Today, the importance for businesses to have a commanding online presence is growing at a rapid speed and people are now much more aware of this requisite for success. Consumers rely on the internet to inform them about near enough anything but especially to gather information on products and services they are interested in purchasing. The internet gives customers the option to browse multiple retailers and organisations simultaneously, comparing various brands within the same industry until they find one that they feel is the best.

This means your business is always just one click away from being discarded in favour of a competitor. How are consumers making these judgements? They are judging your website, not only the attractiveness but also the loading speed, the content, the images, the simplicity of the navigation and how easy it is to use overall. This can pose a huge problem for smaller businesses who likely can’t afford to invest in a high-end website developer. A truly great website can cost thousands of pounds which can result in small business owners to struggle financially. However, there are now many tools available that could assist even the most technologically challenged individual to set up a great website.

Code for Website on black screen

Website Builder

Recently there has been an incursion of website builders being made available to access for just a small fee. These are online tools which allow you to build your own website from the ground up, so to speak. The tool is designed with a selection of different templates, layouts and designs already built in that are available to be selected by the user. One of the better known sites offering this service is Website Builder UK. This allows you to have complete control over the aesthetic side of your site. Every great website builder tool will have a rich choice of development features for you to select to create a user friendly site that calls customers to complete the desired actions on your site. These features include contact forms, photo galleries and button links to sign up or payment sections of your website.

 Man at desk using website on laptop

Knowing What to Choose

Naturally you want your website to be a digital representation of your brand, therefore the use of your bran colours and logo are all essential features of your site. However the most important aspects of a successful website is to be easily navigated and to look clean. Try to avoid having too much on your pages, whether that’s text, images or busy graphics. The customer’s eye should be drawn to the most important sections of your website naturally and should never find it difficult or it to take too long to fulfil the purpose of the website. For example, if you are setting up a website for your gym and you want people to sign up to memberships online, there should be a clear path to the sign up form from every page, whether that’s having a form on every page or having a button link to the form on every page, or even having it as part of the menu.