7 Reasons Why You Should Invest in Web Design Services
Chris Mulvaney is the CEO of CMDS. I make things... I’m the creative entrepreneur with passion for (re)making brands and inventing solutions to problems no one knows exist.
Why should you invest a significant portion of your budget on web design services? It’s a valid question. After all, you probably know a freelancer or two that can build a website that’s good enough. Do you really need anything more than that from your digital frontend? Well, let’s see what would happen if you took that same approach to other areas of your business…
Picture the Scene…
You have just walked into a meeting with a high-value lead, that you’ve been desperate to land for months. In an effort to cover your bases before the big day, you’ve spent all night preparing a dazzling sales pitch. It’s witty. It’s persuasive. You’ve even managed to get together some colorful graphs to add some extra oomph to the presentation. There’s only one problem. You woke up late and had to rush out this morning just to get to the office on time.
After exchanging initial pleasantries with your prospect, you launch into your well-rehearsed spiel. Within 5 minutes, you notice that your lone audience member seems to have a permanent scowl on his face. Still, you soldier on and end the speech on a high note. Elated, you walk away from the projector expecting questions, applause, at least a smile. Instead, you get a noncommittal shake of the head and a handshake.
Once your prospect has left, you take a look in the mirror and realize that you have a large egg stain on the front of your shirt, and that the back of your head resembles a newly built bird’s nest. Furious, you walk out to your secretary to find out why nobody told you about these embarrassing oversights, only to be told that the client had also expressed disappointment at the fact that he wasn’t offered any water or coffee upon arrival.
So what did our protagonist do wrong? Well, they forgot the most important rule of business. First impressions are everything. This is especially true in today’s hyper-competitive environment, where individuals can access brands from all over the world with the click of a button. These customers will not give your products and services a chance unless you can convince them that your brand is worth paying attention to, right from the outset. Statistics show that users make up their mind up about whether your website accomplishes this goal in just 7 seconds. That’s where web design services come into play.
Web Design Services in the Age of UX
Remember when everyone was talking about the information age? When the Internet first started to become an integral part of our daily lives in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the focus was on how we could use it to transmit and receive data from across the globe. But after almost two decades, tech-savvy users are no longer wowed by the data-sharing potential of the Internet. In fact, they’re overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data they get every day through their smartphones, social media, computers and television screens. In order to consistently engage consumers amidst all this digital noise, you need to create user experiences that are more personal, more relevant and more creative.
Companies like Apple have made their name off of delivering high-quality UX. While iPhones and Macs may not offer anything substantially different from an Android smartphone or a PC, they are so much more intuitive and compelling to use. As a user you don’t have to deal with slow loading screens, unresponsive buttons or flimsy parts. On an Apple product everything works perfectly right from the start. If you want to build an industry-leading brand then you need to ensure that your website can match these same high standards.
Okay, But How?
At its core, your website is designed to do two things. First, it needs to deliver relevant information to your customers. Second, it needs to guide customers towards the next step in the purchasing process whether that means leading them to your online checkout or to a physical outlet. Professional web design services can help you create a website that meets these needs in a simple and aesthetically pleasing fashion.
What Web Design Services Offer
Build a Consistent Brand Identity
Every well-known brand has an immediately identifiable message and theme. When you think of Nike, you think of the white swoosh and Just Do It. Coke? You visualize white on red. Mercedes? You think of German engineering and that instantly recognizable three-pronged logo. Now, ask yourself what do customers think of when they imagine your brand? If nothing comes to mind, then you definitely need the help of a branding agency that can get your online presence to stand out.
Your website is the most important marketing tool you have. This single digital storefront has the potential to attract customers from all over the world, at any time of the day. When these primed leads end up on your website the last thing you want to do is present a muddled interface and forgettable visuals. This is your chance to really grab your audience’s interest and convince them of your business’s value. A web design service will work to understand your brand and the needs of your audience. They will then implement these insights into a unified brand identity. This could be your website’s color palette, to the images, typefaces and even the navigation options used.
When visitors leave your website, they’ll have a much clearer image of what makes your business different from all of the others.
Gain Customer Trust
Modern consumers are far more skeptical about the ads they are exposed to. Recent Salesforce reports have even gone so far as to say that customers have become immune to traditional advertising and marketing strategies. Essentially, what this is means is that the average business is finding it harder than ever before to gain trust and loyalty from their target audiences.
Now think about how much harder that job becomes with a poorly designed website. If a potential customer stumbles upon your landing page and finds a mess of stock images and non-functional links then they’re extremely unlikely to want to purchase from your brand. In real world terms, imagine a rundown store with a rude sales staff and outdated products. Is that really going to be the first stop on your weekly grocery run?
Web design services can help you set up a professional looking front-end that puts your best foot forward during every customer interaction. After all, imagine what a fresh coat of paint and some cool accessories can do to influence our feelings.
Beat the Competition
Any customer that’s interested in your industry can run a Google search and find hundreds of cookie-cutter business websites that look exactly the same. If you want to throw your website on top of the pile then you’re welcome to, but you should understand that this approach will only bring inconsistent traffic and conversions.
While your products and services might not be substantially differentiated, a custom web design and a smooth multi-platform user experience can do wonders to set your business apart. A web design agency can help you build a custom website that offers unique functionalities and features which cannot be replicated through a standard CMS template.
Climb the Rankings
When it comes to consistently drawing the right people to your website, SEO is essential. In case you’re not familiar with the term, SEO stands for search engine optimization. This tactic basically dictates where you place on a page when doing search on Google or Bing. Why does that matter? Well, how often you look past the first page of Google?
Your website’s search engine ranking is determined by a number of factors. This includes site loading speeds, choice of keywords, number of images, consistency of updates, types of media used, mobile friendliness and so much more. When you work with a professional web design service, these elements are integrated naturally into their implementations. When they add images or videos to your home page, they’re not just thinking about how they look or if they accurately reflect your brand image. They’re assessing how quickly each image will take to load, and whether the quality will translate well across different sized screens.
Integrations
When visitors browse your website, you want it to appear seamlessly integrated into their digital ecosystem. In other words, a customer doesn’t want to type in their information multiple times across your different web forms. They want the least amount of effort that it takes to complete an action. Web design services can help with this and much more. Utilizing API integrations can help your website function as a smooth extension of your CRM, call platform or other essential applications that help you run your business.
On the frontend, this capability allows customers to process payments, search out locations and check out your social media feed directly from your website. On the backend, this links your website to valuable internal data from your CRM systems and product databases.
When a visitor logs into your website, they’ll see product recommendations and content based on their purchasing history and preferences. When they browse your online catalogs they will be able to see which products are in stock. Basically, you can create a far more convenient and dynamic user experience. They do less work; you get more conversions what’s not to like?
A Streamlined Interface
We’ve touched on this before, but the importance of an intuitive website experience really cannot be overstated. There are a whole host of seemingly minor issues that can completely tank customer interest and compel them to click away from your home page. These issues could include:
- An overly complicated layout that includes too many visual and graphical elements. Customers don’t want to play multiple choice. When they visit your website they want to know where to go next to get the information they want.
- Intrusive pop-ups and advertisements are the bane of every web user’s existence. The fewer distractions you have on your website the better.
- Small or illegible font. Remember, a large portion of your users are going to be visiting your website through smartphones and tablets. If they can’t read your content then they’re not going to waste their time.
- Too many colors. Again, this goes back to establishing your brand identity. Unless you’re selling Skittles, you probably want to whittle your theme down to a few key colors.
- Slow browsing. Extra images or videos can do more harm than good if they add a second to your website loading time.
- Confusing navigation. Your menu options should be clearly labeled, as should any other interactive elements. If a customer isn’t able to locate buy button, then they might not end up purchasing anything at all.
CMDS Web Design Services
At CMDS, we have spent the better part of two decades developing and designing custom websites for businesses of every size, in almost every industry. If you’re looking to redesign your outdated storefront or set up an innovative home page for your new products then we can lend you the expertise you need. Contact us today, to find out how we can help.