The human brain is wired to give great weight to “first impressions” – and a professional website design delivers just that: It immediately assures casual visitors to your website, some of whom are potential clients, that your company is worth doing business with. So if you want to offer a strong, professional image to your new and current website visitors and customers, it’s vital that you choose a professional web designing agency to work with.
Does 'Design' Really Matter?
The simple answer: YES, it does. There was a time, back in the 1980’s and 90’s, where the predominant web site design philosophy was: “Build it and they will come”. Those were the days when the internet was in its infancy, and online marketing didn’t occupy the central role that it does today.
As a result, anyone that had even a cursory web presence automatically had a competitive advantage over competitors that were not online. This also worked, to a lesser extent, in the 1990's and up to the year 2000.
All that changed as companies went global, consumers went mobile and everyone expected more from a website. Today, a web design agency that cannot deliver a highly professional and engaging site to its customers will quickly go out of business. Why? Because their customers will soon be losing business to their competitors – all because they are no longer competitive where it matters: online.
So what makes professional web designs stand out, and what are some of the salient features that you should ask your web developers to include to make your site competitive?
What The Professionals Suggest
The world of designing websites isn’t static. In fact, new design concepts, trends and technologies are evolving every day. However, today’s web designing professionals must understand certain aspects about websites in order for them to be considered value-added partners for you – the client.
Here are a few reasons why professional website developers should be engaged, as opposed to “fly by night” freelance operators:
1) A Window to your world: Websites are often the first point of contact for your customers. They offer a window into your businesses’ personality. You want to project a positive and professional image to your future customers. Entrusting that task to “just a web designer” (instead of a professional web designing agency) would be a huge misstep.
2) Expanding your reach: A professional website designing company is aware that business today is not just about “selling during business hours”. They understand that potential clients can come from anywhere – not just from behind a desk-top PC. And they realise that business opportunities aren’t limited to a specific place. Hence, you need to work with a partner who can deliver responsive designs to your websites. Only a professional web design agency can deliver to those high standards!
3) Going beyond the conventional: Marketing and business promotion opportunities these days go way beyond conventional website marketing or traditional newspaper or TV advertising. To be effective, a professional designer will integrate social media platforms into their web site design, allowing your site to go beyond what was traditionally a websites’ domain!
4) Outsmarting search engines: Search engines are “smart” and “clever” these days, with algorithms, BOTs, Crawlers and Indexers constantly sniffing your online content. Unless your web design partners offer them the “scent” they are looking for, your online presence will likely be relegated to a place much lower than your competitors.
Professional designers know that your web content must match wits with search engines. They do this by helping create Search Engine Optimised (SEO) content that will win over a search engine, putting your website above your competitor’s in search queries.
5) Optimising your day: Time is money today, and most business owners don’t have too much time to manage their web content online. Teaming up with a web design agency that can deliver content management functionality (such as user friendly content management; drag-drop capability; easy content staging and launching) is the best way to make the most out of your limited time and resources.
Unfortunately, not all web designers are adept at integrating such functionality into their designs. It is just a select band of professionals who can support their clients take advantage of the power of Content Management Systems (CMS).
More Than Just Website Coders
Truly professional web designing is not just about efficient coding – it’s also about offering prudent advice; listening to your needs and building a vision to support those needs; and providing you ongoing consulting and support once your sites have gone live.
And it is only a professional website designing agency that can truly offer that type of a holistic experience that will grow your business's profitability. If you have any questions about your online presence, from design to hosting, ease of updates to website security, give us a call on 01-6216866 or email info@myit.ie .
