety of categories, so you can easily find an option, whatever the nature of your business. 
• 5 Shopify has a built-in app store with over 1,200 apps and plugins, each of which has a specific use. These mobile-friendly, automated, and easy-to-use apps integrate seamlessly with Shopify. 
• Shopify provides most marketing tools for your SEO, social media, email marketing, and more. You can create landing pages and sync your marketing campaign with your store.
• Create coupon codes, store credits, and limited discounts to attract more customers. 
• Shopify takes care of web hosting and security with SSL.

Cons

• Shopify offers a 14-day trial, but individuals and small businesses will find it expensive compared to other free platforms.
• Shopify allows limited customization. 

4. WordPress (wordpress.com)

WordPress is the most popular CMS, and over 43% of websites on the internet use the platform. People often confuse WordPress.com with WordPress.org. The latter allows you to host your website, while with WordPress.com, you can create your blog, website, forums, portfolios, etc. and host your site. 

Pros:

• WordPress software is Free and open source. It also has numerous plugins and themes that enable you to change the site’s looks and features. 
• It does not require you to have the technical know-how to modify and manage your site.
• WordPress has over 50,000 free plugins and over 5,000 WP themes for you to choose from and build your online platform. 
• You can get help quickly on the internet through blogs, forums, tutorials, groups, and developer groups. 
• Offers both free and paid plans. 

Cons: 

• WordPress is customizable, which can sometimes be risky if you are unsure what to do. You may mess up your site and may need to rebuild it again. 
• Free plan users may not get access to all the plugins unless they upgrade.
• Being open source, WP can be vulnerable to hacker attacks.

Small Business Website Designer 

As a startup or small business, your website must convey how your products and services are unique and what separates you from the rest of the  industry. You should focus entirely on building your business and leave the technical aspects of your website to us. 

Black kite Marketing is a fast-growing digital marketing agency helping small businesses and startups get a firm foothold on the internet and stand out in their industry. As a small business website design company, you can always rely on us to put you on the ideal CMS platform for your business.  

Your website is the first point of contact with your customers for your brand. Give them the best experience by allowing us to design, code and market your site while you manage what you are best at – developing your business, selling your products and providing your services.

You can call us at (516) 259-1813 to learn more about the best website builders for small business!

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Web Design Trends 2022

Although you may find many new web design trends useful, you cannot apply all of them at one time. That will result in a cluttered website. Here are a few specific trends that can impact your brand objectives and boost your site’s performance. 

1. Unique Typography

Designers have many choices today of fonts allowing businesses to express their brand through typography. Most companies use fonts of a particular style with minimal design. This enables their audience to quickly identify them from the crowd in their industry. Ensure you choose one that works seamlessly across browsers and computers. 

2. Hero Images

If you recollect the newspaper days, they were publishing all the exciting news on the top of the page compelling you to open the rest of the paper and read the article. In web design this is known as the hero image. Whether this is your home page or a featured image of a blog post, having a hero image with relevant text to grab the viewer’s interest will compel them to scroll down the page. Make sure to stay consistent with your brand and keep your content different from other web pages. If you use them the right way hero images can convey your brand better than text or videos. 

3. Contextual Videos

Videos are an excellent way to tell your brand story while intriguing your visitors and keeping them engaged. When visitors land on your web page, a background video will enable them to understand who you are and how you can help them. An effective video will help visitors understand what your brand is about without the need to read any content. There are many resources online to help you create compelling videos without having to spend a lot of money capturing content.

4 Flat Design 

Among the various design styles, flat design is one of the favorites for most web designers and developers. Flat design allows pages to load more quickly without using complicated elements plus it is easier for users to understand.  

Several brands are moving to flat designs because of their clean, bright, crisp 2D features, which helps reduce clutter. However, ensure you are consistent and use the same design on all the pages and sections of your website. It’s important for the sake of you brand to have consistency throughout your website. 

5. Quality Product Images 

Most B2B companies are moving from textual content to displaying large product images on their sites. It is one of the most accepted 2022 web design trends today. You should include engaging images in your web design to capture the attention of modern audiences. When we say engaging image, it means one shot in good lighting and self-explanatory. You don’t require additional textual content for viewers to read and understand. The image should convey the where and why of the product and what it reflects. To understand better what we are saying, have a look at Hors-D’œuvre’s website.

As you can see, they shot all the photos from different angles and distances to enhance the modern-day viewer’s experience. 

Designers can highlight different aspects of a product more efficiently through the use of high-quality product images. Visitors find it easy to understand the product features without the need to read lengthy content.

6. Negative Space

Negative space also known as white space is becoming more common in web design. It is now a critical feature of effective modern site frameworks. Creating equal amounts of negative space between various content such as links, images, text, videos, and CTA’s make the site cleaner and helps attract visitors to different aspects of your site. 

Smooth navigation is essential to enhance the user experience. Visitors who struggle to find your product or contact pages are far less likely to click through and begin the conversion process. Negative space helps focus user attention on the elements that matter most to your business. When you separate a featured product from other products with negative space, viewers will focus on the stand-alone product and its highlights. 

7. Clean Website Layout

There are countless designers worldwide with their creative ideas, perceptions, and thinking. While some experiment with asymmetrical designs, others find symmetrical website layouts to present content in an organized way. 

Two commonly used layout ideas include:

1. Card design: What started with Pinterest is still a fascination with some designers and marketers. Individual cards in different shapes and sizes with little information, such as a title, a picture, and various icons. Some designers prefer to include a brief amount of text like a product description. Some refer to these cards as miniature, condensed web pages. Your visitors can pick and click on the cards they want to expand. This will ensure the homepage is clean without much clutter or text. Make sure all your cards are responsive and adapt to the users’ screen sizes without difficulty. 
2. Split-screen: Designers divide a website’s home page or landing page vertically into two or more parts. By doing so, they have the choice of presenting multiple messages on the main page giving the users easy navigation to the content they want. The search for relevant content is minimal. However, ensure you have two or more products to highlight, or the split screen layout will not be worthwhile. 

8. Mobile Responsive Layouts

User behavior has undergone a great deal of transformation since the days of first-generation websites. Consumers were using desktops of various sizes to connect to a website. Designers were building sites to accommodate large monitors and mouse control clicks. Today, it is a different scenario. Mobile users control the show on the internet. Desktop sites lag today if they have not upgraded to mobile-responsive sites. Ask yourself, how many times do you pull out your smartphone in a day for search something? 

It is essential to create a mobile-friendly website that enables all the elements of the site to automatically adjust to the screen size of the device a consumer uses. Without a mobile-friendly, responsive website, you are losing customers who use their smartphones which is practically everybody.

9. Homepage / Landing Page Videos

The present-day generation audience is not interested in reading lengthy text. Videos as a marketing strategy could never have been more critical than now. Videos can boost your website’s organic search traffic, get multifold exposure across all media channels, and increase conversion rates.

Video information is more convincing as viewers can visually see the product or service. As per some statistics, one minute of video is equivalent to 1.8 million words. Create a well-designed homepage or landing page video to engage your audience with better quality information, less clutter, and more precise navigation choices.

10. Speed Optimization

Ensure you optimize all site elements for speed to make content instantly available to your consumer. A content-rich, engaging website with all trending features will not help conversions and sales unless your pages load fast. Your visitor will not wait and instantly move to your competitor. 

Google also penalizes websites that are slow to load by pushing them below other relevant websites that load faster.  

As per reports from Google, when page load times increase from 1 second to 10 seconds, visitor bounce rates increase by 123%.

The Bottom Line

Now that you are familiar with the top 10 Web Design Trends 2022 it is time to implement these trends into your website. In the coming years we may see several significant changes from Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence technologies. That being said make sure you are up to date with the current trends and stay on top of changes to come.

If you are considering building a website for your business or revamping an existing one contact Black Kite Marketing today! You can fill out the form on our contact page or give us a call at (516) 259-1813.

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Researchers say over 80% of internet users own a smartphone, of which 50% browse through immediately when they wake up_[1]. Mobile devices have become deeply ingrained in the human mind that you invariably reach out for them for everything. 

If there is a person out there that is in need of your product or service they will most likely search for it on a mobile device. This alone should be reason enough to make sure your website is mobile friendly.  

What Does a Mobile Friendly Website Mean?

Even back in 2015 Google made it necessary for websites to provide mobile-friendly content. Google has made it one of the clauses for better search engine rankings. Website owners need to optimize all their assets and marketing strategies for mobile consumption and, on priority, build a mobile-friendly website.  

Before getting into the details of why and how advantageous it is, let’s understand what precisely a mobile-friendly website means. 

On a mobile-friendly website, the site will look and function in its authentic way on any smartphone or a tablet. The size shrinks and becomes small enough to display on a smaller screen. This improves the user experience making the navigation dropdown function smoother without having to do a lot of zooming, pinching, or scrolling to view.

Mobile-friendly Related Technologies

Other than mobile-friendly, you may come across people using different terminologies like mobile-first, responsive design, adaptive design, separate mobile website (or m dot site), and mobile apps. Lets go over what a few of these things are 

1. Mobile first

Mobile first web design, as the name suggests, is when the designers focus on the websites’ most basic functions and features to suit the smallest and least- powerful mobile phones. It allows you to add more features as bigger mobile models. The mobile first is important to end-users, who are accessing websites on the go more and more frequently. When designers create designs for the larger screens like desktop and laptops, the codes are more complex than the code for smartphones. The smartphone cannot load all that code as it does not require it and this results in customers having a slow page loading experience.  

2. Responsive web design

A responsive website is a site that automatically adjusts to the needs of the user and the device they use. It’s not device-specific or browser-specific. The entire content images as well as text change from the standard three-column to a single-column display. Regardless of what size screen the user is viewing from, the text, images, navigation, and graphics will size gracefully to look good and function well at any size. 

3. Adaptive design

Adaptive design is similar to a responsive design but with a slight change- it uses specific layouts for different devices. While responsive designs send the same content to mobile and desktop, adaptive websites offer specific content when it detects a mobile device. It means the adaptive site does not downsize as per device specifications. 

4. Separate Mobile Site (or m dot site)

When the use of mobile phones first started increasing, and before the initiation of the above technologies, businesses were investing in two websites. When responsive sites were not possible, businesses were designing two separate websites to ensure the best user experience and quality. Website developers would have to build a separate website and host it on a subdomain. So, a business would have to invest in two website designs and have two distinct URLs. 

5. Mobile App

Many online giants maintain a mobile app to provide personalized services to all their mobile customers. Consumers must download the app from the app store and install it on their devices. 

What Does a Customer Look for in a Mobile Site?

1. Speed: People using the internet do not like to wait for a website to respond. Studies reveal only 9% of users will wait on a mobile site or app to get their information. Consumers expect a website to load within 3 seconds. It means 91% of users will look for alternative mobile sites if your site takes more than the 3 to 5 seconds barrier.
2. Security: Google labels websites, without an HTTPS or SSL certificate, as non-secure. It is an indication to the consumers that such sites have the risk of hacking. So, ensure your website has the green “lock” symbol for customers to have the confidence of sharing personal information while transacting.
3. User-experience:  You have seen the mobile-friendly terminologies and how they differ. To give users the best experience, your site should provide the exact information they want quickly. So, a mobile-first site is more suitable than a responsive site requiring users to zoom in and out to view correctly.  
4. SEO: Google’s announcement in 2015 makes it very clear mobile optimization was now a factor for search engine rankings. When your ranking is high, it means more visibility and more visits which can increase conversions and overall sales and productivity.  

Why Do I Need a Mobile-Friendly Website?

If you want new customers and your business to grow without losing existing clients, yes, you need a mobile website. Mobile device usage shows 5.22 billion users for 2021. 80% of internet users own a smartphone and can use it any time for some online search_[2]. 

Customers look for a good and quick experience. If your site gives them trouble while viewing on their mobile, they will close and move to your competitor’s site. It affects your reputation, and when they talk to somebody, they will not speak about your site but about your competitor.   

Google says any business, regardless of their size must have a mobile-friendly responsive website. 

Not every home maintains a desktop or laptop, but most have a smartphone/ tablet. During the recent lockdowns in early 2020 due to Covid 19, people could only get their requirements online. People approached an online store on their phones or preferred to download their apps. If your website is not responsive or has no app, you are simply losing business. 

There is some great news for retail brick & mortar stores in the digital era. 

A survey has confirmed 88 % of consumers who search for a business on their mobile will call or visit the store within 24 hours_[3]. This means they are willing to buy offline if you are available within a close vicinity.

How to Build A Mobile Friendly Website

How to make your website mobile-compatible. 

• When a visitor approaches requesting some information using their mobile phone or tablet, the layout and display of your web page must automatically adjust to the size of their device screen. 
• Prioritize to provide key information first. Ensure your business address and contact details are prominently visible. 
• Keep navigation at minimal. The click buttons must be large enough for the users to click. The font and font size must be legible. 
• Compress all the images and files since large files will slow down the page load speed.
• Check your website to make sure it is mobile-friendly. 
• Hire a professional responsive website design company to do it for your website to get the best results. 

Conclusion

If you are doing business in the 21st century it is absolutely necessary for your website to be mobile friendly. With mobile phone usage at an all time high and showing no signs of changing you will be missing out on a lot of leads if you don’t optimize your site for mobile devices. 

If you want to learn more about how to make your website mobile friendly call Black Kite Marketing at (516) 259-1813. 

Resources:

_[1] https://www.oberlo.in/blog/mobile-usage-statistics 

_[2] https://techjury.net/blog/mobile-marketing-statistics/#gref

_[3] https://www.sweor.com/firstimpressions 

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The recent lockdowns and stay at home instructions due to Covid-19 saw online businesses booming and the in-person brick and mortar businesses taking a beating. People prefer to buy their services online and avoid the risk of going to retail outlets. While some business owners acted quickly and wisely to build their online presence, many still have to decide. 

If you are still in two minds about going online, read on to know why you need a website. Also, learn how to set up a basic website that will earn you new customers and improve your sales and productivity. You must invest in the services of a professional web design and development company to optimize your website. As a small business, you should not invest in an in-house team to set up and run your site.

How to Set Up a Basic Website?

Before going into the details, you must understand why your business requires a well-designed website. Here are the reasons you need a small business website:

1. Customers expect businesses to be available online

People search the internet to find information before making a purchase, even if it’s something they may buy from an offline retail shop. If you don’t have a website, people might presume you are not open anymore.  

2. Have control over information

A website represents your brand on the internet. You have complete control over what you wish to present and display with your logo and company branding instead of relying on your customers talking about your services. 

3. Sell products online 

Online sales have been on the rise for the past few years. Covid-19 hastened it further by keeping everyone at home. People had no other option than go digital for their essentials during the lockdown. Now, your customers can buy from you either online or offline. 

4. Around the clock service

Your online store sells your products 24/7, even while your retail store is closed or you are asleep. Being online allows you to compete with the bigger brands in the market.

5. More audience at a lesser investment

You place your business in front of millions of online consumers within minutes at much lower costs and faster than sending promo materials. Your website will show up on the search engines with proper marketing strategies.

Creating a website: You have two options: 

1] pay a nominal fee and use the website builder tool with ready-made templates (most of them come with a domain name for a year, an SSL certificate, and web hosting on a shared platform.) 

2] hire a full-fledged website design and development company or freelance website designers and developers to build a professional website and allow them to manage and market your business on the internet.  

The first option works to be more affordable, but by using ready-made templates to design your website your website might get lost in the crowd. Since several other individuals and businesses will be using the same designs and tools you want to be able to stand out from the rest.

If you hire a professional company like Black Kite Marketing we can design and manage your site making sure it caters to your objectives.

Setting up your website: 3 Steps

1. Register your domain name

Your domain name should relate to the products or services to easily enable your customers to find your business through a search engine. The domain name must be similar to your business name, and you should also use it for your email address. For a domain name, you must contact a domain name registrar, check if the domain name you choose is available, and finalize by paying the fee. 

2. Hire a web hosting company

You will need a web hosting company to get your domain name on the internet. Almost all the major internet service providers (ISPs) offer web hosting services. You also will get multiple email addresses. Web hosting charges vary according to the website’s size, the traffic you attract, and the type of server you use.

3. Prepare your content

Consider what you want your customers to do via your website. Think about the information your customers should know and structure it to make it easy for them to find and do the things they need. Then you can accordingly include the sections or pages.

At Black Kite Marketing we can help you with all the above requirements.

Features Your Website Should Have

1. You must have an insight into the industry 

With almost all businesses going online, the competition is increasing tremendously. While your website is the critical factor in enhancing brand equity, it is equally essential you know what is happening in your domain to create strategies for your website. Then you will have an engaging website to lure visitors and help conversions. As a new entrant, you might not be able to understand the market conditions to create crucial strategies immediately. 

2. Use the latest trending designs

The website must look attractive. When you use the readymade templates, the site seems stale and repetitive as many people use them. Consumers may not want to visit unless they find something unique and different. You must customize the site as per your business requirements. The web pages must be neat and the navigation smooth to give the visitors an enhanced user experience. It requires a professional touch, or your viewers will go away to the next available site. 

3. Website must be responsive

Most consumers try to access your website using their smartphones or tablets besides desktop computers. Hence, your website must be responsive and ensure that the visitors have a seamless experience across all devices. If you do not have an experienced and skilled designer, it is not possible to create a responsive site. Most small business owners are unaware of this technique and lose valuable customers. 

4. Website must be SEO-optimized 

Once you learn how to set up a basic website you will then need to make sure your website is optimized using the latest and best SEO practices. The website designer should know the various SEO requirements when designing the website. Only then will it help search engine crawlers to crawl the website without errors. Without proper SEO, online consumers will not find your business at the top of search pages. 

5. Website must be secure and reliable

The website must have adequate trust factors that preserve its reputation. Your team must know the compliance rules and take care of the security aspects. The page loads must be fast and easy to navigate. The website must be secure with HTTPS and have the Trust Seal on the checkout pages. You must convince the visitors your website is safe to do business.

6. Adapt new technologies

To keep your website innovative and ahead of your competitors, you need to upgrade with new technologies frequently. For this, you must have a strategist monitoring competitor activities and market trends. 

7. Maintenance 

Your website requires frequent monitoring for health checkups. There might be bugs during an upgrade or some component replacement, which can otherwise hamper the site performance.

Conclusion

If you look at the above factors, even setting up a basic website requires a lot of expertise. For your site to be functional you need a company or person that understands design, coding, SEO, security and maintenance. 

Can a small business like yours afford to invest in and build an in-house team? Instead, you will save a lot of time and money by hiring a digital marketing company like ours that caters to small businesses.

If you enjoyed our article on how to set up a basic website for your small business and are interested in learning more about how we can help contact us today!

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