Growing a start-up can be tough. There are so many things to take care of from marketing strategies, product creation and growth plans, all in the same day. A start-entrepreneur needs to simultaneously wear every hat.

In this digitally dominated world, it is also incredibly important for start-ups to have a digital footprint. Most people form an impression about a company, after they research about it and look at its website or social media presence. 

The minute they land on your website, based on visuals and design, they’ll be able to quickly form an opinion. This is why it is worthwhile to spend some time and effort and invest in your website and ensure that the design and development aligns with your goals and objectives. It is important that the website communicates with your business objective, goal and brand identity because your website is a way to establish a connection and trust with your users. 

While design trends come and go, there are a few established rules and guidelines that determine the trustworthiness of your website that have been stable throughout.

These factors as outlined by the NN group are;

• Consistent design quality throughout the entire website
• Being transparent and disclosing all the information that is needed for customer experience
• Being comprehensive, correct and current
• Being connected to the rest of the web

While visual and aesthetics are important for a strong website design, the website also needs to be functional, easy to navigate and easy to understand. If users have a positive experience on your website, they are more likely to make a purchase and turn into loyal customers. 

These are some of the important approaches in web design and development that startups should consider while designing their website.

1. Help Users Understand Your Product and Solutions

Most users just skim the text on a website, therefore you want to ensure that they do not miss out on reading the core sections where you explain or talk about what exactly your product is or the solutions that you offer. Incorporate videos or infographics that will help them understand your features, functionality and the use case of your offering. Videos will help users retain information much faster and also improve the UX and user’s impression of your company as a whole. 

Thus using these mediums will eventually increase sales for you.

2. Build Trust

All first time visitors to your website start at the bottom most level of the trust pyramid, or in other words – they do not have any trust established yet. So how can you help them reach higher levels of the pyramid? Some simple additions to the website such as testimonials, customers case studies are a good place to start. 

Other equally impactful and subtle ways to build trust are;

• Ensuring your website follows standard usability heuristics
• Establish connection with your users by allowing them to reach out to you and directly message any team member on Linkedin or social media.
• Ensure that your contact and about us page is updated with the right information and showcases your company culture
• Transparent and clear copy throughout the website
• Showcase partner logos
• Incorporate instant chatbots that tackles customer queries before they escalate to more serious concerns

Other smaller but equally important aspects include things like page load speed, concise visual language, no broken links, no ads or pop-ups that end up distracting the user when they’re trying to grasp the information that you’re trying to present to them.

3. Include a Page of Resources

An active and exhaustive page of resources is where the dynamic content of your website comes from. If your visitors find these resources useful, they will continue to keep returning to your website. It should serve the purpose of keeping your users informed and educated on subject matters closely related to your product and offerings. 

You could include resources like blog articles, white papers, case studies, tutorials and videos, webinars, industry news and even a FAQ section. 

If you include relevant keywords in these articles, these resources will also be helpful to boost your search engine rankings, making it easier for users to discover your website. 

4. Foster a Community of Engaged Users

When you invest in community building, your users will have a better relationship with your startup and also have greater trust in what you offer. A community is made up of followers, engaged or active members, and influencers. Influencers are the most active supporters of the organization that influence and moderate discussions that happen within the community. On the next layer of the pyramid are the more engaged or active users that are involved in all the discussions that happen and also influence others to start new topics of conversation. On the last tier are followers who join the forum just to follow and learn more about the product. If followers do not find the conversations or discussions relevant to them, they are more likely to drop off from the forum. If you have a strong group of active or engaged users, they can help in ensuring that the followers queries are always resolved quickly. 

Conclusion

Having a credible website is extremely important for creating trust and growing your startup. Keep testing and conducting user research to identify what is and what isn’t working in your website so that you can meet your users expectations and be on the right path for growth.