If you bring up the subject of website design with small business people, it won’t take long to find someone who has had a bad experience with a web designer or even with one of the larger web design and hosting companies. Perhaps they have even concluded that a website is not worth the expense or that any decent-looking website is all they need. Let’s examine how and why that happens and outline some success principles to help you when you need web design services.
One of the problems with web design is that software programs have made it seem easy to create a website. If you have the software and have taken the time to learn how to use it, it will not take you long to build a website. An abundance of inexpensive templates are available to make it even easier to put together a website. Getting a professional-looking website is not difficult at all. So you may wonder why that is a problem.
There is a serious flaw in the web design industry, and small business owners are especially prone to fall victim to it. The problem is that too often, very little business planning goes into a website design. Too many web designers and web design companies are more concerned with selling web design than taking the time to work with individual clients and build an effective website.
Photo by Riccardo Ginevri on Unsplash
Balance Goals and Investment in Web Design
Because small business owners do not have big advertising budgets, they can be easily attracted to the low rates of some web designers and the larger companies offering low-cost packages. However, these inexpensive options often lack the value of a web designer who will work with you to use your resources to accomplish your goals effectively.
-> For tips to help you determine their skill level, see Web Design & Development Expertise: Questions to Ask When Hiring a Web Designer
The one element missing in web design is the very thing that is fundamentally important: uniqueness. A Unique Selling Point (USP) is one of the basic tenets of marketing. You must answer the questions: why should I buy from you, and what makes you different from my other choices?
Read your website copy to see if it contains another common error. Does it say, “We this” and “We that?” Do not “we” on your website visitors! Your website copy should speak to visitors, address their needs, and solve their problems. It must compel them in some way. You need to draw them in and sell them on your solution.
The next principle is the one you will probably find the most surprising. People do actually read websites! Yes, they have a short attention span, and we will look at that point next, but they do read. Many studies have been done to document how people use web pages. Even though so much attention is given to graphics, studies show that well over 75% of the time, web page users read the text before they notice graphics.
This does not mean that graphics are unimportant. Visual elements are one of the many advantages a website can provide. When you consider that people use the internet to seek information, it makes sense that they will read your website’s content. Providing the right information can mean the difference between winning a customer, or surrendering them to your competition.
The 3-second rule. According to web studies, if you cannot capture the attention of your visitors in approximately 3 seconds, that’s how fast they usually leave your website. This could be because so many websites are such a horrible waste of time that people’s patience has worn down. The solution is to have a fast-loading page that quickly clues them in that you can solve their problem. If they can “skim” in a few seconds, and you grab their attention, you have successfully drawn them in, so they will stay awhile.
Statistically, it takes seven visits before you make a sale. If your website is not done well, you will have dismal results because you can’t get them to come back seven times. That is why so many website owners are disappointed with their success. That is why some web designers provide what seems to be a bargain, while others have to charge more to give you a better value. It takes more time to plan and create a good website design.
The good news is that most of your competitors will go for the bargain and suffer the same fate as everyone else who does not realize the value of an effective website design. Very few of them will invest the resources needed for success. If you do, you can win. This does not mean you need the big budget of a major corporation, or that it has to be expensive, it just means you need to be willing to do better than average. The rewards are much greater when you stretch beyond the norm.
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