Why your small business should invest in professional web design
In today’s crowded online marketplace, every company needs a website. Yes, your small business too! While there are tempting low-cost DIY options for building it by yourself, it’s not always the best idea.
Such websites will often lack the essential components that help them increase Google visibility and user traffic. So, here are five reasons why your small business should invest in professional web design.
Due to the nature of my job, I spend a fair amount of time analysing any website that I come across from both an SEO and UX design perspective. I like to take notes whenever I find an inspirational new look, useful features and innovative ways to present content or make the user’s journey easier.
When badly designed websites give you nightmares…
Some websites, however, give me nightmares. So much so that I need a break from the internet for a couple of hours to get over what I’ve just experienced…
Ok, I’m joking. But in all fairness, the amount of poorly designed websites is rather astounding.
Despite the technological advancement that gave birth to many online web development services, knowledge libraries, and professionals who can cater to any type of business and different budgets, there are still websites that don’t look good or work well.
Additionally, most of them lack the basic SEO (search engine optimisation) foundation, and by now, we all know where most of the search queries happen.
First impressions count, also online. It’s not just about how your website looks but whether it can tick the essential boxes for web design standards. Functionality, accessibility, page speed, responsiveness, searchability, SSL security, or data tracking tools are some of the many vital elements.
You wouldn’t invest in a house that doesn't have a solid foundation, so why pay for a website that is missing the essential UX design components and doesn’t have a sound technical SEO structure?
Improve your search engine ranking
SEO may sound alien, but it’s pretty straightforward and means search engine optimisation.
If you’re entirely new to this and don’t understand how indexing and search work, let me explain.
Google* uses specially designed robots to crawl through the internet content and index it by following a particular set of algorithms they update regularly.
A professionally designed website should follow the best technical SEO practices. You’ll also want it to have healthy core web vitals and be fast to load. Finally, it should get indexed and linked with Google Search Console and Google Analytics for tracking and reporting after it's launched.
Ensure the content (copy and images) includes relevant to your small business keywords so your website can climb the search engine rankings. Page one is where the magic happens. The top 3 positions get the most clicks. That’s where you want to be.
Improved organic website traffic and search visibility, quality leads, better conversion rates, brand credibility, PR and customer engagement, reduced cost of paid ads - there are numerous benefits of an SEO optimised website, especially for small businesses.
Getting a cheap one-page website that doesn’t contribute to your Google visibility is a waste of time and money.
* I’ll be referring mainly to Google in this article since they have dominated the Internet and hold 92% of the search engine market share.
Available on all devices
What does it mean that the website is “responsive”? It means that it displays well on all electronic devices such as desktops, laptops, mobile phones and tablets.
Sometimes I wonder whether 100 years from now, human beings will be born with an ingrown mobile phone device on the inside of the palm of their hand. We spend so much time browsing on phones that a mobile-friendly website is a must.
According to the research, 61% of mobile users won't return to a site if they experienced issues during their first visit, and 40% of respondents said they would go to a competitor’s site instead.
Most people browse the internet using smartphones, so you cannot neglect the mobile responsiveness of your website. In fact, you should prioritise it to improve your SEO ranking. Google’s mobile-first algorithm was released in 2015 and designed to prioritise mobile-friendly pages, so make sure your website looks great on the small screen.
Prioritising a mobile-friendly layout doesn’t mean, of course, that you should neglect the desktop look. With online working habits shifting, more and more people can do their jobs remotely. As a result, the desktop number of users has been pretty high.
Since Google holds 92% of the search engine market share, I would follow their algorithm recommendations. So, before you invest in your small business web design, check that it will be created with search engines in mind.
A smooth user journey
Experience, credentials and great reviews speak for themselves. A professional web designer getting paid for the project will do a much better job than your uncle’s son. The latter got asked to do you a favour in between his homework and another round of Fortnite just because you want to cut marketing costs.
A lot more goes into a good web design than just putting together a home, about, contact, and some product pages and then linking them together. It’s a rather complex art that ties different vital elements together in a flawless multilayered, interconnected digital system.
I’m sure your nephew is great in HTML and CSS but does he know what robots.xml file is, what are the anchor links, why H1 titles matter for the SEO or how many of them should appear on a single web page?
A professional website designer who’s also SEO savvy will have all the necessary skills and follow established procedures to ensure that the design, technical SEO, content and features work well together to create a smooth user journey, satisfy your visitors and answer their mental models.
Your website is the reflection of your business.
What does it say about your company if its pages are broken or have incomplete content? When there are spelling mistakes or the contact form is not working, how does it make you look?
Put yourself in your website visitor’s shoes: would you engage in any business activities with the owner of a poorly designed, incomplete or broken website?
Boost brand recognition
Your logo and colour palette are there for a reason. Branding is essential since it helps your business connect with the clients on a deeper psychological level. According to this study by Lauren Labrecque and George Milne, colour carries an intrinsic meaning that becomes central to the brand’s identity, contributes to brand recognition, and communicates the desired image.
A professionally designed website will mirror your branding, so there is consistency between the logo, colours, fonts and how they’re incorporated into your web content. In addition, you don’t want your potential customers to second-guess themselves if they’re still dealing with the same company when they eventually land on your website through direct search or social media channels.
Ensure that your website design is consistent across all pages and interlaced with the images and videos shared on social media. For example, imagine that a potential lead finds out about you through LinkedIn or Instagram. Then, they click through to check out the company website, and, much to their surprise, they land on a strange planet with different colour schemes and messaging.
This mismatch and lack of consistency across various digital marketing touchpoints may cost you a client.
Measure and improve
They say “dress to impress”, but if your website looks more haute couture than pret a porter, you have a problem.
38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is unattractive, so a unique, modern and ideally bespoke look is a huge asset.
This said, don’t overdo it. Stay away from a fancy, loaded with animations and unnecessary features website designed at the cost of sacrificing the health of your core web vitals, page speed or user experience. Less is more in this case.
If your website has been created ONLY to please the eye but not the visitor nor search engines such as Google, you will eventually run into trouble and spend a lot more on SEO audits, fixes, possible URL redirections. As a result, your business may be affected by the dip in website traffic, leading to fewer leads and conversions.
It is essential to implement data tracking tools for future performance reporting. What are these? Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Tag Manager, to name but a few.
Even if you don’t use these tools right from the get-go, make sure they’re implemented so you can later analyse the website traffic and make data-backed improvements that boost the number of visitors and conversion rates.
Summary
You may be setting yourself up for a failure right from the get-go if your small business website is not smart enough to meet these common core purposes:
clearly explaining what your business is about,
highlighting your expertise
attracting the right audience (lead generation)
helping users find the right information,
increasing conversions, sales or enquiries.
No matter how modern and impressive it looks, your website needs to be designed with the user and search engines in mind. Ideally by a skilled and experienced web design professional who can create a bespoke website that supports your business goals.
Warren Buffet once said:
It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.
If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
Ask yourself:
Am I willing to risk the reputation of my business just because I can save a few quid on a cheap DIY web design?
