The first rule of thumb when it comes to small business website design is to keep it simple. A cluttered, busy website will only serve to confuse and frustrate visitors.

Stick to a clean, minimalist design with clear navigation so visitors can easily find what they're looking for. And use plenty of white space — or empty space — around text, buttons, images and other important elements to draw the eye where you want it to go.

A clean, simple website will not only be more aesthetically pleasing, but it will also paint a more professional impression of your business.

When in doubt, less is always more when it comes to small business website design.

The next step in creating a small business website that converts is to use clear, concise text.

Your website visitors are not going to stick around and read through long paragraphs of text. So make sure you get your point across quickly and efficiently.

Use short sentences and bullet points whenever possible to make your content easy to scan. And be sure to include calls to action (CTAs) throughout your site so visitors know what you want them to do next.

Whether you want them to sign up for your email list, book a service or make a purchase, CTAs help to guide visitors towards taking the desired action.

In addition to using clear, concise text, it's also important to use high-quality images on your small business website.

Images are a great way to showcase your products or services in action, humanize your brand and add some personality to your site. But using poor quality images will only hurt your chances of converting visitors into leads and customers.

Make sure all the images you use on your website are high resolution and have been professionally edited. And, don't rely too heavily on stock images.

If you're not a professional photographer or graphic designer, there are plenty of online tools that can help you edit your images to make them look more polished and professional.

Hiring a photographer is also a worthy investment, as you can use the images not just on your website but in all of your marketing materials — online and off.

In today's world, it's more important than ever to have a mobile-friendly website. With over half of all web traffic now coming from mobile devices, you can't afford to ignore this growing trend.

A mobile-friendly small business website is one that's easy to navigate and use on a small screen. This means having a responsive design that automatically adjusts to fit any screen size, as well as large font sizes and buttons that are easy to tap with a finger.

If you're not sure if your website is mobile-friendly, you can use Google's free Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check. Just enter your website's URL and Google will analyze your site and let you know if there are any issues that need to be fixed.

Making your small business website mobile-friendly is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your chances of converting visitors into leads and customers.

Plus, Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in the search results, which means more visibility in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

Another great way to build trust and credibility with website visitors is to include testimonials and reviews from past customers.

If you have any positive press mentions or online reviews, be sure to showcase them prominently on your small business website. You can also create a separate testimonial page where you can feature longer-form customer reviews.

If you don't have any testimonials or reviews yet, reach out to some of your past clients and see if they're willing to write a few words about their experience working with you.

Including testimonials and reviews on your small business website is a great way to build trust with visitors and improve your chances of converting them into leads and customers.

One of the most important things to remember when designing a small business website that converts is to offer multiple conversion paths.

What this means is giving visitors different ways to take action on your site, depending on their needs and preferences.

For example, if you're a local business, you might want to include a "Call Now" button prominently on your website so visitors can easily get in touch with you by phone.

But you should also offer a contact form for visitors who prefer to email or chat, as well as a link to your business's Facebook page.

The more conversion paths you offer, the more likely you are to convert visitors into leads and customers. Make sure to give your website visitors multiple ways to take action on your site.