business website

9 Tips for Building an Attention-Grabbing Business Website

Photo by Monoar Rahman from Pexels

Your website is an important part of your business. As a matter of fact, it is one of your main marketing and sales tools. Moreover, setting up a free WordPress website is a reasonable step when you’re running on a tight budget. And the best part is, you don’t need to be a developer or a designer to have an optimized, professional-looking business website.

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems. That’s because it offers business owners the flexibility to build and customize their websites. What’s more, they don’t need to know coding or have design skills.

On the other hand, this is also why many businesses have websites that look alike. However, you can easily turn your startup website into a professional business website. All you need are a few plugins and widgets along with a unique design. We’ve gathered a few of our favorite tricks here. Don’t wait to give yourself a polished business website.

1. Pick a Customizable Theme

When you set up your website with WordPress, you get a default theme. A few businesses make the mistake of keeping that theme, assuming online users will be focusing on your content, products, or services. This cannot be more wrong. Having a unique theme is the number-one factor that attracts users and encourages them to navigate through your website. If your website is just another boring, plain website, why would they bother looking around?

Luckily, WordPress offers multiple customizable themes. You can change the color schemes, fonts, images, and more. But then there are also themes where customization is limited or without it at all. These themes were specifically designed with certain features that won’t help you.

There are also open-source themes that have a page builder feature. These will allow you to adjust the layout of your homepage. Some popular ones are Mythemeshop, Make, and SiteOrigin. They let you organize your content and customize your layout. What’s more, every single detail is customizable so you can turn it into your unique website.

2. Choose a Custom Domain Name

You can get a website for free but your domain name is something you’ll need to pay for. You could get a free domain name, but those are too long and unprofessional.

Usually, a domain name costs from $2 to $20 per year. But if you have a startup business, having your own domain name should be a basic step. It will show your customers that you run a serious business and have an established presence online. Plus, having your website as “www.businessname.com” looks better than “www.businessname.wordpress.com.”

3. Stick with a Clear and Simple Design

If you have a customizable theme, setting a professional and clean design will be easy.

Let’s start with the homepage, since that is generally the first thing online users see. Your homepage shouldn’t be cluttered with a lot of widgets, banners, and content. It should be simple and easy to get around. A page builder can help you set your homepage with a clear layout.

As for the color schemes, you need to have colors that represent your brand. For example, use the colors of your logo.

Generally, try to choose soothing, friendly colors and stay away from colors that are either too bright or too gloomy. Most open-source themes offer unlimited color palettes to choose from. For your theme font, make sure the typography is large and clear so your readers don’t need to squint while reading your content.

Your website design doesn’t need to be complicated or overdone to attract users and encourage engagement. You just need your website to represent your business in the best way possible. If you are having difficulty deciding on the colors to use for your site, you can always use an online service like Helpfull.com to get quick and meaningful consumer feedback on the best color scheme to use for your website.

4. Display Your Logo on Your Favicon

At this stage, your business probably already has a logo. However, if it doesn’t, now is definitely the time to start working on one. Your business logo represents your business and brand. It is something you should prominently display on your website. A favicon, which is the small icon that appears on the website’s tab, should always display your logo. In this way, your visitors won’t lose sight of your website, even if they have a lot of tabs open.

5. Use Widgets on Your Business Website

Widgets are a beautiful addition to the design. What’s more, they facilitate the user’s experience on your website. WordPress offers a number of free widgets with most of its customizable themes. These include search, RSS, social icons, and more.

However, don’t add every widget you find. This will only clutter your website. Instead, check out the ones that are available. Then add what you think is necessary or will improve your site.

The social media icons, for example, are a must in every business website. Make them available in a sidebar, in the header, or at the end of each blog post. Social shares should be a big part of your marketing strategy. This technique will enhance that approach.

6. Don’t Hide Your Contact Us Page

Don’t hide your contact information by showing it only in the footer of your website. Your contact us page is something that you should show clearly in the menu, as well as in your footer. Customers who pull up your business online want to be able to verify your address and confirm there is an easy way to connect with you.

If you run a home business or startup and want a commercial address for your business, use a virtual business address service. These addresses are usually prestige locations in major cities, which is great for business marketing. You should also include your email address and phone number. Moreover, be sure to include a contact form so that people can reach out to you.

7. Make Your Navigation Menu Easy to Use

WordPress has a default setting that creates a new tab on the menu with every new page. This can create clutter and look messy. To avoid this, set a clear menu with just the main tabs. Then you can add sub-tabs under each main tab.

You can also use WordPress mega menu plugins to enhance your menu. You’ll find features for adding background images, more sub-menus, a scrollable option, and more. An easy-to-use menu will encourage user engagement.

8. Optimize Your Blog

Your blog can be your best tool for drawing traffic to your website if it is optimized and utilized efficiently. Therefore, you need to be up-to-date with all the news in your field. Moreover, you’ll need to continuously come up with new blog post ideas and update your content regularly.

What will make users stay on your page?

  • Featuring images with posts
  • Using infographics to explain steps or give instructions
  • Having plenty of white space or dividers that match your theme between sections (This will help to organize your blog post.)

RELATED ARTICLE: 8 WAYS TO CREATE POWERFUL WEBSITE INFOGRAPHICS THAT YOUR USERS WILL LOVE

9. Create a Professional Footer

The last section on your website might just be the most important section and the one most users scroll down to. Why? They will expect your footer to contain links to all the important pages or categories on your website. Be sure to include a link to your contact us page and your about us page, as well as social media links, and perhaps an email subscription widget. (WordPress has three basic footer widgets you can check out.)

Your footer will have a default setting of the theme’s copyrights. Check to see if this is customizable when you’re setting up your theme.

Finally

These are just a few tips that will help you to get your business website looking more professional and polished. By following these tips, you’ll increase website traffic and gain loyal customers.