In today’s connected and technology-driven world, the importance of your website cannot be understated. It serves as the centerpiece of your online presence, and it’s often the first thing belonging to your brand that people will interact with. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a small high street retailer or a massive global brand — if your website doesn’t look the part and provide an excellent user experience, your whole organization could suffer.
With the multitude of content management systems (CMSs) and customizable templates out there, paying for professional web design services might seem like an unnecessary expense. Yet, while it’s true that almost anyone can now create a good-looking website without writing a single line of code, not many people can create a great website. As a business, you need a professional site that aligns with your goals and future-proofs your online presence.
Here are three undeniable benefits of investing in professional web design:
#1. Increase your brand’s visibility
Your product doesn’t matter if no one can find it. It’s not getting any easier to get attention in an increasingly crowded online market. When you’re trying to increase your visibility on social media or in search engines, it’s easy to end up competing with thousands of businesses. While you can’t expect to achieve high visibility overnight, professional web design services go beyond design and user experience to also address the technical challenges.
Clean code and metadata are just some of the factors that enhance your website’s visibility in the search results. Other ranking factors include how well the website performs across mobile devices and whether it’s protected by a TSL security certificate. If the technical infrastructure isn’t up to scratch, your website has little hope of showing up on the first page of the search results, no matter how good your content is.
#2. Make a great first impression
It takes most people around three seconds to decide whether or not to stay on a page. A website’s appearance and usability are subconsciously judged during this critical time span. You need to make that great first impression, which means your website should instantly answer the question visitors will be asking themselves — what’s in it for me? A professional website designer will understand what works and what doesn’t.
To make sure your website connects with the right leads in those critical first few seconds, it’s necessary to align its design with your business goals. Professional designers combine tried and tested techniques with a thorough understanding of your business needs. They can then create a mockup of what your website will look like and how it will accommodate your goals before building a fully functional and beautifully designed product that stands the test of time.
#3. Ensure a seamless user experience
This is perhaps the most important factor of all. You can find plenty of attractive templates out there, many of which you can customize extensively, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to provide the impeccable user experience needed to keep people on the page. Every business has different requirements, which means every website needs to achieve different goals and encourage a specific set of desired actions.
Professional web designers don’t just think about presentation — they also think about how the user experience keeps people on the page and turns visitors into leads. They’ll eliminate things like broken links, pop-ups, and unnecessary menu items and carefully optimize your site to ensure it loads faster and is easy to navigate. They’ll also use responsive designs to ensure a great user experience across all devices without you needing separate sites for mobile and desktop users.
Cyber Shift Technologies builds fully managed websites that are easy to manage and deliver a great user experience. Call us today to find out more.