Right Small Business Web Design Service is Key to Win

Finding the right web designer for your small business is a decision that could change the future of your company. Perhaps you need a site that is well built for blogging, or for functionality. Maybe your small business will need to highlight your e-tail store. 

Regardless, the various web designs all come down to one important thing–communication. How you communicate with your audience can change the type of web design your small business will need.

Become Your Own Small Business Web Designer… at a Risk

One pleasant thing about web design is that you can often do it yourself if you’re in a bind. With sites like Webflow and Wix and WordPress and more, the mechanics of building a small business website by yourself are more than possible.

The biggest reason not to hire a web designer for your small business would be to save money. Designing your own site from the ground up not only requires skills, but lots of time. Karina Fabian at Business News Daily wrote about the steps involved in building your own website. From choosing the host to picking out the right color for your site, every step will be important.

While building your own website might seem like a cheaper alternative, it has the drawback of requiring a lot more of your time. If you’re going to build your own site, be prepared to put in the hours on designing your site instead of doing the job you actually enjoy.

Building a Working, Visually Appealing Website Is Crucial

A consistent and pleasing visual language to your website is essential and requires an understanding of branding, web design, marketing and more. A web designer can help you keep your small business brand stable across multiple platforms, and can make the entire site fit those needs.

For one example, the colors that are on your website will affect how your small business’s audience engages with the platform. But equally important is how responsive the website is to the needs of the audience. Your site will need to work on computers and on phones alike, plus you’ll want it to be fast enough to work on every platform.

This article on Business.com outlines many of the needs for your small business that a web designer can help you understand.

Make Sure Your Website Has Everything You Need

Different small businesses have different needs. Some businesses will need to have an online store, which will require a digital payment option. Others will need strong SEO usage, which can be achieved through designing the right blog pages. We’ve spoken about both sales and SEO needs for websites recently, but the design that your company requires will differ as well.

A web designer will take the needs of your small business and make a website based around them. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach that you’d find through many online guides, a web designer or firm will know what will drive people through your site. This article on Forbes has some different effects to your business that you’ll want to consider.

Mobile is Key

Mobile is now the dominant device used on the web. If your site doesn’t perform its best on mobile, half of your market is at risk. Learn how to fix it.

It’s All About Speed - Make Sure Your Service Can Deliver

When it comes to creating a website that can compete on mobile, speed is everything. If you look at the studies over time, bounce rates on mobile have been rising as expectations have been increasing. When Google ran this study in 2017, 4.5 seconds was sufficient.

A similar study, one year later, showed that rate had dropped to three. 

Most SEO and performance tracking software today use 1 second as the breaking point.

Themes Are Easy But Come at a Cost

Most small businesses have websites designed using themes because they are easier to build and to maintain.  Updating is also quick and simple.

Small business web design companies love themes, because even someone who does not know how to code or has only a passing understanding of HTML and CSS can develop a website. Good web design and development requires more knowledge than how to adapt a theme. 

Themes by the very nature have one major underlying flaw, they are slow. Not only do you have to deal with excess and unused CSS, you also have to deal with unused JavaScript queries and image load/resizing times.

Custom Build Site Will Yield Best Performance

If your developer helps you set up your tracking codes and other third party integrations, then you can minimize any issues those create.

The beauty of a custom website design is there is no trade-off between speed and quality. You use only the code you need. 

No excess CSS. No excess JS. Any good developer will help you with your images, so there are minimal delays, if any.

The con is that it typically costs more money. However, when you factor in the lost revenue from bounces and poor conversion that a slower site creates, the investment pays for itself.

In Conclusion…

If you’re going to be building a website for your small business, remember these three advantages to hiring a web designer:

1. Building a website yourself will require time and effort that you might want to direct elsewhere.
2. Your website should look and operate equally well. Designing a site by yourself might sacrifice one or the other. A web designer can make everything work in unison.

Every website has different needs. A one-size-fits-all approach could hurt your website more than help it. A web designer can fit those needs.

If you would like to check out our work and how we might be able to help, please see our Web Design services.