Welcome back! Today, we are continuing our series on presentation tips to grow your small business, focusing on your online presence. Before you have direct contact with potential customers they have likely checked you out online. This is always true for us and our small business inventory system. Few of us even keep phonebooks today, and if we do we seldom use them to look up numbers. It’s much faster and easier to grab our device of choice and search for businesses online. From your position in the list of returned pages to the appearance of your site, customers are forming opinions about your business. Whether or not it seems reputable, successful and capable of meeting their needs.
If the only place your business appears online is a listing on a review site or an online directory you need to invest in creating a website as soon as possible. Our entry website for our small business inventory system is super simple, but nonetheless very important. We see hundreds of new customers per day so it's crucial we make a good first impression. Otherwise, you're likely to go to another solution for your small business inventory system.
Already have a site? We sincerely hope that your business appears within the first page of results for your most relevant search terms. If it doesn’t, it might be time to invest in some search engine optimization. Often people go with the first option they find. If your business is too far down in the list you’ll be overlooked. Once you get that click through to your page, it’s your chance to wow your customers.
That doesn’t mean bombard them with information, or flashy, moving graphics. Those trends have come and gone. Today, the focus is on streamlined design. According to elegantthemes.com there are several trends to incorporate into your website design in 2015.
- Responsive design - Provides optimal viewing across a wide range of devices. Let’s face it most of us have devices of various sizes that we use every day. Your website needs to look great and be easy to read on all of them. Both our small business inventory system and website are mobile friendly. Usability is one of our main goals.
- Ghost buttons - transparent clickable items. Ghost buttons are there without drawing attention away from the rest of your message.
- Bigger Emphasis on Typography - creative use of fonts. Use fonts to create visual interest,but don’t get too carried away. Your font choice should enhance your message not distract from it. A mix of too many fonts can be more annoying than appealing. Choose wisely when dealing with typography.
- Large, beautiful background images - visually stimulating, these images catch the eye and draw the viewer in. The right background image can really make your website stand out and be memorable.
- Scroll over clicking- a faster way to present information. This has technique has been popular for several years now.
- Card design - uses “cards” to display a variety of information. If you have a lot to say, this is a great way to fit it all in without making the page look too cluttered.
- Flat design - a minimalist design without gradients, shadows or other techniques to add depth.
- Microinteractions - a contained product moment that revolves around a single use case.
- Interactive storytelling - a form of digital storytelling where users impact the storyline.
- Personalized UX - Creating content that is personalized to the user such as suggestions based on their past interactions with your company.
If any of these tips seem confusing or unfamiliar, it might be time to invest in getting some web design help. If your website fails to impress your potential customers they may not take the next step to actually contact your business. Your site needs to impress them from the start. It needs to provide more than just your contact information and directions to your business. While it tells them about your products or services, it needs to also say that your company is capable of serving their needs and that you are a growing, successful business.
Looking for a simple, sleek small business inventory system?
One of the things you never want your website to say is - SOLD OUT. To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, use Stockpile. Our small business inventory system will allow you to track your inventory so effectively, you’ll always know what you’ve got and when you need to reorder. Stockpile, just another way we help your business succeed. Check back with us soon for most tips.
