6 Effective Web Design Tips for Startups and Small Businesses

Andrian Valeanu

Andrian Valeanu

Andrian Valeanu

4 min. read

Updated October 25, 2023

Whenever you are starting your own business and creating content for a new brand, the design is the most important thing. The design brings people to your website, your blog posts, your social media, and all the other content you put out into the world. 

In order to make your design the best it can be, you need to make sure it can be seen and stand out above the crowd. Here are 6 of the best design tips for a startup business, to give you an advantage over the competition.

1. Be clear about your offer

In the world of design, more isn’t always better. Just because you can put in a picture or really cool font… that doesn’t mean that you should. You probably have an idea of what your startup business is going to be about, and that should be the star of your design.

If you plan to start up a gardening business, you don’t want to put pictures of cars all around the website. That confuses your customers, and a confused customer is a customer who won’t buy your goods. 

What you are offering should be at the forefront of your marketing and your design. If you don’t know what you are offering, then put the article down until you do!

2. Pick a scheme and stay with it

You should have a format for every piece of content that you design. It could be a format of bright colors, a minimalist format, or something as simple as a colored border. However, whatever your format and design scheme is, be consistent!

Make sure to keep the same fonts across all your webpages, use the same colors, and if you have a special intro or outro; keep it the same for everything! Radically changing every single page might seem like a way to show your creativity, but it often hurts more than it helps.

3. Have impactful calls to action 

You can have the best design in the world, but if your audience can’t do anything with it or isn’t inspired to take action, then you are in trouble. Make sure to encourage people to buy your products, use your services, or take you up on your offer.

Landing page call to action example

You can check out this post from Designmodo, for a deep dive on the three best ways to design your content around your call to action. You want to draw attention to them, and that’s how you make sales.

4. Make the website accessible 

Your websites can be accessed from several devices, all of these devices with different screen sizes and resolutions. In order to work with your clients on any device, you need to make sure that your website can be read easily on any device.

Optimizing your website for phones, iPad, and computers will only increase your marketing techniques. Spend some time on those designs and make sure people can find the information they need. You can still keep your themes and formatting the same on different devices. And don’t forget about your email accessibility, it’s important to maintain the same design style in your email newsletter and landing page website.

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Finally, the logo is the doorway towards your business, so you’ll need a good one. Your logo should be in your business cards, your social media footers, your emails, and everywhere else you want to focus your business. 

Make sure to keep your logo clear and focused on what exactly you do for your customers. If you are a writing business, make sure your logo communicates that. If you are starting a gardening business, use garden imagery. The logo is the biggest part of any startup design, and you need to get yours right.

6. Have clear directions

Your website should have clear directions to bring someone from a landing page to your home, about, and services pages. You want people to stay on your website and eventually end up looking at your services, so you need to show where everything is. 

example of using clear steps to navigate a site

You don’t want prospective customers looking around your website and not knowing where to find your contact information or your pricing. So make sure every webpage is clearly marked and displayed at the top of your website.

Work hard on your design

A lot of startup businesses focus on the end product, and what value they’ll provide to customers once they purchase the product. However, not a lot of businesses focus on getting those customers in the door and creating a process.

A lot of that process starts with the design of the website. The design is what brings people into your website, and it keeps them around to look at all your content. And if your online experience and content serves their needs, it’s more likely that they’ll eventually buy your products and services! 

The design shouldn’t be something that you skimp on whenever you start up a business. If your designs are effective, then it’s the best way to get your startup or small business on track for growth.

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Content Author: Andrian Valeanu

Andrian Valeanu is a founder & editor-in-chief of Designmodo. He is a web designer and indie maker who is interesting in the field of information technologies, web design, and email marketing.