It doesn’t matter if you’re running a one-person band or a multinational enterprise, and it doesn’t matter if your business is long established or it just started yesterday; a professional website is essential for any business.
If your website doesn’t imply professionalism, quality and credibility, potential customers will be scared away. They will miss out on your fantastic products or services, and you will miss out on those all-important sales or clients.
Website Design
Of course, you could build a website yourself. There are many no-cost or very low-cost options, like Wix & Squarespace, but do you know how best to use them? Can you showcase your brand best and present a seamless user experience to your customers and prospective customers? And do you even have the time to do it?
The answer to all these questions is almost certainly ‘no’.
Suppose you’re not experienced in web design. In that case, you could be wasting valuable time, which could be better spent elsewhere in your business, rather than leaving the web design to professionals who can make a difference to your sales, conversions or footfall.
You may be worried that a professional website will be too expensive for a small or new business. But you may be surprised to discover that it is remarkably affordable – and you will see a return on your investment.
Here’s why it is important to have a professional website for any business…
Skills and knowledge
Professional website designers, who spend all their time designing and building sites, can get your site up and running quicker than someone trying to do it themselves. They also have skills and knowledge far beyond those of someone who dabbles in Squarespace or WordPress, so they can build a site which delivers.
User experience
Professional web designers have tools that allow them to see what visitors look at when they see your page. Along with information on browsing actions, experienced designers know exactly which parts of your site work and which don’t. They can fix problems visitors might not notice consciously, which may discourage them from returning to your site.
Minor adjustments to the user experience (UX), which someone without professional knowledge would probably be unaware of, can make a real difference to your bottom line.
Branding
A do-it-yourself website will never do your brand justice.
A custom design by a professional website designer will help set your brand apart from the competition and highlight your strengths.
A strong brand will make your business more memorable, making customers more likely to return to you.
SEO
Search engine optimisation, or SEO, will help you to attract new customers. Professional website designers will optimise your site for SEO by building content around the keywords you want your site to rank for.
Over time, SEO will help to attract new customers to your business by making your website more visible on Google and other search engines.
Clearly show your products and services.
Your website is your shop window, so you want to show your products and services at their best. A professional designer will help ensure you have high-quality photos, images and videos on your website to showcase your products and services.
They can also use quality images and videos on your website to give visitors a feel of your physical location – such as a coffee shop or hair salon – to inspire them to visit.
More leads and customers/Clients
A good website will generate leads for your business 24 hours a day because it has effective calls to action (CTAs) throughout the sales funnel.
Getting the sales to funnel right is something which takes skill and experience. A professional website designer has the expertise to get it the right first time and will generate more leads and sales than a DIY site. So even though a professional website costs more than building it, it will soon give you a good return on investment (ROI).
Credibility
People like to buy from a brand they can trust. If your company is very new or small, how do they know they can trust it?
A visitor will decide whether to trust your business within a fraction of a second. A professional website with a seamless UX, fast loading speeds, and no downtime looks like it belongs to a credible and trustworthy business.
If your website appears credible, people will be much more likely to buy from you than from a business selling the same but with an amateur-built website. If your website doesn’t look professional, even if the content is relevant, potential customers won’t see it as trustworthy as similar sites.
Improved customer service
A professional website, which includes frequently asked questions (FAQs) will give a better service for customers, as they should be able to find the answers to nearly all of their questions without having to phone or email your business. That means it will also save you time and money, as rather than pay people to answer customer queries; they can work in other areas of the business, which will benefit your bottom line.
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