You’re probably aware of how important a website is to businesses these days. Think of websites as the first point of contact to most users, much like a physical storefront. They have to be functional and beautiful while meeting customer needs. How do you do that? With great web design and development services, of course.
First things first, you need to decide exactly what kind of web-design services your business will best benefit from. Not all businesses are created equally and that means that the services you may need are likely to be different than what another company needs. Your professional web-design company should have a lineup of impactful services that’ll make you stand out from the competition. Here are 4 web design services you need for your business:
- Web design and development
Web-design services need to start with the actual design and development of a website. It only takes 0.05 seconds for users to judge a website, so this means that you need to delight your users right away. Your web page design needs to not only showcase your business’s values and offerings, but also make it easy for users to find what they’re looking for. A good online experience could mean repeat customers and strong relationships. - Search engine optimization (SEO)
If you think just making a gorgeous website is all you need to succeed online, we’ve got some bad news. You not only need to design a great website, but it also needs to be easy to find. SEO, search engine optimization, makes this possible by translating what your website is about to search-engine robots who then match you with searching users. It’s all about making connections between what users are looking for and your website. Professional SEO services will implement the right search engine optimization techniques to use for your specific business. - Branding and graphic design
Branding remains an essential part of a company’s perception. Without good digital branding elements, users will likely forget all about you. Graphic design, especially a logo, goes hand in hand with branding. It’s the face of a business. Having graphic design included in your web-design services is important for consistency and brand awareness throughout the website. - Copywriting and strategic messaging
Crafting compelling copy that’s fresh and relevant is hard to do. You need to make sure the message aligns with your company’s ideals and brand tone while being understandable to your audience. The right strategic messaging and content creation should bring users to your website and move them through until they’re committed customers. Don’t worry, many professional web design companies have expert writers on staff that will help you do this.
Whether you’re looking to build your first website or update an existing one, consider making these four web-design services a priority. Web design and web development, SEO, branding and graphic design, and copywriting and strategic messaging all have their place in creating a successful website. Remember, it’s not just about getting in front of users, it’s also about getting them to stay.
How will these web-design services increase my site traffic?
All of the services mentioned above are important when it comes to your website design. But how does the design and development of your website actually benefit you? Can good web-design really bring you more business? Will this investment help to increase your web traffic? These are all great, and reasonable, questions for any business owner to ask.
A new, flashy website with all the latest bells and whistles means nothing if it doesn’t generate any traffic. And using expensive web-design services that don’t provide a return on investment certainly won’t help your bottom line. To create a website that generates traffic and increases your revenue, it’s imperative to use web-design services that have historically produced the type of results you’re looking for. David Taylor Digital knows all of the web-design services in and outs. We’ll build your website from the ground up—making sure no important traffic increasing or revenue generating features are left out. So how can good web-design services increase your traffic?
Mobile capability
The web-design and development world has changed rather recently. If you take a look around, you’ll immediately see why. People use their smartphones every second of the day. Long gone are the days when people get home from work and surf the web on their desktop or laptop. This means that the most important feature of your website is its ability to function across mobile platforms. Because David Taylor Digital understands the web has and always will change with the times, we’ve invested time and money into a website design and development service that designs only mobile-friendly websites. Important features that you won’t miss out on include:
- Easy viewing (no aggravating pinching and zooming)
- Quick and effective information display (no excess scrolling)
- Web page response to all screen sizes
These features combine to make your website user-friendly and easy to use. Your customers can pull up your site and navigate through it with no problems whatsoever. Of course, this translates to more time spent on your website, more traffic, and more revenue. If you compare your site to a non-mobile friendly site of one of your competitors, you’ll see the night-and-day difference. And keep in mind: Customers visit websites for everything (addresses, directions, prices, contact information, etc.) nowadays. Having a website that functions better than your competitors across mobile platforms is a traffic-and-revenue-generating machine.
Higher search rankings mean more traffic
It’s no secret that websites on the first page of search results generate the most traffic. Most web-design services will tell you how great it is to be on the first page, but not many will actually put you there. We are constantly evolving as a web-design company and understand how search engine optimization (SEO) works and how it constantly changes. First and foremost, we’ll create a website that targets your customers and meets all of your marketing and sales goals. Your site will naturally rank high—no tricks or gimmicks are needed. Your web page design will be unique and tasteful. Huge pictures and flashy text are not needed for your site to rank. In fact, these features actually can hurt your site’s ranking. With a professional web-design company you should receive weekly and monthly analytical reports that will show the rate at which your traffic is increasing. This increase in traffic will generate more leads turning into clients.
A website that functions across mobile platforms and naturally ranks high on search engines is the key to generating more traffic. This explains why web design and development are both so important for every business. Web design and web development truly go hand in hand when building a website. The design attracts visitors and the development of the site is what keeps them there and eventually turns them into customers, at least that should be the goal.
Think of the internet as your spotlight. It’s your time to shine, and without a great website, you’ll be lost in the crowd. That’s why you need to hire an exceptional web design team. But let’s not forget the web development piece. You might have heard the terms “design” and “development” floating around and wondered if they’re the same. They’re not. However, both need each other to create a fantastic site that showcases a business’s brand to the T.
An architect needs a builder like a web designer needs a developer, and vice versa. Their roles differ from each other, but they still need to work together to create something successful. So what’s the difference between web design and web development and why do they go together?
Web design vs. web development
- Web design
This focuses on what users see on the screen, which is also known as the front end. Designers concern themselves with the user experience. Navigation, user friendliness, and aesthetics all come into play. They worry about how users engage with a website and, in turn, with the brand. For instance, web design needs to balance a site’s layout using light and heavy elements equally. Otherwise, users might be overwhelmed or worse, underwhelmed. - Web development
This focuses on the programming side of a website, also known as the back end. Developers take the static design and add special programming elements to guide the user throughout the site. They make sure everything works like links, content sliders, images, and buttons. Essentially, developers bring the blueprint design to life.
Now that you know the difference, it’s time to start looking for a web design firm that will fill your business’s online needs. Here are some tips on how to get started when looking for the best web design company for your business.
Hiring a great web design company
- Understand what you want
Figure out what your website needs, as this will be a key factor when choosing someone to work with. For example, if you want a website that’s simple and small, you can get away with hiring a professional designer with less focus on technology. However, if you want large amounts of content and interactivity, a larger team consisting of both designers and developers will be better. - Look at experience
Once you start looking at developers, designers, or both, take a second to peruse their portfolios and case studies. Have they worked on sites similar to yours? If not, but you still like what you see, don’t be afraid to reach out to them anyway. You should also try out their completed websites on different devices to make sure everything looks and works great. - Skip the small talk
Once you’ve narrowed down the pool of candidates, get to know them better. Do they align with your company’s values and DNA? Do they respond in a timely manner? Excellent communication is valuable when working with a team, remote or otherwise. Ask them about past client relationships and how they handled any issues that came up. If they still communicate with these clients, that’s a good sign.
The blurred lines between web “design” and “development” might be confusing, but knowing the difference will give you a headstart. While you might find some “two birds, one stone” professionals out there, take the time to really do your research. Your business’s website design and development need to both effectively show off your brand in the best possible way. Finding a web design company that offers all the services you need and utilizing those services to really increase your web traffic is the best way to get the most for your investment.
David Taylor Digital’s web design and development services will create a website that does all of these things for you. We’ll work closely and carefully with you and your team members to make sure your website reflects your company’s mission, goals, and values. No stone will be left unturned. You will get the option of many different services, your web traffic will increase, revenue will be generated, and your return will be well worth your investment.
If you have any questions about web design and development services or would like to arrange a one-on-one consultation with one of our web experts, call us at 973-968-6873 or contact us today.
