How do you choose the right Web Designer and how do you make such an important decision?

With at least 80% of consumers first doing their research online before making a purchase decision, it is fair to say that choosing the right website designer to create your website is right up there amongst one of the most important decisions you will make on behalf of your business… but just how do you make such an important decision and decide which designer is right for your business?

Not all Website Solutions are the Same

You only need to read someone’s post about needing a new website to see that there are a myriad of designers and agencies out there, all seeming to offer the same thing… however, it is important to note that not all website solutions are the same!

So, what should you consider when appointing someone to design your website and how can you ensure that your website delivers your company’s message in an effective and professional manner and in a way that your customers will understand. Crucially, how can you be sure that your prospective customers will be able to find your website (and your business) when they are actively looking online for your products or services?

Marketing Strategy

There are a number of elements that come together to make up a great website and as all of these elements are interlinked, it is essential that one element doesn’t let the whole site down. These elements include:

• Design
• Programming
• Graphics
• Marketing
• Copywriting

The importance of an overall marketing strategy cannot be over emphasised when creating a truly effective website. Every aspect needs to be carefully considered so that the website will not only attract new customers, but once they arrive at the site, a great website will gracefully navigate the visitor through the site and subliminally influence them into wanting to invest in your product or service.

Sharing the Task Among Experts

You could say that your Website Designer is the Project Manager for your site and is in overall charge of its set up. Creating a quality, professional website certainly requires an understanding of web design, graphic design, software, programming, coding and Internet marketing. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that your Website Designer will do everything themselves; they may use experts to support them with the various elements. This is a sensible approach to web design as a website designer may be an expert in writing code yet they may not be the best at writing content, or they may not have a strong understanding of marketing and how to effectively communicate and promote a business on or offline.

Cutting Costs Could Be A False Economy

When looking for a website designer, you will no doubt find that the quotes you source will vary greatly in price. This is because the finished article will also vary greatly. Overseas or independent, one-man band web developers will obviously be able to offer cheaper rates as they will have cheaper labour costs and often won't have the overheads of an established business, yet you also have to ask yourself, “Will they be around in the future to support me?” and “Will my key selling messages be lost in translation?” Ultimately, your budget website could prove to be a false economy!

Site Management and Admin

If you choose to go down the one-man-band or overseas route, do make sure you go with a platform that is easy to self-manage and be sure to retain your admin passwords so that you can manage the content and maintain control of your site. In this instance, you should look to go with a solution like WordPress because WordPress is fairly easy to edit, providing you have the patience to learn and the time to spare.

If you opt for a managed solution and sign up to a regular admin payment scheme or are charged a fee every time you want to change something, the action of adding to a weekly blog can become quite expensive. Therefore, if you like the idea of keeping your news-feed up-to-date yourself, unless you know how to ‘code’, again consider WordPress. Of course, to self-manage your own website requires time and dedication to keep your news articles up-to-date and of course the ability to write effective content. As with all these things, you have to weigh up the benefits of cost versus time.

Mobile Friendly

Smartphones and other mobile devices are fast becoming the preferred method of Internet access, so by not having a website that is mobile friendly, will very likely result in lost revenue and lost customers as you will almost definitely miss out on opportunities to interact with potential customers who are turned off by a website that is quite simply ‘hard-work’. Not only this but if your website isn’t responsive, your Google ranking is likely to be negatively impacted as Google favours mobile responsive websites!

Fully Optimised

When creating a new Website, it is essential that it is not only mobile responsive but that it is also fully optimised so that search engines can find your business online. Effective SEO will help to position your website so that it can be found at the most critical stages in the buying process and when people are actively searching the Internet for your products and services. Great web design not only includes the front end and the way the website looks but also how it is optimised behind the scenes from the outset. Optimising a website from the ground up will ensure that the website can be easily found when customers are searching online.

Don’t Under Estimate Great Content

Content is a key ingredient for any website and is a major contributing factor towards a websites success or failure. Getting the content right will not only professionally present your business to prospective customers and help them to understand what it is ‘you do’, it will also support your business online when it comes to SEO. Even the way the content is incorporated into the site will add to the success of the website from an SEO perspective. To write effective content requires a clear understanding of the business and the target audience and also requires a good level of knowledge of marketing and an understanding of what drives a consumer to make a purchase.

If you're starting from scratch, you are likely to need help with writing the content for your website and remember - a great designer might not be a great content writer! Our in-house team are highly skilled, degree qualified marketers so they know how to effectively articulate any business proposition in a way that customers will understand and in a way that will help to generate new business opportunities. This is why we only begin to write the content after we have first gained a clear understand of our customer’s business and a thorough understanding of their target customers.

What To Do Next?

Magnetic Business Development, established in 2005, creates websites that effectively and professionally represent businesses. All our websites are mobile friendly and fully optimised for SEO so crucially, prospective customers will be able to find your business online. One of our lead Website Designers has over 30 years experience of web design and there isn’t anything he doesn’t know about SEO!

We don’t try to compete with overseas or independent one-man-bands but we do promise a competitive price and ultimately we deliver a professional website that will effectively support your business. We are keen to assist new and growing businesses to achieve success and therefore offer start up and SME solutions; so why not give us a call or drop us an email to discuss your website requirements?

www.magneticbd.co.uk [email protected] 01323 345000

Magnetic Business Development also offers effective business development, lead generation and outsourced sales and marketing solutions. Ultimately all our services are designed to attract customers and win new business.