When you’re starting a new business, having a website is crucial. Today’s world is a digital one and people are looking for solutions to their problems using the Internet. As a smaller startup that wants to succeed, you might not have a huge in-house design team to work with. Avoiding common mistakes and knowing the basics of actionable design will go a long way.

Whether you are almost ready to launch your startup or just in the beginning stages of creation, the tips below are designed to bring in more visitors, create a stronger brand, and achieve better conversion rates. In a nutshell, design can help you succeed.

1. Keep Your Design Simple

When choosing a design, there are three things to consider: being brief, keeping things crisp, and staying engaging. It can be tempting to create a website riddled with options, images, and choices, but that’s the last thing you want to do. Make your interface simple and remove items that aren’t needed by visitors to the site.

Try to make your navigation simple to use, the website itself easy to get around, and include things people are used to like a clickable logo and a search bar. If you aren’t familiar with basic web design, the Internet has all sorts of tools and resources to help you out. An example of good Startup is Unspam.

2. Be Consistent in Terms of Color

It might seem fun to use all sorts of colors for your websites, but it can be overwhelming for users. Be as intentional in this area as you would be choosing what kind of social media accounts you choose to use. Take time to develop a set of brand colors that people will associate with the company to create a consistent message.

Those who want to branch out from the brand colors can do so but be cautious about your choices. It’s essential to use the same shades and only combine colors that look great together. Complimentary colors tend to be an excellent choice for startup websites.

3. Place Yourself in the Mobile-First Mindset

When creating a startup website, it’s essential that it looks good and conveys all the most critical information. However, that can be easier said than done when you consider that people use devices ranging from personal computers to laptops, smartphones, and tablets. Focus on the mobile audience first to ensure that even the smallest screens show crucial information and offer large call to action buttons.

When working on a website for a computer, the whole experience can be considered at once. There’s a lot more whitespace available where you can add images, data, and videos. Designers can use their imagination and creativity to do a bit more but remember that the mobile website should be considered first.

4. Cut Down on the Number of Used Fonts

That “less is more” mindset from above also applies when it comes to fonts. It’s more important to keep a website readable than it is to add unique fonts. If you have a lot of font variation, it can make your content distracting for users to read. When you use no more than two fonts, readers will find it easier to gather the information they want.

When you have too many fonts, it can make the website seem unprofessional and chaotic. Choosing one or two lets you keep a consistency to the website to make the site feel more trustworthy and cleaner. You should also make sure the copy contrasts with the background and that there’s plenty of space between text lines.

5. Pay Attention to Your Call to Actions

It’s not uncommon for designers to forget to make sure a catchy call to action (CTA) is included on your website. Having high conversions is likely one of your top goals, so test the final CTA that you plan to use on your website is interesting to your audience. Make sure the message is understandable and clear so that customers know what you expect.

To ensure your CTAs work, large buttons are best. You can use a bold color on them that is more likely to catch the eye. Another method that might work is incentivizing taking the action you want from visitors. Instead of asking people to sign up for a newsletter, for instance, offer a discount or a gift for doing so.

Design Made Easy for Startups

Increasing conversions and sales is a lot easier when your startup website looks great and keeps viewers interested. The tips above can help you ensure you have that on your side. As a startup, your website is one of the best ways to reach new customers, so make the most of it.