4 Modern Website Design Elements for Small Businesses

You have a great product, you’re active on social media, you’re writing new content for your website blog every week, but your traffic is still down and your customer numbers are dwindling.

Why?

Your old website is driving prospects and customers away, instead of attracting them. As a small business, you can’t afford to miss out on potential customer opportunities. You need to invest in modern website design elements on your website if you if you want to make it long term as a small business.

In this article, we’ll talk about how to tell if your small business website is outdated and the best ways to implement a modern design. Let’s get started!

How to Know When to Update Your Website

A modern, optimized, and updated website is one of the strongest and most effective small business marketing tools you will ever have. And you absolutely need to have a website to compete as a small business in today’s marketing and sales climate. Just having a Facebook account or depending on word of mouth advertising in your local community isn’t going to cut it if you want to grow and be profitable.

The modern consumer’s expectations are what sets the requirements for businesses. And their demands are ever changing. And consumers now demand speed, accessibility, efficiency, and a modern design.

When’s the last time you updated, I mean really updated, your small business website? Five years? 10 years? I’m willing to bet it’s costing you revenue, whether you realize it or not.

Here’s a short checklist to know when you need to update your website:

Your customers have complained about your website to you
You’re either losing customers or having difficulty attracting new customers
Your target demographic is changing, increasing, or expanding
Your business has significantly changed in size, product / service offerings, or industry
You don’t remember the last time you re-designed your website
Your existing website isn’t compatible or well-suited for mobile use
Your content is no longer relevant

If any of these examples fit your current situation, you need to think about partnering with a web development and design company. If you already have a web company you’re working with, bring up your concerns in your next meeting so you can start taking the next steps to invest in a better designed website.

4 Modern Website Design Elements Small Businesses Need

Mobile Optimization
Limited Color Scheme
Simple Navigation
Minimalist Page Layout

1. Mobile Optimization

WIth the rise of smartphones, Google has released multiple algorithm updates targeted at prioritizing mobile site search. All modern websites, regardless of business size, are expected to be mobile friendly. Even if the majority of your traffic isn’t coming from mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, it’s still a good idea to prioritize for mobile.

As technology changes and your target audience shifts, your small business website needs to be ready to accommodate those changes. You need to take the time to test out how your website appears on different sized screens. Do all your website plug-ins work properly? Are your pages loading quickly? Can you easily navigate through the website to find what you’re looking for?

Put yourself in your users’ shoes to test out and see what they would see!

You can also use this free, Google Mobile Friendly Tool to check if your website is mobile friendly!

2. Limited Color Scheme

A big turn off for website visitors is too many colors. Multiple, bright colors on a website’s home page might have worked in the 90s and early 2000s, but you need to leave it in the past where it belongs! Minimalism is now the preferred website design of the modern, online searcher.

Stick to a limited color scheme for your small business website, no more than two or three complementary colors. These colors should also be related directly to your brand. And apart from your website, all your marketing materials should follow the same branded color scheme as well.

You do need to study some color theory and modern design practices to properly market your brand and relate to your target audience.

En los sujetos con café con cafeína, el puntaje de depresión promedio mejoró de 4. 2 farmacia24encasa.com (intervalo de confianza [IC] del 95% = 1.

For example, did you know that the color yellow is associated with optimism and can convey a sense of openness? Did you know that blue is the color of trust and loyalty? Blue and yellow are our Cazbah brand colors. We didn’t pick those colors by accident. We wanted to be clear about what Cazbah stood for and still stands for today. Your brand and website colors matter, so choose wisely!

3. Simple Navigation

To continue with the minimalist theme, your website navigation also needs to be straight-forward and simple for your users to understand.

As a basic design rule, your website navigation should be no longer than about six tabs. If you want to highlight other pages, you can nest them under the appropriate tabs in your navigation. Make sure to have a “Contact Us” and “Blog” section highlighted in your navigation. You also want to specifically highlight what it is you do in your navigation as well. For example, if you’re a retailer that specializes in high performance hiking boots, have a tab just for that. If you do have a product or service you want to highlight in your navigation that has a unique name, use terms that your visitors are most likely familiar with instead. It’s not worth it to lose clicks over a fancy tab name.

Visitors are coming to your website for a specific reason, highlight what they’re most likely looking for to make their research and buying process as simple as possible.

4. Minimalist Page Layout

The more you pack into your website, the more places you’re giving your website visitors to click away or get lost. Design and develop your small business website with user experience in mind! Why are your visitors coming to your site? What do they want to know? How can you make that process as efficient and effective as possible?

A minimalist website design has several benefits:

Your website becomes more responsive and loads faster
Your visitors find what they’re looking for quicker
Your visitors are better able to concentrate on your site content, rather than distracting design
Your visitors expect to see a modern website (design your website the way your visitors wants to see it!)

You only have about eight seconds to grab the attention of your site visitors before they click away! If they see your homepage is loaded down with too much content, a busy and old style slider bar, low quality images, and endless pages, they’re going to bounce off your site.

Every part of your website from your URL to page template style needs to follow a minimalist design!

Here are a few minimalist design tips to get you started:

Ample white space
No extras (this includes image shadows, extra buttons, colors, fonts etc.)
Straightforward navigation
Simple backgrounds

In Conclusion

Your old website could be driving your customers away! Don’t lose customers because of your outdated website, do something about it! Take the time to invest in the modern website design elements discussed above to make the most of your small business website. If you don’t have a graphic designer in house, partner with a reputable web design and development company to transform your website into a tool that you’ll visitors will love!

Google Rating

4.7

Cazbah

NOVAIR USA Corp

18:52 16 Nov 23

We at NOVAIR USA are very pleased in our experience with Dan Kunz, Internet Marketing Consultant at Cazbah. Dan worked tirelessly with us, and with his team, to find solutions to many of our difficult problems as we went through an international corporate takeover with global expansion, a full rebrand, complete systems overhaul, integration of salesforce/hubspot/zoominfo and many other tools over the past year...all of which would have been very disruptive if it weren't for Dan and his team constantly finding satisfactory solutions. We are forever grateful.

Gene Waltz

19:21 29 Sep 23

Cazbah did a great job learning our business so they could create and evolve a website that delivered results. Their approach and process helped our business have the discipline to make our website a dynamic tool supporting our marketing and sales efforts. They also focus on quantifying the results of their efforts. The hits, clicks, and prospect time on our website increased dramatically as a direct result of Cazbah's expertise!

Adam Curtin

19:50 13 Sep 23

Monroe Extinguisher Company and Monroe Kitchen Equipment have been customers of Cazbah for close to 20 years. They helped us upgrade our websites from PDF-centric sites, and then they helped us evolve to have E-Commerce. Kennedy is our account manager and she has done a fantastic job pushing us to create content and constantly updating our websites. Matt Smith and Olivia Broersma have also helped us with managing our sites and creating content. Keep up the good work!

David Nathan

20:32 11 Sep 23

Cazbah is a great vendor to my former employer. As I moved on to a new opportunity, my desire was to hire Cazbah to help with the website. My project was not a perfect fit. We are on a tight schedule and the website requires a ton of work. Cazbah was open and honest about what the schedule and budget would would need to be. Their honesty is great appreciated. They shared ideas for the best way for me to move forward without them. I believe that this is the sign of a good/honest company. We part as friends and better having known them. Especially Kennedy. She was so helpful in my former role. Creative, timely, open and honest. I hope that I get to work with them again in the future. If your project is a good fit for Cazbah, and you don't use them...you are nuts!

Katherine Curtis

19:34 18 Jul 23

Cazbah has been with us through thick and thin in our journey. Chaz and his team (especially Matt!) set us up beautifully and Kennedy has really taken us to the next level. They hear our requests and give us solutions we didn't even know we needed that have provided results.

Fred Mileham

20:13 29 Mar 23

We have been working with Cazbah for almost 10 years now and they have always been very accessible, hands on and helpful in the design, implementation and ongoing support of our website. The SEO work has been outstanding and we continue to get quality contacts and orders through our site on a daily basis. A++ organization!

Bob Dreske

20:01 08 Mar 23

Cazbah is an excellent website developer. We have been with them for many years. I highly recomend them!

HSE

20:53 12 Apr 22

We have been working with Cazbah for over 7 years. Chaz, Dawn and the Cazbah team do a fantastic job with our website and our online marketing. We are primarily a B2B professional services firm that needs to have a professional online presence that highlights our extensive portfolio and experience. Cazbah did a great job bringing that presence and our high level of visibility to life!

Matt Sones

17:03 05 Apr 22

We have worked with Cazbah for years and have nothing but praise for their fast and knowledgeable efforts on our behalf. Highly recommend!

Jim Harden

14:04 05 Apr 22

Cazbah's total internet marketing solution is exactly what our organization needed. Internet marketing is not like a bill board that one can post and forget. It requires focused attention and a partnership with a team who knows where and how to focus internet activity, generating qualified leads. From targeted ad-word campaign management to developing web page collateral to drive up natural search engine rankings, Cazbah is truly a working partner. Since working with Cazbah our organization increased qualified leads 30% per year and many of our web pages are ranked top three nationally in the industry. We could not be happier. Thank you, to Cazbah and her visionary owner Charles Broersma!

Josefs Artisan Meats

12:27 05 Apr 22

Extremely professional and knowledgeable. Quick to respond to any issues/concerns. A personalized and thoughtful approach that makes you feel like you are their most important client - highly recommend.

Michael Kulzer

15:44 04 Apr 22

Cazbah has been a real pleasure to work with. They have drastically help with our website and created content that has brought more traffic than when we used to do Pay Per Click. They have targeted the right companies that has lead to a more qualified lead than ever before. Highly recommend this service for anyone that want to organically grow their website ranking.

Ken Reasoner

23:06 02 Apr 22

We are active on our Travel website that Cazbah created in 2020, grouptoursinc.com. We update our trips and some of the links on the site ourselves. They've created easy to modify pages with WordPress. If I need help, their Helpdesk is very prompt to respond. We definitely Recommend Cazbah.

LizaJ Bobseine

10:50 22 Feb 22

This company places a huge emphasis on quality customer service. Their staff are extremely responsive, to the point of being startling with how quickly they handle our requests. We are in the early stages of working with them to improve our organic search rankings and I'm hopeful, based on their work ethic and drive that they will produce outstanding results for my business.

Gary Lauchert

17:31 23 Dec 21

Dan has been a tremendous help in designing our website and driving traffic to it. We couldn't be happier with his service and responsiveness!

New Scale Technologies

16:19 09 Dec 21

A great help with keeping our site both user-friendly and optimized for SEO. Excellent Wordpress hosting and development, and so much more. Matt and the team make google ads work for us even with a relatively small budget, complex product, and narrow B2B audience. Back-end support is fast and effective! Very responsive to our requests for more features, too.

Simon Appler

15:24 28 Jul 21

Worked at an internship this summer, and my company worked with them for a website update. They did a very nice job, were quick to respond, and were open to support form me, not getting angry for overstepping! Would reccomend!

Christopher Galayda

14:30 24 Jul 21

Extremely knowledgeable and the best at what they do!

Richard Wand

22:31 15 May 19

Mike Zaccaria has gotten our website consistently better performance with his direction and guidance!

Glenn Jackling

16:34 13 Mar 19

Working with Cazbah has given us the opportunity to improve our website and overall web presence. With a dedicated account manager, we get personalized insights and recommendations through every stage of the process. They have been a great resource for our marketing team, and provide support on a number of digital marketing initiatives. I would recommend Cazbah to anyone in need of improving their website and overall digital presence.

Phil Roser

17:10 20 Mar 18

Cazbah has been doing and awesome job for us. Mike Ingersoll is great to work with and he knows his stuff and gets it done.

Showmark LLC

15:14 22 Jan 18

Cazbah has become a key part of our Marketing Team. Their professionals are always on top of the ever changing requirements and methods needed to have an effective online presence. They constantly give us new ideas for our website and push us into other social media campaigns with positive results that are reflected in our sales.

T lucas

14:38 21 Dec 17

Attentive, proactive and on point. when issues arise they are responsive and rectify them quickly. Lots of analytics, good customer service , solid marketing partner for multiple years.

Stef Cappel

15:49 19 Dec 17

Our family-owned-and-operated stores have been in business since 1945. Our evolution to include internet services began in 2004. We started working with Cazbah in 2009 and have remained a customer ever since. As in any long-term relationship, there have been a few bumps, but we are thrilled with the service we receive from Jeff and his team. Jeff acts proactively to ensure our site is safe, functional, and profitable and is always willing to respond to issues in a timely manner. I feel like we are a priority for him, even though I know he has many plates to spin! The 5-star rating is based on service, cost, and the return we see on this investment.

Dean Davis

23:24 14 Dec 17

Chaz and his staff are GREAT. Been with this company for going on 10 years. Yes we have had a couple of bumps in the road. No issue though, you call the owner directly and its fixed just like that. They do what they say and then some. A great resource for myself and my company. We keep in constant communication, share ideas and create great results.

Cate Bell

22:46 12 Dec 17

As one of Cazbah's early e-commerce clients we have grown our on-line business and continue to benefit from the team's knowledge, expertise and specific recommendations for driving sales. One of the most beneficial points is their dedicated account manager structure so that at least one experienced professional learns the ins and outs of your business and your web site, features and SEO efforts which means a fast response time when things need to be addressed. Hosting / server reliability have improved over time to be extremely reliable and the rare glitch is quickly addressed and resolved.

Tom Stortz

20:56 12 Dec 17

We have been with Cazbah for over 7 years and they provide us the web based tools for our small business to compete and grow. With their guidance, and our drive to succeed, the relationship continues to get stronger as the years go on. I've not once questioned their professionalism and trust their wisdom from all of their experience. They provide the backbone for our web growth. I would recommend them to small businesses who are looking to get support moving to a more e-commerce company.

Doug Turnbull

15:54 11 Dec 17

Turnbull Restoration has been working with Cazbah for over 10 years now and they have helped to keep us current with our SEO as well as given us incredible input to what works as well as, more importantly what we need to drop in the marketing side for us. Advertising is the single most expensive area that we have (besides labor), and having information to direct the funds in a know manor is a tremendous benefit to Turnbull. Be it print, electronic or promotional they can help you in how you track the various ways you try to get the word out. They are fair in their pricing and I would continue to use them as we move forward with the many promotional and tracking of our advertising projects we have as we continue to grab the top ranked spots on Google searches as well as many other search engines. Doug Turnbull

Roland Vollman

21:51 06 Dec 17

We have been with Cazbah for 9 years and are quite pleased with their knowledge of the web & was does & does not work. Everyone on the Cazbah team is knowledgeable as well as approachable. We will probably staying with Cazbah for the next few years at least.

Garth H McDonald

18:47 06 Dec 17

In today's digital age, sometimes it hard to know where to begin when searching digital solutions such as websites and marketing. Cazbah set themselves apart in some key factors. Taking the time, after a very difficult with a different company we had very specific goals. We shared these goals with our final three candidates. Chaz was the only one that took the time to respond to each goal with specific details on how to meet those. The served us before we were customers. We were in desperate need of High-Resolution Logo's. Mentioning it to Cazbah, they were more than happy to assist us in an extremely quick time frame, at an unbelievable price. Lastly, they delivered on their promises. Its hard to say everything, but I am been impressed at every turn on the quality of service we have been provided. We look forward to our continued partnership and hope that you will too!

David Skeldon

16:03 30 Apr 16

Internet Marketing tactics from Fortune 100 companies, applied to small and medium business. With hundreds of happy companies growing from their marketing and advertising insight and consulting, these guys are a brilliant and innovative team. Looking forward to seeing them help Rochester Boom again!

See All Reviews

4 Modern Website Design Elements for Small Businesses

How to Know When to Update Your Website

4 Modern Website Design Elements Small Businesses Need

1. Mobile Optimization

2. Limited Color Scheme

3. Simple Navigation

4. Minimalist Page Layout

In Conclusion

Resources

Blog

Case Studies

Infographics

Free Comprehensive Analysis