A website is more essential to a business in 2020 than a business card. It’s the best way to collect everything a potential customer needs in one place.

There were over 1.74 billion websites as of January 2020. While it’s true not all of them are active, that’s still a lot of competition in the search engine results.

Creating a professional website is one way to make sure you compete. Yet there are factors you need to consider during the design process.

Keen to design an effective website for businesses? Read on to learn more.

1. Use Flexible Design Options

Business needs change over time. A good website will scale and grow with the business.

Consider the traffic it can handle through your host to make sure it’s fit for purpose. You don’t want the website to go down because it gets mentioned on a huge news site.

Marketing strategies also change. For example, your client may not need a blog right now. Yet in the future, they may want to publish regular blog posts.

A professional website will offer these functions, even if they don’t need them yet.

2. Include Multimedia

Text on a website is great because it appeals to Google. It doesn’t always appeal to users. Including photos and videos helps you to tell a story in other formats.

Images are great for mobile browsing. Videos help to get your messages across in a common internet format.

They also help with accessibility. Users with visual impairments or dyslexia may struggle with text. Videos can help them navigate your site better.

3. Integrate With Other Platforms

Email marketing is still one of the best ways of communicating with customers. When designing a website, make sure it integrates with their email platform.

That means including forms to sign up for the business email list in different places around the site. It can also mean adding landing pages to capture users who arrive from social media.

4. Be Mobile Responsive

This is no longer optional within web design. Sites must be mobile responsive. That means you should be able to view them on any device.

Google even made mobile responsiveness a key factor in how it ranks your website.

Websites flow to fit the size of the screen. No more pinching and scrolling to try and read a homepage on an iPhone that was designed for a desktop view.

5. Boost Load Times

Design a website that offers a fast loading time is essential. Check that your chosen web design firm can create a quick website.

This sends signals to Google that your website offers a good user experience. They don’t have to wait long for the website to become usable.

It also means your visitors can find what they need quickly. That means they’re more likely to become customers.

Design a Strong Website for Businesses

Now you know how to design an effective website for businesses. Make sure it loads fast and works across a range of devices.

By using a flexible design, you can add more features to suit future needs. Always put the user’s experience first to make sure they can find what they need with ease.

Enjoy this article? Check out our web design articles for more tips and advice.