Practical Web Design Tips for Your Established Business

Running a successful business in today’s digital age requires having a strong online presence. Whether you’re a new business operating without a website, or an established company with an existing website that isn’t quite hitting the mark, understanding how to get the most out of your online platform is crucial. 

If you’re wondering whether your current website is truly working for you or are actively planning a redesign, we at Surge Web Design are here to guide you through the process. 

Essential Questions for Your Website Redesign:

Before diving into color schemes or content writing, it’s important to ask yourself the right questions early in the process. This will help guide your decisions and ensure your new website meets your business objectives. Here are some essential questions to consider before starting development of your new website.

• What do you like about your current website? Take an honest look at your current website’s strengths. Which features are working well, what content resonates with your audience, and what elements of design are still in line with your brand? Understanding what’s already successful helps ensure you keep the good while improving on the rest.

• What do you dislike the most about your current website? What are the most significant pain points of your current website? It may be an outdated design, poor navigation, slow load times, and/or content that no longer reflects your business.

• What feedback have you received about your current website? Consider feedback from multiple sources and see if there are any patterns. Feedback will be subjective to each user, but if you get multiple responses that the website is hard to navigate, then that may be something to focus on with your new website.

• What impression should visitors get within the first few seconds? Your website is your potential customer’s first impression of your business. Do you want to appear warm and approachable, established and trustworthy, modern and cutting-edge? Visitors form opinions about your website and business within seconds. Your website must instantly communicate your brand’s core values and what sets you apart from your competitors.

• What is your goal with a new website? Before writing new content or implementing new design ideas, ask yourself what you want this new website to accomplish. Are you looking to generate leads? Showcase your portfolio? Provide customer support? Help your company be more visible online? Your primary goals will drive many of the decisions you will make throughout the development process.

Content Considerations for your Website:

Content is the backbone of your website. It draws customers in, keeps them engaged, and ultimately drives them to take action. The following tips will help you determine what existing content to keep or update, and what content needs to be added. 

Know Your Customer.

Because you already have an existing customer base, you probably have a better understanding of your customer’s questions and needs than when you first started. Use this knowledge to determine what content you need on your website.

• What information do customers frequently ask for?

• Who are my primary customers? What is their demographic? Age, gender, location, etc.

• What problems or needs do my customers have that my business and/or website can solve? Is there a problem I can help them solve through information on my website?

• What are my customers looking for when they visit my website? Are they looking to buy right now, looking for a service, specific products, or informational content?

• What product sells the best? What are your most profitable products? You will probably want to have the most content about your most profitable and bestselling products.

Maintain Brand Consistency. 

Your website should feel like it fits with your existing business. Maintaining brand consistency during a website redesign ensures that your site not only aligns with your current goals, but also preserves the trust, recognition, and identity your customers associate with your brand.

Consider the following:

• Use your established color scheme and typography.

• Include familiar imagery and visual elements (if your first site has primarily stock photos, it may be time to consider investing in a photographer to take professional photos of your team and your business for your website.)

• Ensure the overall aesthetic matches your business’s personality.

Remember, customers who know your business should immediately recognize your brand when they land on your website. Now is not the time to suddenly change to a different logo or colors than what is on your building, vehicles, and other existing advertising. 

Invest in Content. 

Content is king, but it needs to serve a purpose. High-quality content is essential for engaging your customers, building trust, and converting potential customers to actual customers. 

Here are some important content features to ensure your website is both engaging and effective.

• A compelling “About Us” page that tells your business's story. Include information about your brand, mission, values, and team. Take a look at the ‘About Us’ page for our client, Albertson Construction. It effectively communicates why the founder started the business, highlights his experience, and emphasizes what makes his company stand out from the competition.

• Clear statements of how you are different from your competitors. Why should someone choose you over your competitor?

• Clear descriptions of your products or services. High-quality images and pricing information are important to include. If you don’t list prices you may want to use words to convey the price point such as ‘affordable,’ ‘cost-effective,’ ‘competitive pricing,’ ‘premium,’ or ‘high-value.’

• Customer testimonials and case studies.

• Regular blog updates. Regular blog posts are a great way to not only continue to give your customers relevant content relating to your business, but it is a great strategy to increase your SEO (search engine optimization).

• FAQs to address common questions. Check out the FAQ page for our client, Big Boy Movers. It answers key questions quickly, allowing potential customers to quickly determine if the service is the right fit for their needs.

• Clear contact information and business hours. Customers can't buy from you if they can't find you.

Remember, quality trumps quantity. It is better to have fewer pages of high-quality, relevant content than dozens of poorly written or outdated pages. 

Prioritize User Experience. 

Your website should be intuitive and easy to navigate. This means:

• Creating a clear menu structure.
• Ensuring important information is no more than a couple clicks away.
• Implementing responsive design. 
• Optimizing page load speeds.
• Determining what systems need to integrate with the website. (payment processing, etc.)

Don’t Forget SEO.

Don’t overlook the importance of SEO in today’s digital world. SEO is crucial for driving organic traffic and improving your site’s online visibility. Search engine optimization (SEO) should be built into your website from the ground up.

• Research relevant keywords for your industry and include them in your content.
• Plan your site structure with SEO in mind.
• Ensure all pages have proper meta descriptions and titles.
• Optimize images with alt text.
• Create SEO-friendly URLs. 
• Plan for local SEO if you have a physical location.

Website Maintenance.

 Remember that launching your website isn’t the end; it’s just the beginning. Website maintenance is key to keeping your site running smoothly, up-to-date, and optimized for the best user experience.

• Regularly update or add content to keep it fresh. This is important for your customers as well as SEO.

• Listen to customer feedback and make improvements accordingly. Your site should be evolving to meet needs and reflect new information.

• Check for broken links. Regularly audit your website for broken internal and external links that could hurt user experience and SEO.

• Monitor website performance.

• On-Page SEO: Regularly update your content, meta tags, and inmates to ensure they are optimized for search engines.

• Technical SEO: Monitor your site to ensure search engines can ‘crawl’ and index it properly.

Ready to Redesign Your Website?

Your website is often the first impression potential customers have of your business. Investing in content and a site that represents your brand and serves your customers’ needs will benefit you in the long run.

Need help bringing your vision to life?  At Surge Web Design, we specialize in creating websites with custom content and robust SEO for local businesses. Based in Boise, Idaho we service all of the United States. 

Call us at (208) 391-3413 for a consultation.