Web Design Can Make or Break Your Small Business!

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Some people would say that we’re living in the age of E-commerce. It’s not hard to see why – nowadays a large proportion of product sales have moved to an online arena. In fact, the rapid rise of E-commerce over recent years has been so profound that certain large chains have been completely taken off the high street and other chains have gone out of business entirely, as web-based companies have swiped the bulk of their customers. So, any good business owner will start questioning – what is it about the internet that consumers just can’t get enough of? If you understand the answer to this simple question, you can use it to your advantage, boosting your profits. So, let’s take a moment to analyse this market trend and work out how you can best use a functional website to your advantage!

The Benefits of Operating Online

It’s easy to see why operating online appeals to business owners. After all, it’s a whole lot cheaper to run an online store than a traditional brick and mortar store. Traditional brick and mortar stores accrue all sorts of costs, including commercial property rent (or a commercial property mortgage), overheads such as gas, electric, and water, furniture and other decorations, and display materials to show your stock off in its best light. You are also going to have to employ multiple staff members to operate the stock room and work the shop floor. When it comes to E-commerce, you don’t have any of these outgoings. But this benefits the customer as well as the small business owner. If you have fewer outgoings, you can reduce the price of your stock while still making a profit. This will encourage consumers to opt to shop with you over your competitors. Another benefit of being able to shop online for customers is that they can shop from the comfort of their own home. They can browse your goods around the clock, meaning that it doesn’t matter if their working hours or other responsibilities don’t align with your store opening hours, and they can then have them delivered straight to their door. A final point to make is that by operating online, as long as you offer international shipping options, you can open your brand up to a worldwide audience too – you never know where your next biggest customer base may lie. As you can see, having a website can make you a whole lot of profit nowadays. So, what do you need to bear in mind when setting up? Read on to find out!

Effective Web Design

Various studies have shown that a combination of aesthetics and positive user experience are the main contributors to customer satisfaction with any given website. While you want your website to look good and incorporate visual branding, you also need to ensure that users can navigate their way around it easily. If people are struggling to operate your website, they are likely to abandon their basket and close their tab. So, you need to ensure that your landing page is simple, your products are easily accessible, and that there are clear links to important pages such as shipping information, exchange and return policies, FAQs, and your blog.  Now, it is possible to create a user-friendly website yourself from scratch. When it comes down to it, nine times out of ten everything to do with web design is based on CSS and HTML coding and you have just as good a chance of understanding this as anybody else. But you will have to take extensive lessons and go for a trial and error approach until your website looks exactly how you want it to. This isn’t ideal, especially if you want to set up sooner rather than later. So, instead, you should choose a custom web development company who will be able to put their existing knowledge and years of experience to use. A consultation will allow them to understand exactly what you want from your website. They can then bring your ideas to life! They will also be able to guide you in the right direction if you suggest something that is a little controversial or ineffective. After all, they will have worked on so many websites that they’ll have a good idea of what appeals to the consumer market and what doesn’t.

Hopefully, this brief introduction to the importance of web design has encouraged you to not only set up a website but to make it as appealing as possible for your users!