Why do you need a professional website design company?

There are plenty of software programs business owners can purchase that can be used to create a website. Also, most web hosting vendors offer online tools that businesses can use to build a site. Why, then, would a business ever consider investing in a professional website design company?

The goal of every business should be to move a new prospect towards getting them to Know, Like and Trust you. Your website is one of the best tools you have to do this, yet many business owners fail to realize the benefits of getting professional help for their site. Here are seven reasons to consider hiring a professional web design company.

Branding

Picture yourself talking to a client for the first time face-to-face. They're looking at you and listening to what you have to say about how you will help them. Do you want to look your best, or dress like a slob? Should you speak intelligently and professionally, or should you mumble and slur and whisper?

Your website is often the first thing potential customers will see from your business. It needs to be an accurate and attractive representation of who you are. When business owners build their own websites, they're more apt to make mistakes that can tarnish the impression they leave with visitors. And even owners that are flawless in their site execution will still struggle to create professional-looking graphics and creative layouts that separate amateurs from professionals.

Organization

Websites that look great can still be very poorly organized. Most businesses have a lot of information that they can convey to visitors, and that information needs to be organized and structured so that first-time visitors can easily find what they're looking for.

Good site organization usually involves spreading content across multiple pages, creating drop down menus, secondary menus, and good site maps. it also means making sure that the most important information that a business needs to convey is done so in a tasteful, prominent, attention-getting way. For instance, businesses that have a few key services might utilize a rotating slideshow on the home page where each slide highlights a particular service. Large buttons for major actions and text that give clients a clear Call to Action are also critical design elements.

Functionality

Your customers expect more from your website than a few pages of text. The days of online brochures are over. The phrase Web 2.0 refers to better designed websites and sites that are more dynamic and interactive. Many businesses, for instance, allow their customers to create accounts online, login, view orders and restricted information, pay invoices online, and other advanced functions.

Today, every business should be utilizing a Content Management System for their website. The Drupal CMS implementations that we provide, for instance, provide a robust platform for adding advanced features like eCommerce, premium content, calendaring and event registration, newsletters and more. However, implementing a CMS correctly is definitely not a project that most business owners should take the time to tackle.

Social Media Integration

Unfortunately, many small business owners think that putting a Facebook widget on their website means that they've integrated social media. Instead, they need to be advised on how to make their website a bridge between the different social media platforms. Visitors to your site should be able to get to your social media accounts to Like, Follow or Subscribe to you, as well as easily share specific pieces of content they may find on your site that are interesting to them, like blog entries or pictures. Someone who finds you on YouTube, for instance, should be able to get to your website, and then follow a button to your Facebook Page so they can Like you and get regular updates from you via Facebook.

More importantly, a good web design company can advise you on how to use social media to actively promote your business and grow your customer base. Many small business owners look at their Facebook Page as just another place to post ads for their services. Businesses who fail to use social media correctly are merely wasting their time.

Search Engine Optimization

Optimizing a website for search engines involves more than adding a Meta Tag for some keywords. First, a website must be structured in a way that allows search engines to easily and correctly index all critical text. Business owners who are not familiar with how search engines work can easily bury text within images, frames and Flash and essentially kill their site's chances of getting listed.

Second, business owners typically struggle with the concept of targeted keyword phrases, and need assistance identifying what their keywords really should be. Once identified, a good website will make good use of those keywords both programmatically and within content.

The search engine landscape is constantly changing, and most small business owners do not have the time to keep up and ensure that they have a good understanding of what makes for good SEO today. Every professional web design company should have a firm understanding of how to optimize your site for search engines and advise you regarding the best methods to improve your Search Engine Results Placement (SERP).

Resources

Business owners that spend time trying to learn web design software and are working on building a website are not focused on their business. Instead of running your business and doing what you do best, you're wasting time learning a skill and software that you'll rarely use. Instead, you should be spending your time honing the skills you really need to run your business, and leave website design to the professionals.

Return On Investment

In the end, business owners that try to build their sites themselves receive a poor ROI. They spend many hours of their own precious time working on a project and most are unable to achieve the level of results that a professional web design company would. Therefore, the finished website is not as successful as it might have been

We strongly advise all serious business owners to consider hiring a professional website design company for their website and Internet presence. If you need web assistance and would like a free consultation from Stadia Studio, please contact us.