HOW TO DESIGN A WEBSITE THAT TURNS CLICKS INTO CLIENTS

Your website is the modern-day shop window: it should immediately grab your visitors’ attention. A well-designed site will compel your audience to browse around to see what you offer and encourage them to make a purchase or work with you! Your website is one of the most important factors that influence peoples’ decision to purchase from you: they want to feel like they trust you before they commit, so your website should reflect the value you offer, build credibility and tell your brand story. I know what you’re thinking: “I want to create a website for my small business that I’m proud of, but I don’t know where to start” or “I tried to DIY my website, but I wasted hours upon hours putting my content together just for it to end up not looking right!” 

After working with hundreds of creative entrepreneurs and small businesses on their websites, I’ve heard it all before! Whether you’re finally launching that pottery studio you’ve been dreaming of or want to take your wedding photography business in a new direction, building your own website can be overwhelming. It’s hard to design a site that aligns with your vision! Drawing on my years of experience creating stunning, high-converting websites for creative entrepreneurs, here are my expert tips on how to design a website that helps your small business reach new heights!

1. Make Sure Your Website is Quick to Load

Did you know that if your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, you’ve already lost a potential customer?! 🤯 Our attention span is short these days (thank you TikTok and Reels), so if you notice your website takes forever to load, the truth is harsh: people aren’t going to stick around long enough to see all of the amazing things you have to offer. Don’t lose out on clients and customers just because your website is slow! Make sure it’s quick and snappy so you can catch their attention right away and create a positive user experience.

2. First Impressions Count: Use High-Quality Photos and Multimedia Elements

People decide if they’re interested in your biz within 0.5 seconds of looking at your website, which means that first impressions matter. We often don’t want to admit that we do in fact judge a book by its cover, but the reality is that if your website doesn’t look fresh and modern, your content doesn’t match or things look outdated, people will click off. Your website should be your biggest cheerleader and make your products and services shine in their best light, so you want to fill your site with high-quality photos and multimedia elements that immediately catch your visitors’ attention.

Working with a professional brand photographer is a great opportunity to get up-to-date, beautiful content for your website that you can also repurpose for your social media and other marketing materials! Book a studio that matches your vibe, spend the day with a photographer and get some shots of you and your products: not only will you be left with content that makes your site memorable and inviting, but you’ll also have a fun day that will make you fall in love with your business all over again! 

3. Keep It Consistent with Your Branding

Your website is the foundation of your small business’s online presence, so it needs to be instantly recognizable, leave a lasting impression on your dream client and tell a compelling visual story. Your branding goes well beyond having a beautiful logo, it also includes your graphics, fonts, colours, images and tone. When designing your site, make sure all of these elements are consistent: trust me, it’s all in the details. ✨ Creating a visually stunning, recognizable brand is the #1 way to build loyalty and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Working with a brand designer is your answer on how to design a website that tells your story, resonates with your target audience and builds consistency across all touchpoints of your biz. If you don’t yet have a brand or it’s time to breathe new life into your branding to better reflect the direction you want to take your business, book your free discovery call here before you start your web design project (or let us do it for you). 😉

4. How to Design a Website with a Clear User Experience: It’s About the Journey and the Destination

So you’re getting amazing engagement on your Instagram and people are coming to your website: where do you want them to go when they get there? What do you want them to do? A lot of websites miss out on clients and customers because they don’t have a clear path for them to follow. Identify the purpose of your website: do you want people to shop for your products? Book with you? It’s about the journey and the destination, so think about the path you want your visitors to take as they navigate your site and where you want it to lead.

Once you’ve mapped it out, implement clear calls to action throughout your website that encourage people to work with you or make a purchase. “Learn more,” “work with us” and “contact us” buttons throughout your website pages create a streamlined user experience that naturally leads your clients through your website in a clear and easy-to-navigate way!

5. SEO-Friendly, Keyword Rich Copy

Your website should work hard for you — not the other way around. Professional copywriting ensures that when people are searching for something you offer, they’re directed your way without you having to lift a finger! Search engine optimization and copy rich with keywords puts your website in the search engines to attract more aligned clients — which is the key to creating a high-converting site. While making your website searchable, good copywriting will also tell your business’ story in a way that meaningfully resonates with your target audience, reflects the heart of your small business and engages your readers!

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High-quality websites generate more sales, period. But I get it: you might be feeling overwhelmed by the thought of having to overhaul your website. As an entrepreneur, you wear many hats and your energy is pulled in different directions, so you may not have the time or energy to DIY a new site! That’s why I’m launching The Template Shop: a collection of high-converting, STUNNING ShowIt website templates that guide you through how to design a website in just 24 hours. Simply drag and drop your content into and copy and paste your text in!

These templates check off all the boxes I listed in this blog post without wasting your valuable time and energy doing it from scratch with no direction when you could be focusing on the parts of your biz that you love. That means no more dealing with complicated WordPress plugins or web design platforms that are difficult to customize! 

Our templates are expertly crafted by a professional branding and web designer with years of experience creating websites that help small businesses grow. Click here to join to waitlist and receive 12 IG templates, 50 prompts and an exclusive launch discount! 🦋

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