A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Small Business Website with Examples

In today's tech-savvy world, it is no surprise that small businesses are focusing on building their business online. The point isn't just about selling your products or services; it is about providing value to your existing customers and attracting new ones. Running your small business website should not be an arduous task. In this article, we will discuss how to to build and maintain a professional-looking small business website.

Unlike a brick and mortar store, that is open for fixed business hours; your online store is always open. So anyone can have a look at your product or service offerings anytime they want. With an online store, you can instantly follow up on leads and get your sales team to answer customer queries. Your customers may have questions regarding a particular product or need help researching, which is the best buy. You can help them by providing specific information and drive sales. 

With an online website, you can target a global audience. It is one of the best means of advertising your brand. As more and more people visit your site, you can turn them into qualified leads and happy customers.   Here are stunning product design portfolio website examples designed for your use. 

But, if you do not design and don't have coding knowledge, is it challenging to create a small business website that is powerful, well designed, and professional?  Not at all!

A good small website builder offers functional, easy-to-use templates, great design themes, an integrated e-commerce store, client galleries, and free, secure hosting. Pixpa provides this and lots more! Start designing your website today. Also, see what are different types of websites to help you showcase your work.  If you make handmade items, you may have thought of using Pixpa. But, there are alternatives such as etsy.

Let us first begin by listing the reasons every business, big or small, must have a portfolio website and why Pixpa is the right platform for you to choose.   Here is an example of best small business website templates you can check.

8 Steps to Creating a Successful Small Business Website:

1.    A Professional Website Reflects Your Goal

Your website needs to have a professional look and feel. It must appeal to the customer and give the right view of your product or service offerings. You must plan and prioritize on what your customers need and then strive to deliver on their expectations.

Keep your website clean and clutter-free. At first glance, a visitor will look at two things – the design and user interface of your website. Do check out our step-by-step guide on how to design a website. A small business website design is important as most people recall things that they see. So keep this in mind while selecting the pictures and design for your website. Make sure your selection is in line with your brand identity and delivers your brand message.

Here are a few points you need to keep in mind while creating your brand presence online :

• A strong Visual identity – logo, colors, fonts, and design
• Precise Positioning of your business – high end, luxury, affordable, natural
• Attractive Packaging design for your products
• Website content – Let us discuss content in detail.

2. Content is King

People who visit your website do so because they are interested in your products or services. They may be looking for your brand online.  So it is essential to provide them with detailed information about your business. High value-added content will help them make a better choice. Create your own story, add moving product pictures, and write a blog. This content will help get your message across to buyers, in a much more effective way than sending out brochures and print collaterals.

Adding customer testimonials and reviews to your website is an excellent way of impressing your potential buyers. Depending on the nature of your business, you can also add help articles, video tutorials, or PDF's in downloadable format.

3. Information Pages

Your website must have an About and Contact page. Do fill in your details, including mailing address and phone numbers, so that your customers can reach out to you.

4. Mobile friendly E-commerce Website

If you want to set up a full-fledged e-commerce website, where you can showcase and sell your products, you need a mobile-friendly E-commerce platform. Selling a product online allows you to reach new customers and increase sales.

A clean, well-designed small business website gives the customers the confidence to shop on your store. A cluttered interface, spelling mistakes, will make the customers leave in no time. Make sure your e-commerce store theme is mobile friendly. As more and more people switch to mobile devices for browsing and shopping online, it is essential that you choose a responsive theme for your e-commerce that works well on all mobile devices.

5. Enabling Online Payment Options

Once you are selling your products on your business website, you must invest in a shopping cart and offer online payment options, so that the transaction process is easy. Your customers should have the option of paying via debit card / net banking/credit card.

You can connect your store with PayPal, Stripe to set up the process and enable your visitors to check out online. Enabling online payment methods will boost sales.

6. SEO

You can optimize the SEO for small business website with keywords, meta-descriptions, and titles, to appear on search engines, giving your business more visibility and attention. Here's how you can start writing great SEO content.

7. Integrate Social Media

Most business websites have social media integration. Add links to your social media profiles on your website's header or footer to let your site visitors follow you on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter. Use social media buttons to allow visitors to know more about your brand, contact you, and share your content. A good small business website builder will seamlessly blend the social media buttons with the design of your portfolio website.

8. Web Hosting

Web hosting service allows businesses to keep their website accessible to visitors. Once you have an available domain name that fits your brand, find a hosting provider and platform. All Pixpa websites are hosted on a secure cloud infrastructure powered by Amazon Web Services but if you're looking for other affordable options, consider monthly hosting plans that allow you to stay on-budget easily.

Need Help in Setting up your Small Business Website?

There are many business website builders out there. Pixpa is an all-in-one platform that enables you to create your portfolio website, e-commerce store, client galleries, and blog. This small business website builder is easy to use, and it's drag and drop builder helps you to build your website without any coding experience. All Pixpa design themes are made to work on all modern browsers and mobile devices and use the latest HTML, CSS, and Javascript technologies.

Here is why Pixpa is the best website builder for small businesses to build a strong brand, increase traffic, and drive sales:

Beautiful, responsive, customizable themes

Choose from fully-customizable, responsive website themes designed to create a beautiful small business website. You can also change your website template anytime quickly to refresh your site.

Powerful image galleries

The Image Galleries are packed with powerful features. You can add images, videos/ HTML slides in your gallery. Add photo captions or enable IPTC data import. Choose the way you display each photo gallery by selecting from over 20 layouts styles - from horizontal or vertical scrolls, dynamic or square grids, and slideshows.

In-built blogging

Your Pixpa website comes with an in-built blogging platform. You can start blogging easily with integrated blogging tools. Several blog layouts, tags, embedded media, and commenting make blogging easy and expressive. See you can design your own blog, with helpful guide and examples.

Client Galleries on Pixpa

You can streamline your workflow and let your clients view, proof, purchase, share, and download images on any device. You can also sell your images as prints or digital downloads. Learn more about Client Galleries here.

Integrated Ecommerce

You can easily add an online store to your small business website and sell physical products, digital products, and services. Managing inventory, order fulfillment, discounts, shipping rates, and taxes can efficiently be executed on your store. You can also add e-commerce enabled galleries on your website to sell your images as prints and downloads to your clients. Use Client galleries to sell and deliver images directly to your clients. Creating pricing sheets, automating print processing, digital files delivery is possible on your Pixpa Ecommerce store.

Read about E-commerce enabled galleries here. https://www.pixpa.com/ecommerce/stores 

Mobile Gallery Apps

Pixpa allows you to create personalized photo gallery apps to share images to your clients quickly and with ease. Your clients can add them to their mobile devices as apps and access them easily anytime. Mobile responsive apps are a great feature, as smartphones have changed the way we do business. Clients now seek information on the move. Easy accessibility of Mobile Gallery apps will drive revenue.

Read more about features of Pixpa Website here: https://www.pixpa.com/features

Let us look at how this translates into reality. We have rounded up a list of best small business websites on Pixpa. Some of these businesses feature their products and services on their small business website, while others sell their products across categories through an eCommerce store. This guide can help in understanding of ecommerce website development.

Have a look at these small business website examples to gain inspiration on how to build your website:

Zombot Creative Works

Zombot Creative Works is a game creative agency. They have been partnering with game companies across the globe to help identify their business needs and offer practical solutions. Zombot uses the Front theme. The homepage of the website gives a clear idea of their area of expertise, list of clients, and showcases an impressive studio shot. Due to such features, Zombot can be said to be one of the best small business websites examples

Josiah Lewis Images

Josiah Lewis is an acclaimed art director and has worked with photographers, directors to get the best images for his clients. The effective use of full-width high-quality images and typography communicates his brand positioning and message.

Tattoos by Delan

Tattoos by Delan has a clean, clutter-free look and feel. Delan is based in Oregan, and he communicates his service offering – both custom and creative tattoos to the visitor. He has highlighted his Instagram presence and showcased the big, stunning images of his designs.

Hello Gorgeous 

Hello Gorgeous by Kelly Monique offers custom Children theme parties and teepee sleepovers in Houston and surrounding areas.

Indi & Em

Indi & Em is an Australian brand that offers fabulously fizzy drinks that are natural and healthy!  Available in two flavors, the Passion Fruit and Cheery Cola Kombucha drinks have added green coffee bean extract. The website design is simple and focuses on pictures on the home page. The two product offerings are featured prominently on the Products page.

Minorfret Guitar Repairs

Minorfret Guitar Repairs is based in London. Over the years, Angus, a professional guitar technician, has repaired and maintained modern and vintage instruments in London's Denmark Street and developed his experimental instruments. Brilliant imagery and a clear identity make this website stand out.

Creative Ville 

Creative Ville is a Bangalore based creative boutique. They offer clients, creative and branding, photography and videography services, social media, digital marketing support in addition to the print and production support.

The Blue Ridge Mountain Cabin

The Blue Ridge Mountain Cabin is a perfect mountain getaway. It features incredible panoramic views of the mountains of North Carolina and great night views of the valley. Their business website gives precisely what they need to know – reviews, breathtaking photos, information of attractions close by, a calendar, and a contact form.

Adventure 18

Adventure 18 is a one-stop-shop that provides the right gear for adventure expeditions. The website has a clean aesthetic and showcases a range of products varying from apparel, footwear, accessories for climbing, camping, rock climbing, and mountaineering.

Conclusion: 

Having a professional, up-to-date small business website makes all the difference. Keep your content fresh and showcase new collections, consistently work on SEO, and update your blog. Share new content on your social media channels. It is a sure-shot way of building a brand and growing your business.