As a business owner having an outstanding website is an integral piece in establishing your brand.

As a website designer for over four years let me share with you five web design ideas for startups.

1. Keep it simple and direct

As a new business, you are poking your customers for the first time so keep your website simple, direct and user-friendly. You don’t want to intimidate your customers with dozens of pages or have them figure what your business is all about.

2. Remember mobile responsiveness

With the vast growing number of mobile device users, it is necessary to build a website that is mobile responsive. A mobile responsive website simply means it looks and functions well in any mobile device.

3. Be social

An average person (might include a bunch of your customers) in 2014 is active in at least five social media platforms – most commonly are Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Google Plus. Create accounts in these sites and connect your website to each one of them. On your website, integrate social media sharing buttons so that visitors can easily share your content with all their friends.

Aside from designing websites, I can also help you setup and design social media accounts for your business. Let me know!

4. Know your Domain

As much as possible, buy a domain name that exactly have your business name in it. Use words that are easy to remember and refrain from using hyphens and characters.

If available, buy the same domain name that ends with .org, .info and .net and redirect them all to your .com or main domain. There are two reasons for this; one is for customers to still land on your website in case they’ve mistakenly typed your main domain and second, to protect your business from copycats and hackers.

For domain and hosting, I advise you to use Hostgator, the only hosting company I have been using for over four years. You can use my affiliate link here: bit.ly/hostgator-ramboruiz and grab the 25% discount by using the code: blognirambo

5. Ask for help

Except you are a well-trained web developer with a comprehensive know-how of internet marketing, never experiment in building your business website alone. Seek an expert to help you in building your business website.

If you want to learn how to build your own website enroll in online courses or contact me so I can personally teach you.

If you think it’s about time for your business to go online, remember that a simple, easy to navigate and mobile responsive website will make your visitors happy and will satisfy even your non-techie customers. Integrate social media with your online marketing efforts by connecting your website to your social media accounts and give your customers the option to share your contents with their social media friends. Lastly, only use easy-to-remember words that end with a .com for prospect customers to easily find you.