Web Design Company Foresees New Trends in Web Design for Small Businesses

It is a normal human trait for people to stick to what they are used to, and shopping habits are no different. To draw the same analogy, online shoppers tend to buy from the same sources they are used to. A greater percentage of sales made by web business owners are usually to repeat buyers. Any online business that can utilise this to their advantage will save a lot of money on marketing costs, and make more sales.

The goal of every small business with an online presence is to get a lot of traffic and convert most of that traffic into returning, paying visitors. As more businesses establish an online presence, competition increases for the dollars spent by online shoppers. As such,  web   design  trends have changed in the last few years to reflect the goal of web businesses to own sites that attract visitors, retain these visitors and keep the shoppers spending. This is the main reason designers are creating websites that have the ability to retain visitors or at the very least, retain their personal information through the use of opt-in forms, free subscriptions, etc. Such information can be used for purposes of follow-up advertising via the use of auto-responders.

The trends listed below are all geared towards that singular goal of getting and retaining traffic, and converting that traffic into sales.

So what are the  web   design  trends we expect to see in 2010 and possibly beyond?

1. We are going to see a shift towards small business branding their online presence in order to have a lasting impression on site visitors. This will be achieved by using oversized headers, hand drawn designs on the web pages, bold and imposing slab typefaces (which are usually all upper case letters), all in an attempt to leave impacting images that site visitors can identify with and relate to a particular web business.
2. We will see homepages that look more like personalized, online business cards, with emphasis on the individual small business owners and their blogs. Customers are drawn to personalised businesses; they like to see the face of a business and not some faceless individuals hiding behind a corporate cloak. Corporate images took a hit during the global economic crisis in 2008, as many big name companies collapsed, heavily affecting consumer sentiment. After all, “people buy from people (they trust and like)!”
3. We will see more homepages using huge and colourful images that will not only draw customers into the site, but create a visual impact that leaves a lasting impression with the customer.
4. We will see sites being designed to be more customer-interactive. Customers will like to see that they can make inputs into what they want out of products they are interested in, and if a web business tailors their products and services towards customer’s needs, this will likely lead to increased patronage.
   
5. We will see the use of oversized footers and intro boxes that will tell the customer in a flash what a small business is all about. This takes away the complexity of designing an “About Us” page.
6. We will also see greater use of magazine-layout styles for the homepages. This enables site visitors get just about all the information they need to get about a business without having to keep scouring through the site just to get a hang of what the business has to offer.
7. Another new trend is to find a cost-effective way to get more traffic. We have many traffic-boosting tools available to webmasters now. We will see more back-linking, blogging, use of social networking sites and article reviews, all in an attempt to corner traffic from the web.