These days it does not matter whether you are a small Business, or a large corporate entity, it is imperative to have a business website for marketing your business to the rest of the world. No longer can a small business rely on a glossy brochure to effectively reach today’s consumers and generate decent revenue.

With the rapid development in online technologies and the change in consumer behavior, a small business needs a website that includes these 5 essential design elements:

1. Use Minimalistic Design

While some small businesses feel they need to add more to their website in order tostand up against larger companies’ websites, it is more effective to have a minimalistic approach when it comes to a small business website. Today’s consumers expect a user-centric website that only provides the information they need without unnecessary content, images etc.

2. Use Mobile Friendly Design

Much of today’s consumers depend on the use of their mobile devices in order to access information and purchase products/services, so in order to have an effective small business website which will meet the needs of today’s shoppers, it’s crucial to design a website which is Mobile Friendly.

3. Fresh and Relevant Content

The content you provide makes up the bulk of your website, so you want to make sure you provide fresh and relevant content to your target audience and do so on a regular basis. Providing good quality content will help with the conversion of site visitors to paying customers.

4. Include Trust Badges

If you’re a small business, it can be a little more challenging to convince site visitors that you are just as trustworthy as the large businesses out there, but an effective way to accomplish this is to include trust badges, such as SSL, which indicates that you offer a secure connection between your website and the users web browser.

5. Quick Loading Pages

In order to reduce bounce rates, it’s imperative to ensure that your website pages load within a few seconds at most. Make sure to use a dedicated server and remove any errors that may be causing page delays.

By including some key essential design elements in your small business website, you can effectively compete in the online market, alongside large e-commerce companies. Just because you’re a small business does not mean you can’t make a big impact on the digital landscape.