As your business’s digital face, your website is what users will be greeted with when they Google you. Or when they type in the URL from a business card or similar piece of marketing material, they came across. Job’s done, right? Not so, especially if your website has been poorly designed. That would be the fishing equivalent of having a fish on the line and taking a pair of scissors to said line. In real terms, that’s your customer swimming away again – probably to a competitor’s website instead! If your website isn’t shining the best light on your business, all is not lost. Here is why you need to hire a web designer to tell you more.
To Create A Professional Company Image
First impressions count for a lot. That’s why most companies spend thousands of dollars on the likes of signage, brochures, and even their business interior. All of which is to portray the right message to their customers. Websites are no different, especially when your visitors are potential paying customers.
While your whole website is essential, getting the homepage right is crucial. Your visitors should know exactly what it is you do and how to access your services immediately. The message and overall tone need to look professional, in line with your company branding and ethos. On the flip side, a dated, immature, or inappropriate design could wreck your business image.
Hire a Web Designer To Reflect Your Brand Image
Tools such as MotoCMS or Wix have made it possible for even the biggest of technophobes to build their websites with ease – and usually for free. But choosing this option comes at a cost, with these tools offering only basic templates and themes upon which to build your website. In terms of customization, the scope is pretty limited. Creating your website with one of these simple tools will likely mean that it looks like another standard website amongst a sea of others, lacking the visual uniqueness that your brand deserves.
Your website is usually the first thing customers interact with – especially in 2020, where businesses big and small are transitioning online – so you must invest in creating a website that stands out from the crowd, and more importantly, reflects your business. A professional web designer will be able to create a customized website tailored to your needs. Creative and innovative by nature, a good web designer will always strive to create for you a design that leaps off the screen, attracting visitors with unique content and exciting visuals – something that a bland, standard template won’t achieve.
To Reduce Your Bounce Rate
Your what now? Your website bounce rate refers to users landing on your page and ‘bouncing’ straight off it again. They exit quickly and don’t return. Usually, this happens because the page is slow to load (too much image content can cause this), or the site is merely irrelevant. Some websites are also non-responsive, meaning they don’t load properly on all devices.
Poorly designed websites may have ads in the wrong places. Color schemes that are migraine-inducing. Text that is too small to read. The list is endless! If you’re not explicitly trained in web design, you might not even know how much the design is turning your users off. If you check your website analytics, it will give you a ‘bounce rate’ statistic. Use it and take action if yours is exceptionally high.
Hire a Web Designer To Optimize Page Speed
Sticking with the theme of bounce rates, let’s look at the importance of page load speed. We’ve all been there – trying to navigate a slow website can be painful. If you’re like most people, you’d probably jump onto the following website rather than waiting for it to load if this happens. Don’t let this be the case for your website! The slow loading speed can lose your potential customers in an instant, and it’s an issue that can be so easily avoided if you invest in a web designer who knows exactly how to tackle such problems. A web design expert will learn how to implement features and plugins specifically designed to improve your site’s security and speed. After all, what’s the point in laboring for hours to create perfect content and eye-catching visuals if images are not optimized and your beautiful website doesn’t load in time for users to see it?
To Improve Your Search Rankings
If you’ve done even the smallest bit of research into web design, you’ve probably come across the term ‘SEO.’ Short for ‘Search Engine Optimization.’ SEO is essentially the art of improving your website’s visibility in search engine rankings – and with the internet being one of the most valuable sources of income for businesses, having an online presence matters. A web designer will know how to boost your search engine rankings through various tactics such as optimizing on-page content, improving page speed, and much more. The more likely your website is to climb to the top of Google, the more visitor traffic you’ll have. Simple.
To Boost Conversions
If you sell products or advertise your services on your website, then the design can hugely influence how successful a marketing tool is. Even the basics, such as a clean navigation matter. After all, if your users can’t find that all-important online booking form, how will they do so? Likewise, your contact information needs to be displayed on every page too.
Websites that are chaotic or lack any sense of essential information hierarchy could be costing you the necessary business. A web designer can create unique pop-ups or promotional assets to boost the particular services you do. Sometimes, a fresh pair of eyes can make a difference, especially if they happen to be a skilled web designer.
Hire a Web Designer – To Sum Up
If it isn’t abundantly clear, the likes of rainbow clip art text or patterned backgrounds just won’t cut it for your website, especially when your business profits are at stake! Not to mention the time it takes to build a professional website – something that most businesses don’t have if they’re trying to get off the ground! With so much competition, your website needs to be professionally designed.
Regardless of what website builder you use, it’s always worth enlisting the help of a professional web designer. Just make sure you arm your web designers with project management software, so they can get their jobs done right. That way, your business has the best chance of success, especially given that so much of what we do is now online. While investing in a quality web designer comes at a cost, the return on investment you’ll see in the long run will be worth every penny.