More than likely you’re not in the business of design and that’s just fine. That being said, you should at least consider a few things regarding your business’ website and make sure whomever you’ve engaged to make or maintain your site is making good choices for your visitors. Here’s a quick checklist of the most perceptible and obvious site consideration.
1. CONSISTENT COLOR SCHEME
There’s a lot to know about color and how it can be used. As a small business owner, for now anyway, just focus on a simple question: How many colors are in my site’s color scheme?
In general, your colors should come from your company’s logo or perhaps your call to action image on your front page. But at most you should be looking at four colors to create understanding and drive interaction.
2. BALANCED AND HARMONIOUS
Open your site, no matter what the layout. Does it have balance? Your eyes should be able to pick a dominant feature (hopefully related to what you do!) and from there you should intuitively know what to do next. Your site should allow your visitor to flow through. (Ex: Nike, Google, Adobe) There should be a sense of harmony, a cadence that keeps your visitor engaged. Like this post? (1 – 2 – 3)
3. NEGATIVE IS POSITIVE
Probably the only time in life you’ll hear that! In this case, we’re talking about negative space or how busy is your site? Using negative space (lack of stuff) allows your visitor to be drawn to what matters (Your business!) and doesn’t make them work (Cognitive loads are bad mmmm kay?)
WRAPPING IT UP
These are just a few items that are easy to consider as a small business owner. Hopefully you look at your site and are able to nod your head in agreement with the above items. If not? We’d love to chat about the basics and a whole lot more! (Heck we didn’t even get into SEO or any of the finer points of site design)