Learn why it’s worth your while to invest in professional web design instead.
When you want a new site up and running fast, it can be very tempting to turn to a DIY website building tool. Some of these tools actually deliver a surprisingly sophisticated-looking product in just a few clicks of your mouse. However, no matter how pretty your DIY website is, it’s likely to be seriously deficient in some very important areas, especially if you’ve just dashed it off in a few hours of DIY design.
To make sure every aspect of your website is working hard for your business, you need to hire an experienced web designer to guide your site from concept to reality.
Here are some of the key points professional designers understand and DIYers don’t:
Responsive Web Design: Your site may look great on your screen, but how will it look when users view it on a smartphone, a tablet, or in a resized window on their computer? To ensure your site delivers optimal viewing and interaction in any format—without a bunch of annoying sideways scrolling—you need a responsive web design. Multi-screen viewing perfection is much easier to achieve when responsive web design principles are considered in the earliest design phases.
The Right Look: Templates only offer the illusion of customization for your site. For complete control of all design elements, you need a custom site. And to make sure your custom website looks professional, you need an experienced web designer. Experienced designers can help you find appropriate fonts, images, icons, and graphics for your site. They will make sure everything flows together in a way that is not only attractive, but actually supports the user experience.
SEO Optimization: Having a beautiful website won’t do your business any good if no one can find it. This is where Search Engine Optimization comes in. A DIY tool might get you started on the basics, like submitting a sitemap to Google, but it definitely will not optimize your site design, your meta data, or your content. For this you need real pro who understands whitehat SEO tactics and can help you create and implement a long term plan for maintaining your search result rankings—especially in local search.
Security: If you plan to use your website to collect personal information from your customers or process payments, security is obviously a concern. The best way to protect your site from hacking, your data from loss, and your customers from distress is to partner with a professional. This way you can ensure you are receiving ongoing support to address evolving cyberthreats.
Testing & Bug Hunting: Depending on how your site was designed and what sorts of content and plugins you want to include, you could encounter some bugs. Some of these bugs may only show up on certain browsers or devices. Working with an experienced web designer not only helps prevent common errors that could lead to display or functionality issues; it also ensures any issues that do arise will be discovered with pre-launch testing and corrected with expert fixes.
Remember:
If you want a site that can draw in new visitors via search results AND actually convert those visitors into clients or customers, you simply cannot dash it off in a few hours of DIY design. Instead you need a professional web designer and an expert web marketing plan. Contact us to learn more.