If you’re in the market to build a website for your small business, you must’ve had almost everyone enthusiastically advise you to use WordPress. They are right. WordPress is a top-notch website building platform, one that can be used to build a super slick professional looking website. We spoke with Daniel Ali, Vice President at My Quick Startup, to understand what makes WordPress a promising website building platform for small businesses.
He also shares deep insights into improving UX, optimizing for SEO, and the importance of certain design elements for a small business to establish themselves as a solid online brand. Read on!
What inspired you to start My Quick Startup? Tell us the story.
The goal of My Quick Startup was to create a business to help other business owners and entrepreneurs achieve their goals. We truly enjoy helping others succeed. In the current scope of society, online presence is a major factor for small and large businesses alike. Our goal is to help take the burden and heavy load of forming this online presence and simplify the process by creating engaging websites and getting people to visit those websites.
What makes WordPress a promising website building platform for small businesses? Share any 3 reasons why small businesses should use WordPress to build their website?
In my 5 years of experience, WordPress is just hands down superior to all other website platforms.
1. WordPress is open to any type of design that you want. There are endless themes to choose from that can be fully customized, with no constraints.
2. There is virtually nothing (for the most part) that you cannot do with WordPress, thanks to the wonderful world of plugins. There are plugins to accomplish almost any goal, without the need for custom and expensive programming.
3. WordPress is user-friendly. And for people who understand how to operate basic software can pick up the backend rather quickly.
Could you explain the importance of including a catchy logo, smart typography, and sufficient whitespace in the design process?
A catchy logo is branding 101. Your brand is what will make customers pick you from the competition. Typography is one of the fundamentals of conversion rate optimization. Clean, fluid, easy to read, and direct text sells.
Whitespace and equal spacing turn a clunky, overly distracting website, into a clean and easy to scroll through work of art. Clean design that is easy to look at and does not distract the customer makes for great web design.
Your customers are there to learn about your business and make a purchase, not pick through a distracting site for the important details. And so, a great web design is extremely essential for your business to build a customer base and brand loyalty.
What should web design elements small businesses keep in mind to create a website that offers brilliant UX?
1. Simple, direct text in your slider and headers that explains what you offer.
2. Use call to action buttons to let your customers know that it’s easy to get started or make a purchase.
3. Be active and keep your site up to date. People want to feel confident when they buy from you. If your site is outdated, they will assume your product is too.
4. Don’t suffocate the user with text on your homepage. Today, no one takes the time to read unless they are very interested. So, leave intricate information for the inner pages.
How does a well-designed website help a small business to build a strong online brand and customer base?
Whether you’re a pizza shop, barber shop, bathroom renovation company, attorney, or any other professional service or business. People are finding you online, and odds are they are also finding all your competitors. A well-designed website will enable you to stand out as a unique and trustworthy brand. Your site needs to let them know that choosing your company will be the best option they have available. Display your confidence.
How can small businesses optimize their website design for the best SEO ranking?
If using WordPress, SEO can be simplified by using a Yoast plugin. You will want to do some keyword research to be sure that you are optimizing the site for keywords that are actually relevant but be sure not to overstuff your pages with keywords. Create unique and rich content that Google will like. Include interlinking to pages on your site, include lightweight and optimized images, and post blogs regularly. Take the time to learn about structured data, and make sure your on-page optimization is addressed (particularly your robots.txt file, xml sitemap, URL structure, page titles, meta descriptions etc.).
Also published on Medium.