Are you a small business owner considering launching a new (or revamped) website? Awesome, we’d love to help you with that! However, we also understand there are times you may need to handle it yourself. That’s why we’ve put together this list of 4 website design tips to guide you along the way.
Images are important…
…and in more ways than you may realize. The first of our website design tips is to optimize your images. They provide a “supporting argument” for your SEO efforts. For example, your image names should reflect your desired SEO results. More importantly, image Alt tags need to include your chosen SEO focus keyword or long-tail keyword phrase.
In addition, your image sizes need to be optimized. They should load quickly using the appropriate compression technique. If your website uses extremely large images with large file sizes, this will slow down your website. Subsequently, this lowers your user engagement score and will cause your SEO rankings to take a bit of a nosedive.
Use a responsive design
Another important website design tip is to use a responsive design. While many websites have been updated over the past decade to reflect this design language, we believe it’s important to talk about it for several reasons.
First, while website development often happens on a desktop or laptop, statistically speaking many users will access your site from mobile devices. This means that you should always keep responsive design in the back of your mind when building your website pages.
Furthermore, a few sites still use mobile-specific versions of their website. If your site does this, responsive design is a modern way to create a singular website that works regardless of your device type.
Remember your brand
Do you have a unified brand? This should include things such as:
• Your logo;
• Fonts;
• Brand colors, and;
• Tone of voice.
When creating your website, each page or piece of content should always incorporate your branding. This cohesive approach builds consumer trust while demonstrating your commitment to the details. It might sound odd to talk about branding as a part of a list of website design tips, but what it comes down to is how you present your brand online.
Learn a bit about SEO
How much do you know about SEO principles? It’s okay if you don’t know a ton (that’s where companies like Big Fish Local can help).
Nevertheless, for the business owner building their website, you’ll want to remember a few key SEO principles while creating your website copy. Let’s look at a couple of the easier ones to tackle.
Headers
Our first principle is why we consider this a website design tip rather than a strictly SEO tip. Remember that your website headers serve a functional purpose. An H1 header tag is your page title. If you use this throughout your site page simply because it’s a bigger, bold font size, you’re going to confuse the search engines trying to index your site. Each page only has a single H1 header tag.
Headers, Part 2
Your headers also support your SEO argument. If your page is about “cooking techniques for Indian food”, that long-tail keyword phrase should appear in at least one H2 header tag.
Your page copy
Assuming again that your long-tail keyword phrase is “cooking techniques for Indian food”, this phrase should appear organically a handful of times throughout your on page text. Make sure it feels natural because…
…Engagement Matters
User engagement can make or break your best efforts. Time on page, bounce rate, and sharability all play a role in your SEO. Ensuring that your content speaks to your customers is a great way to help boost the engagement component to your SEO.
